U.K. to buy jets that can carry nuclear bombs as part of military buildup

Washington Post

26-06-2025

Britain is embarking on an ambitious military buildup not seen in the country since the end of the Cold War, announcing on Monday that it is buying a dozen F-35A fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear bombs.
Earlier this month, London released a defense review that outlined plans to acquire more attack submarines, boost space capabilities, create a new cyber-electromagnetic command, construct more munition factories and enhance its nuclear arsenal.
The moves come against the backdrop of what Britain views as a looming threat from Russia and its concerns about the potential for a U.S. military drawdown from Europe in the coming years.
'Russian aggression menaces our continent. Strategic competition is intensifying. Extremist ideologies are on the rise,' British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement outlining his country's new defense posture. 'It is an era of radical uncertainty.'
The F-35A jets will expand Britain's nuclear warhead delivery options. Since the Cold War's end in the 1990s, Britain has relied on its nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarines for nuclear deterrence. With the F-35As, which can carry B61 nuclear bombs, Britain's air force is reacquiring nuclear capabilities it lost when it retired its airdropped nuclear bombs in 1998.
The F-35As are generally cheaper than the F-35B jets that Britain already operates. A 2022 estimate from the Congressional Budget Office said each F-35A costs as low as $89 million while the F-35Bs cost at least $102 million per unit. The F-35As also offer higher fuel capacity and weapon payloads than the F-35Bs.
Lockheed Martin is the lead manufacturer for the F-35A fighter jet, which is operated by 20 countries, including the United States.
The jets will participate in NATO's nuclear dual capable aircraft missions, which involve European warplanes trained to operate U.S. nuclear bombs that are forward-deployed to Europe to deter Russia from launching a nuclear attack. Britain plans to acquire a total of 138 F-35 fighters, including the F-35B variant, according to its Defense Ministry.
The ministry described the United Kingdom's security environment as the most volatile and uncertain 'at any time in the past 30 years,' in its defense review. It noted Russia's ongoing attack on Ukraine, the possibility of a U.S. military pivot to Asia that could reduce U.S. troop levels and the potential for war to reach the British homeland.
This new atmosphere requires Britain to reorient its current force from one that is more optimized 'for conflicts primarily fought against non-state actors,' to one that can mobilize ''whole-of-society' preparations for war,' authors of the defense review, which was led by George Robertson, a former NATO secretary general and British defense secretary, wrote.
To meet that goal, Britain pledged to increase national security spending to 5 percent of its GDP by 2035 — which will be the sum of a 3.5 percent defense budget and a 1.5 percent budget that will be considered 'defense-related.'
Britain spends 2.3 percent of its GDP on defense today, down from 4.1 percent in 1989. Its military has 136,000 regular personnel, less than half of the 311,000 it had during the Cold War.
With the additional funding, Britain aims to expand its nuclear-powered attack submarine fleet from today's nine up to 12, and acquire the ability to manufacture a new submarine every 18 months. It will seek to counter Russia's and China's rising threats in space, according to the review, which noted that the combined operational satellite fleets of the two countries increased by 70 percent in the 2019-2021 period. Britain will also invest 1.5 billion pounds, or around $2 billion, to build a pipeline for munitions as well as at least six new factories for munitions and explosives.