(UPDATE) LONDON — The United Kingdom will reintroduce fighter jets capable of carrying atomic weapons to support the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) nuclear mission, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said as he prepared for the alliance’s leaders’ summit on Wednesday.
MEET THE MEDIA United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to the media as he arrives for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit of heads of state and government in The Hague, western Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. AFP PHOTO
The West European country will purchase 12 nuclear weapon-capable F-35A fighters, expanding its deterrence arsenal, which is currently limited to submarine-launched missiles.
“These F35 dual capable aircraft will herald a new era for our world-leading Royal Air Force and deter hostile threats that threaten the UK and our Allies,” Starmer said in a statement on Tuesday.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was quoted in the statement as saying: “I strongly welcome today’s announcement,” calling it “yet another robust British contribution to NATO.”
Downing Street described it as the “biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation,” and said Starmer would announce the plan at the summit.
Since the end of the Cold War, British nuclear deterrence within the Atlantic alliance was provided solely by missiles aboard Royal Navy submarines.
Heloise Fayet, a nuclear specialist at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the announcement illustrated “the continued re-nuclearization of Europe, the renewed need for nuclear weapons, and the strengthening of NATO’s deterrence, in the face of an adversary, Russia.”
The F-35A, manufactured by American company Lockheed Martin, is a variant of the F-35B already used by the UK, but which can carry nuclear warheads in addition to conventional weapons.
The acquisition has been a longstanding request from the Royal Air Force.