UK to buy F-35 jets capable of carrying nuclear bombs

The Hague: The United Kingdom will buy 12 US-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 UK’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 UK 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.