[4] Following the publication of the defence review, it was announced that up to 50 F-111s would be procured for the RAF; like the Australian version, these would be highly adapted to suit the unique set of British requirements.

[5] The intention was that long-range, land based F-111s would be used to replace the strike capability of the CVA-01 aircraft carriers that were cancelled in the White Paper.

At the same time, a pair of Victor squadrons had been moved out of RAF Honington, which was earmarked for conversion to accommodate the F-111 force.

[11] These were intended as development aircraft, to undertake airframe, avionics and weapons testing prior to them being refurbished as operational units.

[1] The first two airframes were in the final stages of assembly at General Dynamics' plant at Fort Worth, Texas in early 1968 when the Government then issued a new policy that would see the majority of British forces stationed East of Suez withdrawn by 1971.

[11] Ultimately however, the two F-111Ks were never operated as test aircraft – in July 1968, almost exactly a year after the first airframe began construction, the US Air Force decided not to take them over, and General Dynamics were ordered to use them for component recovery.

[16] The ending of the F-111 procurement, combined with the cancellation of the AFVG project, led to Britain eventually joining the multi-national working group to develop the "Multi-Role Combat Aircraft" in 1968; this led to the formation of Panavia and the ultimate development of the Tornado, an aircraft that assumed the roles of low-level strike and long range interdiction planned for the F-111.

The F-111K was to be based around the airframe of the original F-111A version built for the U.S. Air Force, but was to feature a number of alterations and adaptations.

[18] The plan was then to pair this avionics package with British designed and developed mission systems, of which the main elements were the reconnaissance capability and weapon carriage.

Unlike the U.S. versions, the aircraft was given provision for a pallet inside the weapons bay that would feature a British designed reconnaissance system, with three camera windows located next to the nosewheel undercarriage.