Prospects for combat air: What follows Typhoon and Lightning?
This Commons Library briefing paper looks at the RAF's current and future combat aircraft fleet, the UK aerospace industry and prospects for international collaboration ahead of the publication of the Combat Air Strategy.
Update (5 September 2018): The Combat Air Strategy was published on 16 July 2018. A new library briefing paper - The Combat Air Strategy: From Typhoon to 'Tempest'? - provides a short overview of the strategy and replaces the briefing paper below.
This briefing paper - Prospects for Combat Air: What follows Typhoon and Lightning? - was written before the Strategy was published and provides a more detailed analysis of the RAF's current and future combat aircraft fleet (up to Lightning), the UK aerospace industry and recent developments in the UK/France and France/Germany future combat aircraft sector. It also provides some context to calls for the Strategy and Parliamentary debate. It also contains a very short discussion of a potential defence space strategy. This will be the subject of a forthcoming library paper.