UK Parliament Questions US Threat to Cancel F-35 Deployments Over Huawei Links

LONDON --- The UK parliament has questioned the United States on a threat to cancel long-planned deployments of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) to the country following the government's decision to open-up the national 5G network to Chinese development.

The Chair of the Defence Committee, Tobias Ellwood, sent a letter to the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, on 6 May in which he asked for clarification on recent reports that Republican senators in the US were moving to ban new deployments of military aircraft to countries with at-risk vendors in their 5G and 6G networks.

"If passed, this would preclude the long-planned US Air Force [USAF] deployment of F-35s at Royal Air Force [RAF] Lakenheath, and could also bring into question the plans for HMS Queen Elizabeth to carry US Marine Corps [USMC] F-35s," the letter said, adding, "I am sure you agree with me that even the airing of such disagreements between us and our closest security ally is unhelpful in a time when global stability is at the lowest it has been for a generation. I should therefore be grateful if you could clarify what the [US] government is doing to ensure that this initiative is not pursued further." (end of excerpt)

Click here for the full story, on the JDW website (paywall).

Click here for the HCDC Chair’s letter, on the UK Parliament website.

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