A senior RAF source told The Telegraph that British air cover would have been discussed at the meeting because in the event UK soldiers go into Ukraine, “there will be a requirement for top cover”.
“We would never send British troops out on the ground without giving them air cover,” he said.
The RAF would provide either Typhoons or F35s as both provide “excellent air-to-air policing”.
I disagree. War breeds innovation, and while the F-35 is certainly a risk, I am pretty certain they won’t get shut down mid flight. That would be a risk to USA operators too.
I think having the RAF, who already has the F-35 and experience maintaining and flying them, would be a perfect candidate to see how far the F-35s go before they can’t be flown.
I still think they need to replace the F-35, but it might also create incentive for the existing owners to re-engineer vulnerable systems for a significantly better outcome.
Additionally, based on the personalities of fighter pilots I have known, they’d be all sorts of up for this opportunity. If they can get the ability to operate independently of the US, then the rest of the world has Gen V fighters while Russia has none.
Edit: Additionally BAE is one of the major subcontractors on it. I would suspect they can provide a major benefit to it as well.