Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2023 to Question 188662 on F-35 Aircraft: Crew, for what reason concerns over the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces did not apply to his answer to Question 209 at the meeting of the Defence Select Committee of 2 November 2022 on the US, UK and NATO, HC 184.

As any given capability reaches the point where it is regularly in the hands of the frontline, the risk that sharing Force Growth Factors that might be of interest to adversaries increases.

Consequently, having reviewed the operational capability that the frontline Lightning F-35 Force is now delivering, we will in future no longer place in public record the pilot numbers and other operational metrics. This is in line with other established frontline fleets.