Lord Peter Drayson, Britain's arms procurement minister, said the country has not fully committed to buying the jets, though preliminary plans call for it to buy 150 of the fighter jets, known as the F-35.

After 10 years of development, lead contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, Maryland, is moving to the early stages of production for what could eventually be thousands of fighter jets for the American military and eight countries.

Along with Britain, the Netherlands and Canada have signed agreements, and Australian officials were in Washington on Tuesday to sign their own deal.

"It will see Australia through the next 30 or 40 years," Australian Defense Minister Brendan Nelson said at a State Department ceremony.

Turkey announced Tuesday it has decided to join the production and support phase for the F-35 stealth fighter jet. Turkey Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said the Cabinet would soon sign a decree to join the project, extending its cooperation in the fighter program beyond the current development and demonstration phase.

Turkey, Italy, Norway and Denmark have until the end of the year to sign.

Britain plans to buy a version of the jet that takes off and lands vertically to use aboard two new aircraft carriers.

Britain already has invested $2 billion (?1.5 billion) in the $276 billion (?208.4 billion) defense program. But it had threatened to pull out because of concerns the Pentagon was not sharing enough information about the sensitive software and other technology for the jet.

Drayson said he received assurances within the last 24 hours that the Pentagon would allow an unbroken British chain-of-command once the planes are being used by the Royal Air Force. That means the British would not have to rely on the U.S. military for technology support.

"It will not be a requirement, for example, to have U.S. Air Force personnel on a British aircraft carrier to deliver our operational sovereignty," Drayson told reporters Tuesday after meeting with U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England.

He also said Britain has source codes for the aircraft's stealth technology and expects the production phase to last about two years.

Drayson said Britain has promised an additional $67 million (?50.6 million) for the project, and he will return to Washington in the spring to monitor progress, but he added that Britain is still considering an unspecified "Plan B" alternative to buying the Joint Strike Fighter.

The Joint Strike Fighter is expected to make its maiden flight this week in Texas.

President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair met earlier this year to sign a deal in which the United States pledged to hand over technology details of the fighter jet. But Britain complained it was still blocked from seeing the inner workings of software and weapons systems.

Last week, a Parliament committee issued a report recommending that Britain consider pulling out of the program, which would have eliminated a major buyer for the fighter.

The British were also upset when the U.S. Congress cut funding for a backup engine that was to be built by the British firm Rolls Royce PLC and General Electric. Funding was later restored.

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