Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an assessment for the implications for his policy of the merits decision by the US Air Force to extend weight restrictions of F-35 Lightning II pilots until 2018; and whether his Department has issued similar guidelines for UK pilots.

Mr Philip Dunne

The UK has made its assessment of the implications of low speed ejection. A temporary weight restriction has been imposed for UK pilots, which does not constrain flight operations at this time. A range of design solutions are being developed and these are expected to be in place before the aircraft enters service in the UK.