UK MoD announces carrier jet U-turn

May 10th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

The UK Defense Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed that the Coalition government is dropping plans to fly conventional take-off F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JFS) for the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers and buying jump-jets instead.

This comes as the MoD has spent between £40 million and £50 million preparing to use abandoned fighter jets, reversing a decision in the Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR) in 2010, under which the Tory-led government had intended to switch to the more capable F-35C carrier variant.

However, Hammond told the Commons the costs of fitting the necessary catapults and arrestor gear – “cats and traps” – had more than doubled to £2 billion, leading ministers to change the current course.

Claiming that ministers took the decision because of “unacceptable cost growth” associated with their original option, Hammond added, “The 2010 SDSR decision on carriers was right at the time, but the facts have changed and therefore so too must our approach. This Government will not blindly pursue projects and ignore cost growth and delays,” he told the House of Commons.

Meanwhile, Jim Murphy, the Labour shadow defense secretary, said the decision had humiliated Hammond, saying, “Describing the Government’s defense policy as an omnishambles would be a compliment.”

SSM/JR/HE