—the short take-off and vertical landing variant of the jet designed for use on aircraft carriers —the original target was to have 138 of the stealth aircraft in service with the British military in the coming years. Then in the late summer, it was reported that Britain would scale back those plans, and instead would only acquire around seventy of the stealth aircraft, which would enable it to have sixty in service and keep an additional ten as back-ups in case of damage or malfunction. Now the UK is changing course once again. Last month, the UK government announced that it would significantly increase its military budget, and in terms of spending would trail only the United States and China.