{"id":211887,"date":"2025-06-25T01:39:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T01:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/211887\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T01:39:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T01:39:07","slug":"uk-to-buy-at-least-a-dozen-f-35as-join-natos-nuclear-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/211887\/","title":{"rendered":"UK to buy ‘at least’ a dozen F-35As, ‘join NATO’s nuclear mission’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\"F-35s<\/p>\n

A U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft assigned to the 495th Fighter Squadron maneuvers through the Mach Loop valleys, Wales, May 8, 2025.\u00a0 (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Seleena Muhammad-Ali)<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The United Kingdom announced today it will buy \u201cat least\u201d 12 F-35As and will use the jets to \u201cjoin NATO\u2019s dual capable nuclear mission\u201d in what it called a \u201cmajor boost\u201d for the alliance\u2019s security.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an era of radical uncertainty we can no longer take peace for granted, which is why my government is investing in our national security, ensuring our Armed Forces have the equipment they need and communities up and down the country reap the benefits from our defence dividend,\u201d British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a UK announcement.<\/p>\n

F-35As were officially certified to carry nuclear bombs last year, as first reported<\/a> by Breaking Defense. The UK, which already flies F-35Bs, said the F-35As will be based at RAF Marham and are part of a total expected procurement of 138 F-35s \u201cover the lifetime of the programme.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe purchase represents the biggest strengthening of the UK\u2019s nuclear posture in a generation,\u201d the UK\u2019s Foreign Office said in the announcement. \u201cIt also reintroduces a nuclear role for the Royal Air Force for the first time since the UK retired its sovereign air-launched nuclear weapons following the end of the Cold War.\u201d<\/p>\n

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte \u201cstrongly welcome[d]\u201d the announcement as \u201cyet another robust British contribution to NATO.\u201d<\/p>\n

The announcement, timed for the NATO summit taking place in The Hague this week, is in line with the UK\u2019s high-profile Strategic Defense Review<\/a>, which called for \u201cmore F-35s\u201d over the next decade. The review suggested that could mean a \u201cmix\u201d of F-35As, the conventional takeoff and landing version of the multirole jet, or F-35Bs, the short take-off, vertical-landing variety.<\/p>\n

In addition to the F-35A\u2019s nuclear capability, today\u2019s announcement said that the choice of As would \u201cdeliver a savings of up to 25 [percent] per aircraft for the taxpayer.\u201d (The announcement did not include an estimated price tag and a spokesperson for the British embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Strategic Defence Review confirmed we face new nuclear risks, with other states increasing, modernising and diversifying their nuclear arsenals,\u201d UK Defence Secretary John Healey said. \u201cAnd it recommended a new UK role in our collective defence and deterrence through a NATO-first approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tRecommended\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft assigned to the 495th Fighter Squadron maneuvers through the Mach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[23777,748,393,15060,2848,4884,2821,84434,1144,712,16,15,84435,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-211887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-air-force","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-f-35","13":"tag-global","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-nato","16":"tag-nato-summit-2025","17":"tag-northern-ireland","18":"tag-scotland","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-united-kingdom-uk","22":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}