ICYMI - A quick summary of this morning's F-35A announcement.

Glastonbury RAF Brize Norton

RAF Waddington... #ThoseWhoKnow

On the subject of rockets on fighters for counter-#drone, Saab tells me that the #Gripen comes with a range of options for the role, inc the gun, but that there is currently no customer requirement for guided rockets. Aircraft set up for easy integration of weapons, so something

So, with the Phoenix Ghost and now the armoured train whereabouts accounted for, all that's left is to find those Russian An-2 drones...

Seal gets it #aliceinchains

British milTwitter at seeing this.. #NoBoomVoyager

Kerala, the destination you'll never want to leave. Thank you, The Fauxy. #F35 #Trivandrum #KeralaTourism

Rendering showing the UARRSI receptacle for the boom. Interestingly, MoD saying F-35As that will arrive by 2033 won't need an RAF boom tanker as a NATO mission, but presumably GCAP will need one from entry into service in 2035...

Communists and their improvised airports - Tu-134 landing on a "road" - actually a runway for the 1974 movie "Unbelievable Adventures of Italians in Russia"

They absolutely do. Unless you're @Rupprecht_A, in which case this is just a coincidence because "there's only a limited number of ways you can design systems with certain capabilities".

My favourite Chinese copy is the JH-7, where the PLAAF brief was to mimic a Western design but they forgot to specify precisely which design, so the designers took a bit of Phantom, added a dash of Tornado, sprinkled in a pinch of Jaguar (with possibly a hint of Mirage F1), and

"Another idiot" is defo going in my bio...

Today, we proudly launched the joint headquarters that will deliver #GCAP! From the HQ, trilateral Government teams from the GIGO, and Edgewing personnel, will drive the next-gen fighter jet programme forward. The HQ was opened in the UK by Maria Eagle MP. #GlobalCombatAir 🇮🇹🇯🇵🇬🇧