UK purchase of F-35A squadron means US nuclear warheads are likely to be stored on British soil once again
Britain is to obtain air-launched nuclear weapons by buying a squadron of 12 F-35A fighter jets, which are capable of carrying the US B61-12 gravity bomb as well as conventional arms, Keir Starmer has announced at the Nato summit.
The jets, made by the US defence giant Lockheed Martin, will be based at RAF Marham in Norfolk, where it is likely that the nuclear bombs will also be stored. Because of existing nuclear non-proliferation agreements, the nuclear weapons will be owned by the US, while the jets will be under the control of the RAF – and therefore British. Once operational, at the end of the decade, it would be the first time that the UK will have an air-launched nuclear weapon since 1998, when the WE177 was cancelled under Tony Blair’s Labour government.
No. The approach is known as “nuclear sharing” and mirrors longstanding arrangements dating back to the cold war that exist in Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Turkey – which exist under Nato structures.
The result is that the gravity bombs – freefall explosives with limited guidance systems – remain under the operational control of the US president, while the planes are flown by pilots from the host country. In a war, Nato has said the use of such bombs in Europe would already require “explicit political approval” from Nato’s nuclear planning group and “authorisation is received from the US president and UK prime minister”, though in a major crisis it is unclear whether a committee would have time to meet.
