The UK government is bringing back the air component of its nuclear deterrent for the first time in almost 30 years, with the purchase of certified F-35As.
Britain on Tuesday announced it would buy 12 F-35A fighter jets capable of carrying the US-made B61-12 nuclear bomb, marking the first time the Royal Air Force has had the capability to carry out nuclear strikes from the air since 1998.
This was reported by Business Insider.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office stressed that this was “the biggest strengthening of the UK's nuclear posture in a generation”.
The F-35A, the baseline version of the fifth-generation fighter, was certified to carry the US B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb in March 2024. It is this version, and not the F-35Bs already in Britain, that is capable of carrying such a weapon.
The new aircraft are planned to be based at RAF Marham in East Anglia, a decision Starmer said was taken amid a new risk assessment set out in the latest Strategic Defence Review.
Since the decommissioning of air-launched nuclear bombs in 1998, the UK has relied solely on the Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines as its sole method of nuclear deterrence.
The UK currently has around 225 nuclear warheads and plans to increase this to 260. In parallel, development continues on a new Dreadnought-class submarine to replace the Vanguard fleet.
Formally, the F-35A order is part of a larger plan to deliver 138 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft to the British Armed Forces. The previously acquired F-35Bs are designed for use on aircraft carriers and are capable of vertical takeoff and landing, but are not certified for nuclear weapons.
Britain's move coincided with the NATO summit in The Hague, where, among other things, the need to strengthen the air component of deterrence in the Alliance is being discussed.
Let us recall that Britain is strengthening its military presence in the Middle East to protect itself from Iran.
