The F-35 fighter is used to drop 2000lb bombs over Gaza. The F-35 is a genocide jet. F-35s were also reportedly recently used by the United States military in its attacks on Venezuela. The F-35 is a jet of American military aggression and intervention.
The British arms industry plays a very significant role in the F-35 programme. Fifteen percent of every F-35 is produced in the UK. Out of all the countries involved in F-35 production outside of the US, the UK is by far the most important, being the only “level 1 partner”.
Key components for F-35s are produced across England and Scotland, including:
- the rear fuselage by BAE Systems in Samlesbury, Lancashire
- the active interceptor system by BAE Systems in Rochester, Kent
- the targeting lasers by Leonardo in Edinburgh
- the bomb release cables by L3 Harris in Brighton.
Rolls-Royce, with offices and manufacturing sites based in Britain, and Mission Systems Wimborne also produce significant subsystems for some versions of the F-35.
The F-35 “carve-out”
While the UK government suspended some military export licences to Israel in September 2024, on the grounds of a risk that UK arms might be used in violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, they made a specific exemption, known as the “F-35 carve-out”, for components for the F-35 supplied to Israel via the global supply pool including the United States, claiming that the F-35 programme was critical to global ‘peace and stability’.
There is a long history of democratic, western governments using this type of framing as a justification for furthering warfare, so it is no surprise that the British state has the audacity to claim that “peace and stability” necessitates continued involvement in the F-35 programme, which has been a key factor in the continued bombing of Gaza and recent abduction of Venezuela’s president and his wife wife.
The F-35 carve-out is unprecedented in the history of the UK government. There has never been a situation previously where the government has admitted there is a clear risk of serious International Humanitarian Law violations and war crimes, yet chosen to create a loop-hole to facilitate the export of parts contributing to that very risk.
British and American arms and foreign policy
Our government’s role in the F-35 fighter jet programme is a key way in which the British state has remained complicit in the genocide in Gaza. Furthermore, Britain’s powerful position in the F-35 jet programme is fundamental to how closely ingrained the British arms industry is with the American one. This contributes to the alignment of British and American foreign policy.
There is a long history of US intervention and attacks on sovereign nations around the world. The UK has historically aligned itself with this militarist aggression, and its role in Venezuela is no different. The British government has long supported American aims to destabilise and control Venezuela, freezing billions in Venezuelan gold in the Bank of England and supporting US sanctions which have killed over 100 000 Venezuelans.
Where is the accountability?
The Gaza genocide has exposed the limits of international legal systems, which have thus far failed to end the atrocities Israel and the global arms trade are perpetuating in the region. International law is evidently enforced selectively, if at all. The same democratic, western countries, such as the UK, which have allowed Israel to evade accountability, are now speaking out about the importance of international law in regards to the US’s aims to annex Greenland. There has not been the same outpouring of condemnation for the US’s attacks on Venezuela.
It would appear that western Europe is only willing to challenge the United States when its aggression creeps to territories western Europe has its own colonial stake in, such as Greenland, which Denmark still holds as an “autonomous territory”. Greenland’s majority Inuit population know all too well that there is “no such thing as a better coloniser” as they oppose American intervention while still fighting for their full independence from Denmark. Denmark is also part of the F-35 programme.
The F-35 programme evidently brings together western nations with colonial pasts and presents to collaborate in a global supply chain used for genocide, for resource seizure and for attacks on sovereign nations. The F-35 programme entrenches an international system where western, democratic countries continue to amass wealth through warfare, while the majority of the world suffocates under the lethal weight of the global arms trade.
Our government must sever ties with such a destructive programme. Take action now and click here email your MP.
We call on the UK to:
- Leave the F-35 programme, including immediately halt the export of parts to the US and Israel;
- Condemn the US’s illegal military attack on Venezuela and abduction of its President and wife, and its continuing attempts to coerce Venezuela through military threats with the goal of gaining control of its oil reserves;
- Open an investigation into the UK’s complicity in breaches of international law as an F-35 programme partner.
