Cliff Notes
- The UK government has announced plans to purchase at least 12 F-35 stealth jets, enhancing its nuclear capabilities for the first time in a generation.
- The F-35A jets will join NATO’s nuclear deterrence mission, marking a significant shift in the UK’s military posture amid rising global insecurity.
- This move is part of a broader effort among NATO allies to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035 in response to uncertainty surrounding US commitment to the alliance.
UK to buy F-35 stealth jets that can carry US nuclear warheads | UK News
The UK will buy at least 12 F-35 stealth jets that can carry nuclear warheads in the most significant strengthening of its nuclear capability in a generation, the government has said.
Today, Sir Keir Starmer will tell a summit of NATO allies in The Hague that the new squadron will join an alliance mission that can be armed with US nuclear weapons.
The dramatic move will doubtless draw condemnation and concern from Russia and China.
But it comes at a time of growing global insecurity – and as the prime minister and his European and Canadian counterparts scramble to convince Donald Trump they are serious about bolstering their ability to defend Europe, instead of overly relying on the US.
The US president, a long-standing NATO sceptic, raised questions about whether he would uphold the alliance’s founding Article 5 principle – that an attack on one is an attack on all – before he even arrived in the Dutch city last night.
