Does usa sell f35's with no biritsh parts?
Executive summary
The short answer is: no—modern F‑35 production is multinational and routinely contains significant British-made components, so the United States does not normally sell F‑35s “with no British parts” to customers; removing that UK content would require deliberate and costly repatriation or substitution measures rather than a standard option [1] [2] [3]. The program’s export controls remain U.S.-led, but the supply chain is shared across allies and Tier‑1 partners, chiefly the United Kingdom [3] [1].
1. The program is multinational by design, and the U.K. is a major supplier
From the JSF’s inception the F‑35 was built as a multinational program: multiple partner nations supply parts and services and receive production work shares, and the U.K. is the sole Tier‑1 partner with a particularly large industrial role [3] [1]. Multiple reporting lines assign roughly 15 percent of each aircraft’s value to British industry by contract and production planning statements, with BAE Systems and other UK firms providing fuselage sections, tails, avionics elements and other hardware [2] [1].
2. What “British parts” means in practice
British firms supply both airframe and systems elements: BAE supplies rear fuselage structure, tails, and various avionics and software elements, while UK contractors like Martin‑Baker provide ejection seats and Rolls‑Royce supplies the unique F‑35B lift system used on the STOVL variant [1] [3]. Independent summaries put the non‑U.S. share of the jet’s value at roughly 30–42 percent manufactured abroad across several countries, underscoring that British content is embedded in structural, propulsion, avionics and software domains [1].
3. Export sales are controlled by the U.S., but control is not the same as sole manufacture
The United States exercises strict export controls, contract clauses, and political oversight over F‑35 sales—decisions to approve buyers and conditions of use are U.S. prerogatives [4] [5]. That control governs which nations can buy and the terms, but it does not erase the reality that many parts are made overseas; export approval does not equate to the aircraft being exclusively U.S.‑built [4] [3].
4. Could the U.S. sell aircraft without British parts? Technically possible but practically hard and expensive
Analysts note that, while in theory production could be “repatriated” or substituted—replacing UK supply lines with U.S.-based production—the cost and complexity would be immense and require industrial retooling, new contracts, and supply‑chain redesign [6]. Historical responses to partner removal (e.g., Turkey’s removal from the program) show that components can be substituted, but at programmatic cost and delay; sources emphasize that substitution is not a routine configuration offered to buyers [6] [5].
5. How this matters for potential buyers and geopolitics
Because the aircraft is assembled in a global industrial web, buyers cannot simply demand an “all‑American parts” F‑35 as a standard off‑the‑shelf option; nations negotiating purchases deal with U.S. political controls and a supply chain that includes allied firms—making procurement decisions both technical and geopolitical [7] [4]. The U.S. uses F‑35 sales as strategic leverage, and allied industrial participation is part of that diplomatic-economic architecture [4].
6. Limitations of available reporting
The sources document the scale of British involvement and note that substitutions are technically feasible but costly [1] [6], yet none of the provided material documents a current U.S. policy or an announced production line that will routinely ship F‑35s entirely free of British components to foreign customers; therefore it cannot be asserted from the supplied sources that any F‑35 lots are presently offered or sold without UK content [1] [7].