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From AF Daily report 20 Mar 09

UK Buys F-35s: The United Kingdom announced Wednesday that it will procure three F-35B aircraft for the F-35 program's operational test and evaluation phase. UK Defense Secretary John Hutton announced the decision during a visit to Washington, D.C., to meet with US defense officials. "The [F-35] Joint Strike Fighter will form an essential part of our future combat air capability," said Hutton. He said UK pilots and military personnel working alongside their US colleagues during IOT&E "will gain an unrivalled understanding of this awesome aircraft and its capabilities." The F-35B is the short-takeoff, vertical-landing variant of the Lockheed Martin-built aircraft. Overall, the UK, which is contributing more than $2 billion to F-35 development, plans to purchase 138 F-35s for the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. Lockheed spokesman John Kent told the Daily Report yesterday that two of the three UK test aircraft will be built during the F-35's third low-rate production lot. The third UK aircraft will be assembled during LRIP 4, he said. (For more read yesterday's Lockheed release.)

That's good news. Rumours were that the F-35B purchase may have been hit by the recession.

It still might but the thing here is that UK said that they wanted to test them themselves and not just rely on US reports and data.
So it doesn't really come as a surprise to me.

It's sad for Rafale M, I've heard that some people hoped to sell these birds to the Royal Navy...IMHO it was a pure fantasy!

Firebird wrote:It still might but the thing here is that UK said that they wanted to test them themselves and not just rely on US reports and data.
So it doesn't really come as a surprise to me.

I think I read that the F-35B cannot carry the RAF's big bombs, which has given it a black mark already. I still think we should have F/A-18Es for the new carriers! Would have been cheaper to buy them too!