UK would drop US tactical nuclear weapons in war with Russia using new stealth jets

UK would drop US tactical nuclear weapons in war with Russia using new stealth jets



Posted by theipaper

18 comments

  1. Britain is to buy a fleet of 12 stealth fighter jets which will allow the RAF to carry [tactical nuclear weapons](https://inews.co.uk/news/how-britain-might-use-tactical-nuclear-weapons-and-why-3731141?srsltid=AfmBOor-SDaJ_No3C14pHTNSjek3ZlO5cgAFMQpqkNMe8KoJg7DM-TKD&ico=in-line_link) for the first time since the end of the Cold War, Sir Keir Starmer has announced.

    Announcing the deal during the Nato summit in the Netherlands, the Prime Minister said the move would “herald a new era” for the [RAF](https://inews.co.uk/topic/raf?srsltid=AfmBOooR0FE5Nvrqp23mXea1nEN2VRn3YD1vYgkHCLoZOvYMqA8Ci155&ico=in-line_link) while deterring “hostile threats”.

    Under the plans, Britain will initially buy 12 [F-35A stealth fighter jets](https://inews.co.uk/news/technology/i-flew-f-35s-elon-musk-is-absurd-to-say-these-jets-are-s-and-obsolete-3472018?srsltid=AfmBOoo3_sWn2KUnRenebHEXB_t10VISvjaeqXHTUzzVQua6V1yniU4A&ico=in-line_link) from the US, capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional weapons.

    No 10 refused to say how much the deal would cost, citing commercial sensitivity – but estimates are they are £70-80m per jet, including lifetime maintenance costs.

    The announcement comes on the same day[ the National Security Strategy was published](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/war-british-soil-security-plan-3767894?ico=in-line_link). It warns “the threat to the UK and our allies from nuclear weapons is once again growing”.

    It added: “Tackling this challenge is likely to be more complex than it was even in the Cold War, with more states with more nuclear weapons, the further proliferation of nuclear and disruptive technology, and the failure of international arms control arrangements to keep pace.”

  2. The F-35 has some limitations, but Israel is proving that if intelligently used it can defeat Russian defense systems. Russian capabilities have been proven to be vastly overstated, yet again.

    Let’s hope they are never needed to be used in that capacity.

  3. Why are we buying stuff from Russian assets so we can bomb Russia? These jets will “fail” when we need them most..

  4. “would” sounds like we are going to do that any time soon…. gives me a heart attack…
    maybe “can”, “in case of warfare” is a better heading…..

  5. Shouldn’t be spending money buying US weapons of war – if we can’t build them ourselves we should at least get them from friendly nations

  6. No we wouldn’t- however no arguing with fascist gangster dictators so we have to be prepared.

    Visit my Finnish relatives by marriage. Grandsons will do national service. Russian border not far.

    Giant waste of resources being ready but tell a Finn not to worry and see what answer you’d get.

  7. Is it really a good thing, we have the nuclear deterrent already just this week keir starmer is saying Iran can’t have nukes and here we are just proliferating…

  9. What’s wrong with the current nuclear deterrent? Trident icbm missiles?

  10. The same government that signed up for this unpatriotic <poop> would cut benefits from even those with genuine disabilities.

  11. Article paywalled so I have no idea if this is just talking about “US designed” weapons that we would purchase or manufacture based on a joint design but ultimately use ourselves, or if we’d literally be doing the Americans dirty work and dropping their bombs for them

    Why are we not building our own tactical nuclear capability instead?

    Don’t talk to me about “cost” and “that will take decades” because that’s nonsense

    We already have storm shadow missiles, developed and built in house, which can apparently be used for this purpose

    We already have nuclear capability, we can surely develop or adapt our own warheads for this. Contrary to popular belief the trident warheads are “British manufactured” according to the uk defence journal. We obviously have the know-how

    We also already operate Typhoons which can carry and launch storm shadows so no issues there

    I thought the F35-A talk was just to ease the transition between the aging Typhoons and the Tempest whenever that finally arrives (wikipedia says 2035). But if it’s just so we can drop US weapons for them at their command that’s a whole different story

  13. Stealth is bollocks. I went to an air show and the F35 was the loudest there bar the king B1. They could just switch to microphone based triangulation “radar” and this option would be completely off the table.

  14. No money for the most vulnerable in society but plenty for weapons of war.

    For shame.

  16. People thinking these just get delivered on Amazon Prime timelines

  17. And Bingo, would just sign the death warrant of millions of Brits. Lunatics.

  18. I’m guessing we aren’t using these 12 jets just as nuclear delivery systems else they’ll just spend their lifespan parked on a NATO airbase in Eastern Europe

    Surely we’ll use them to drop conventional weapons too?

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