UK to Purchase 12 F-35A Jets Capable of Carrying Nuclear Weapons in Largest Strategic Shift Since Cold War (Photo: Micah Garbarino / U.S. Air Force/ Public domain)

The United Kingdom will acquire at least 12 U.S.-made F-35A fighter jets capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Wednesday at the NATO summit in The Hague. The move marks what Downing Street called “the biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation” and brings Britain back into NATO’s airborne nuclear mission for the first time since 1998.

“In an era of radical uncertainty we can no longer take peace for granted, which is why my government is investing in our national security,” Starmer said in a statement. He described the new jets as “heralding a new era” for the Royal Air Force.

The F-35A aircraft, built by Lockheed Martin, will allow the UK to deploy U.S.-made B61 tactical nuclear bombs, a capability that was lost after Britain retired its WE177 bombs more than two decades ago. The jets will also enhance the UK’s conventional strike capability, offering longer range and broader weapons compatibility than the current F-35B fleet operated by the RAF and Royal Navy.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte welcomed the announcement, calling it “yet another robust British contribution to NATO.” Defence Secretary John Healey said the acquisition would “strengthen the NATO-collective deterrent” and support over 20,000 domestic jobs through the supply chain, with the jets to be based at RAF Marham in Norfolk.

The F-35A purchase aligns with a broader strategic recalibration across the alliance. NATO’s 32 members are expected to approve a new target to raise collective defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035-up from the longstanding 2% benchmark. Starmer has pledged that the UK will meet the new goal, including 3.5% for core defense and 1.5% for resilience infrastructure such as cybersecurity and logistics.

“The decision follows the Strategic Defence Review,” Healey said, which “confirmed we face new nuclear risks, with other states increasing, modernising and diversifying their nuclear arsenals.”

Seven NATO members, including the U.S., Germany, and Italy, already host dual-capable aircraft equipped with B61 bombs. Under NATO protocols, the deployment of such weapons requires joint authorization by the U.S. president and the UK prime minister through the alliance’s nuclear planning group.

During a parliamentary session, Conservative MP Lincoln Jopp questioned whether a dual-key arrangement would be in place. Border Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle responded, “The UK will also always retain the right to participate, or not to participate, on the basis of that governance arrangement.”

Analysts note that integrating the F-35A into the UK arsenal may face operational and political hurdles. Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute said, It will take time for the RAF “to get back in the nuclear game,” but emphasized that the aircraft’s extended range and payload are valuable strategic assets.

The renewed investment in nuclear-capable air power follows sustained pressure from Washington. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized European allies for failing to shoulder more of NATO’s financial and military burden, prompting several members-including Germany-to announce major increases in defense outlays. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that Berlin would build “Europe’s strongest conventional army.”

The UK’s Trident-armed Vanguard-class submarines remain the nation’s only current nuclear delivery system. While Trident missiles are American-made, the warheads are developed and maintained in the UK, allowing London to maintain what successive governments have called an “independent deterrent.”

On Wednesday, the UK Government announced it will buy 12 F35A jets, which can carry conventional weapons but can also be equipped with nuclear bombs.

Downing Street has called the move the “biggest strengthening” of Britain’s posture “in a generation”, while Keir Starmer said the UK “can no longer take peace for granted”.

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The Prime Minister is currently gathered with leaders of other Nato leaders – including US president Donald Trump – in the Hague, where they formally agreed a 5% of GDP defence and security spending pledge.

The move has drawn criticism, with the Scottish Greens arguing that it would “make the world ever more dangerous”.

The party’s co-leader, Patrick Harvie, accused Labour of supporting “unilateral rearmament” as he said the money could have been used to address “genuine security needs” and the cost of living crisis.

He told The National: “Nuclear weapons are incapable of discriminating between military and civilian targets. Their use would cause mass murder and environmental damage on a scale never seen before, and would amount to the biggest war crime in human history.

“They are also wildly expensive, having already cost the country hundreds of billions of pounds which could have been used to address the genuine security needs the world has, or on tackling the cost of living crisis that is plunging thousands of families into totally avoidable poverty.

“Labour used to tell us how responsible they were being, supporting multilateral disarmament. Now it’s clear that they want the opposite – unilateral rearmament. This will make the world ever more dangerous.”

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Meanwhile, the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) said the UK Government’s decision “totally contradicts the spirit of the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty” (NPT), an international treaty which aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and promotes disarmament.

The UK is one of 191 state parties signed up to the NPT, as is the United States.

The Scottish CND said that the planned system “locks in the UK’s dependence on the USA”.

“This is already obvious in our government’s muted response to the illegal bombing of Iran by the USA and of the multiple illegal acts of Israel in Gaza and Iran, our government’s failure to end all UK military support to the Israeli military or to ensure that UK manufactured arms are completely unavailable to Israeli use,” a statement from CND said.

The group went on: “In Scotland, we already live with the fear of catastrophic nuclear accidents and the knowledge that our land and sea is used to threaten world destruction despite our wish to face the world in friendship.

“Nuclear weapons are indiscriminate, inhumane, genocidal and ecocidal, all of which contradicts the international laws that prohibit indiscriminate targeting of civilians and the infrastructures and ecosystems needed for life. This is not in our name.”

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South of the Border, defence minister Maria Eagle addressed the Commons on the matter in an urgent question on Wednesday afternoon.

Addressing the minister, Ellie Chowns, Green MP for North Herefordshire, echoed concerns that the decision would tie the UK further to a US administration which “is the very definition of a loose cannon”.

“The prospect of UK fighter jets carrying Donald Trump’s nuclear bombs cannot be anybody’s vision of security,” Chowns said.

