Production of the first components for the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), which will eventually replace the Royal Navy’s Sea Harriers, has started at two factories in the North-West of England.

BAE Systems at Samlesbury, where the aft fuselage and tails for the new generation stealth fighter will be manufactured, and Hyde Precision, a major sub-contractor on the project, have both started to produce elements of the airframe.

The Samlesbury facility has begun work on one of the major frames that form part of the rear part of the fuselage, which BAE Systems has designed and will build.

Workers at Hyde Precision are machining one of the leading edge spars that sit within the vertical tails of the supersonic plane.

Tom Fillingham, Vice President and Deputy General Manager BAE Systems, said: “This marks a major step forward for the JSF programme in the UK.

“Until now the JSF has been a 3-D computer-designed aircraft – now it has taken its first step in becoming a ‘real’ aircraft.”

The F-35 JSF is being developed and built by a partnership of Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman, and will serve with the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps as well as the RN and RAF.

Variants of the plane will replace a number of existing aircraft – the Royal Navy’s FA2 Sea Harrier interceptor, the RAF’s GR7 and GR9 bombers, and the American A-10s, F-16s and F/A-18s.

There will be three variants of the F-35, although there will be a high degree of commonality between them – in contrast to the current Harriers, for example, where the Navy’s fighter is a very different machine to the ground attack version flown by the RAF.

The three versions are:
• Conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) for use by the US Air Force, with an internal weapons bay and greater built-in fuel capacity than the aircraft it replaces. The design brings stealth capability for the first time to a multi-role fighter.

• Short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) which will be used by the US Marine Corps and the British Armed Forces, featuring a shaft-driven lift fan propulsion system that multiplies vertical thrust, replicating the unique qualities of the Harrier without compromising the fighting capability of the plane.

• Carrier take-off and landing (CV) for use by the US Navy, with a larger tank for greater range and larger wing and tail surfaces for superior handling from the deck of a carrier.