IT’S BEEN A good week for the Joint Strike Fighter. The one-size-fits-all, multi-purpose fighter, designated F-35, is slated for its first flight test this week, after delays of more than a year. Perhaps more significant was the Pentagon’s acquiescence to British demands for “operational sovereignty” over the aircraft. The dispute centered on the Pentagon’s reluctance to provide our British allies with some of the more sensitive information–mostly computer software–that would be necessary in order to maintain the aircraft. Essentially, the Pentagon wanted the British to allow Americans to maintain these systems in order to guard against the transfer of classified technologies, while the British threatened to pull out of the project altogether unless the Pentagon provided them with complete access.

The British have already made a $2 billion investment in research and development for the JSF, and have plans to purchase as many as 138 of the aircraft, all in a configuration referred to as STOVL (short take-off and vertical landing). The planes would replace an ageing fleet of Harriers that will be retired just as two new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, are being deployed.