“This decision flies in the face of our obligations under the non-proliferation treaty, it ties us further into a US military that cannot even keep its own classified intelligence secure, it ties us further to a Trump administration that is the very definition of a loose cannon.”

She asked the minister: “Given the inescapable truth that nuclear weapons make the world more dangerous, that normalising tactical weapons is incredibly reckless, how can she possibly justify this decision?”

Eagle responded by stating that the announcement was compliant with the NPT, to which Chowns could be seen shaking her head.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The United Kingdom will buy 12 U.S.-made F-35A fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear bombs and will join NATO’s shared airborne nuclear mission, in a major expansion of its nuclear deterrent, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Wednesday. The government called it “the biggest strengthening of the U.K.’s nuclear posture in a generation.”

Starmer made the announcement while attending a NATO summit in the Netherlands. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte welcomed the decision, calling it “yet another robust British contribution to NATO.”

The U.K. phased out air-dropped atomic weapons in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War. Its nuclear arsenal now consists of submarine-based missiles.

Only three NATO members – the U.S., Britain and France – are nuclear powers, while seven nations contribute to the alliance’s nuclear mission by contributing jets that can carry either conventional or weapons or American B61 bombs stockpiled in Europe.

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The use of nuclear weapons by the U.K. as part of the mission would require the authorization of NATO’s nuclear planning group as well as the U.S. president and British prime minister.

Marion Messmer, from the international security program at the Chatham House think tank, said the government had avoided saying whether U.S. nuclear weapons would be based on British soil, a move that would likely be controversial.

“The U.K. doesn’t have any nuclear weapons itself that could be deployed via this aircraft,” Messmer said. “Other states in NATO that participate in this mission also host U.S. nuclear weapons on their territory – these weapons remain entirely under U.S. control.”

Starmer also announced that the U.K. will provide 350 air defense missiles to Ukraine, funded by 70 million pounds ($95 million) raised from interest on seized Russian assets.

The announcements come as the U.K. and other NATO members pledge to increase spending on security to 5% of gross domestic product by 2035. The total includes 3.5% on defense and another 1.5% on broader security and resilience efforts.

UK to buy nuclear-capable F-35A fighter jets

53 minutes ago Share Save Jonathan Beale Defence correspondent Imogen James BBC News Share Save

Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The UK government is to buy at least 12 new fighter jets that can carry nuclear bombs, the prime minister has announced. Sir Keir Starmer said at the Nato summit in The Hague that the new US-made F-35A jets would join Nato’s airborne nuclear mission. “We will procure at least 12 and we will make these aircraft able to bear nuclear weapons if necessary,” said the prime minister, adding the procurement was in “response to a growing nuclear threat”. Downing Street says the move is “the biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation”. The new F-35A jets can still carry conventional weapons, but have the option of being equipped with US-made nuclear bombs.

Nato’s airborne nuclear mission involves allied aircraft being equipped with American B61 bombs. Seven other countries, including the US, Germany and Italy, already use the jets. The use of nuclear weapons would require the authorisation of Nato’s nuclear planning group as well as the US president and British prime minister. The US has already pre-positioned stocks of B61 bombs in Europe. Justin Bronk of the defence think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) said the US would still control their release and use in the event of a war. That may prove contentious with the UK being reliant on the US. During an urgent question in Parliament on Wednesday, Conservative MP Lincoln Jopp asked whether a dual-key arrangement would be in place regarding weapons deployed from the aircrafts, “namely the Brits can’t use it without the American say-so”. Border Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle said the current decision is about joining the Nato nuclear mission which would require the agreement of all 31 allies. “The UK will also always retain the right to participate, or not to participate, on the basis of that governance arrangement,” she said.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “In an era of radical uncertainty we can no longer take peace for granted, which is why my government is investing in our national security.” Defence Secretary John Healey told BBC Breakfast on Wednesday that the investment would “strengthen the Nato-collective deterrent that comes from having this nuclear capability”. Speaking in The Hague ahead of a Nato summit, Healey said the programme would support 20,000 jobs and more than 100 companies across the UK in the supply chain.

Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte called the announcement “yet another robust British contribution to Nato”. The new fast jets will be based at RAF Marham in Norfolk. The decision to buy F-35A jets will be seen as a victory for the RAF – which has long been lobbying for a longer range fighter that can fire a larger variety of bombs and missiles. The F-35B variant, currently operated by the RAF and the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm, has a shorter range and can carry fewer weapons.

With its short take-off and vertical landing capability, the F-35B can operate from the Royal Navy’s two carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. F-35As operate from conventional runways. Britain currently only has one delivery system for larger strategic nuclear weapons – launched from its Vanguard class submarines via Trident ballistic missiles. While the Trident missiles are made and maintained in the US, the warheads on the missiles are made and maintained in the UK. Successive governments have insisted that their use would not be dependent on the US – hence it is described as Britain’s “independent deterrent”. RAF jets were capable of carrying smaller tactical nuclear weapons until 1998 – when the UK-designed and made WE177 bombs were retired from service. Mr Bronk said it will take time for the RAF “to get back in the nuclear game”. He added the most obvious benefit for the UK buying F-35As will be their longer range and the fact they can carry a wider range of conventional weapons.

The decision follows the Strategic Defence Review, which Defence Secretary Healey said “confirmed we face new nuclear risks, with other states increasing, modernising and diversifying their nuclear arsenals”. And on Tuesday, the government published a national security strategy in which it said the UK should “actively prepare for the possibility of the UK homeland coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario”. Sir Keir has pledged to meet a new Nato target to spend 5% of the UK’s GDP on national security by 2035. At the Nato summit, 32 member counties are expected to agree on the goal, which sees 3.5% going to core defence, with the rest on defence-related areas.