The concluding point is continuity across changing project names and airframes. Britain repeatedly sought a supersonic V/STOL aircraft able to succeed both Harrier and Tornado, but it entered service only after the Navy and RAF accepted a joint program. The final institutional arrangement therefore returned to the joint-service condition that had shaped the requirement from the beginning. The F-35B represents the eventual outcome of a research and procurement tradition stretching back roughly sixty years.
Notable Point · 42:43-43:18
F-35B completed a sixty-year search for a Super Harrier
The F-35B finally united Royal Navy and RAF support behind the supersonic V/STOL replacement Britain had pursued through many earlier projects.