Prospects for combat air: What follows Typhoon and Lightning?

Update (5 September 2018): The Combat Air Strategy was published on 16 July 2018. A new library briefing paper – The Combat Air Strategy: From Typhoon to ‘Tempest’? – provides a short overview of the strategy and replaces the briefing paper below.

This briefing paper – Prospects for Combat Air: What follows Typhoon and Lightning? – was written before the Strategy was published and provides a more detailed analysis of the RAF’s current and future combat aircraft fleet (up to Lightning), the UK aerospace industry and recent developments in the UK/France and France/Germany future combat aircraft sector. It also provides some context to calls for the Strategy and Parliamentary debate. It also contains a very short discussion of a potential defence space strategy. This will be the subject of a forthcoming library paper.