Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made in adapting the facilities at RAF Marham to support the new F35 B fighter jets; and what assessment he has made of readiness for deployment of those jets.

The Ministry of Defence has invested £300 million to prepare RAF Marham for the F-35 Lightning jets, including resurfacing the second runway with little to no impact on Tornado operations. All elements of the infrastructure programme at RAF Marham are expected to be completed to meet programme needs.

The first four UK F-35 Lightning jets arrived at RAF Marham on 6 June 2018, two months ahead of schedule, 617 Squadron will continue their operational work-up training in readiness for their Initial Operating Capability, which is expected to be reached by the end of this year.