F-35B lightning II: everything you need to know about Britain's new fighter jet that can land in Gibraltar

The supersonic F-35B Lightning II is the cutting-edge aircraft which will carry out missions and operations from land and the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.

Undated handout photo issued by the MoD of one of the UK's first F-35B Lightning II aircraft, as it takes off from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, USA. Gavin Williamson has announced that Britain's cutting-edge stealth fighter jets are expected to touch down in the UK early next month. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Wednesday May 16, 2018. The Defence Secretary confirmed the imminent arrival of the multimillion-pound supersonic warplanes during an event to mark the 75th anniversary of the daring Dambusters raid. See PA story DEFENCE F35. Photo credit should read: Sdr Ldr Nikki Lofthouse/MoD/PA Wire
NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

Here are some of the facts and figures behind the warplanes which are due to start arriving in the UK next month.

- The jet measures 51.2ft (15.6m) in overall length, has a wingspan of 35ft (10.7m) and a height of 14.3ft (4.36m).

- It has a top speed of 1.6 Mach or 1,200 mph, a Max G rating of 7G, and a combat radius of 518 miles (833km).

- Lockheed Martin, the American company building the jet, describes its stealth capabilities as "unprecedented". Its airframe design, advanced materials and other features make it "virtually undetectable to enemy radar".

- Britain has committed to a £9.1 billion programme to buy 48 of the jets by 2025 - with a pledge to purchase 138 - they will be jointly operated by Royal Air Force and Royal Navy pilots.

- Four of Britain's F-35 jets are due to arrive at RAF Marham in Norfolk next month, with nine coming to the UK by the end of July or early August.

- The F-35B jets are built from more than 300,000 individual parts.

- The UK's supersonic aircraft have been based in the US since their manufacture.

- There are six distributed aperture system sensors around the jet - two underneath, two on top of the aircraft and one either side of the nose. These infrared cameras feed real-time information and images into the pilot's helmet, allowing them to see through the airframe.

- All variants of the jets are mainly constructed on Lockheed Martin's mile-long production line in Fort Worth, Texas.

- It takes 58,000 man hours to build each F-35B.

- The F-35 can launch from land, and will take off from HMS Queen Elizabeth via the skip jump ramp, which has been designed to optimise the launch, for the first time later this year.

- Maximum thrust tops 40,000lb and the jet has a range of 900 nautical miles.

- The jet is capable of two types of ship landing - vertically on to the deck, and also through the shipborne rolling vertical landing, which using forward air speed, allows the aircraft to bring back several thousand pounds of extra weight to the ship.

- The warplanes will carry out missions from the two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers - HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

- Lockheed Martin said across the 3,000 jets being built, 15% of each one is comprised of parts from British companies.

- Some of the UK companies with contracts to produce parts of jets includes Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, Ultra Electronics, Selex, Cobham and GE Aviation.

- Lockheed Martin UK chief executive Peter Ruddock said that, to date, the F-35 programme has generated 13.5 billion dollars in contracts for British suppliers.

- HMS Queen Elizabeth weighs 65,000 tonnes and has a top speed of 25 knots, its flight deck is 919ft (280m) long and 230ft (70m) wide - enough space for three football pitches.