Latest news with #B61
Times
21-07-2025
- General
- Times
US nuclear weapons ‘on UK soil' for first time in 17 years
The US has stationed nuclear weapons in Britain for the first time in nearly 20 years for potential deployment on a new squadron of British jets, analysts have said. A transport plane was tracked on Thursday during a ten-hour flight from Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, the US Air Force's main nuclear storage site, to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. Analysts said that the route taken by the C-17 transport looked like a 'one-way drop-off' and meant that it was likely that the UK was hosting US nuclear weapons for the first time since 2008. The US and the UK declined to comment. RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk is the largest US air base in Europe ALAMY RAF Lakenheath is host to US air force units and military personnel. The US recently upgraded the facilities in preparation for the arrival of B61 nuclear weapons, including the addition of ballistic shelters and shields.
The National
27-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
The glaring issue with the UK's plan to buy F-35A fighter jets
THE UK has decided to acquire at least 12 F-35A stealth fighters. These fighter jets should be able to carry out nuclear and conventional strikes from the air, a capability the Royal Air Force (RAF) has lacked since the 1990s. The deal also marks a significant move for the UK's participation in Nato operations amid rising nuclear rhetoric from adversaries. The F-35A brings notable advantages over the F-35B variant already in RAF service. It's less expensive to buy and operate, has a greater combat radius (the furthest distance an aircraft can travel to a target and return without refuelling) – 679 miles (1093km) vs 517 miles (833km) – and supports a broader variety of weapons, including the nuclear-capable B61 bomb (with US agreement). Because it can spend longer in the air, it may also allow prospective RAF pilots to get through their pilot training quicker. READ MORE: Westminster committee calls out Labour on F-35 exports to Israel Yet while the F-35A offers greater range than many comparable fighter jets, it still requires in-flight refuelling to operate effectively over extended distances and to return home from such missions. This exposes a critical vulnerability that has been largely overlooked in public commentary: the RAF has no tanker aircraft capable of supporting the F-35A in this way. As a result, these fighter jets – carrying nuclear ordnance or otherwise – are limited in the types of operations they can carry out. Unlike the F-35B which is compatible with the UK's current fleet of tankers, the A-model depends exclusively on 'flying boom' refuelling. Flying boom is one of two aerial refuelling methods. Favoured by the United States Air Force, it uses a rigid, extendable tube to deliver fuel at a high transfer rate and is generally easier for receiving pilots to operate. The alternative is probe-and-drogue which relies on a flexible hose and basket, connected to a probe on the receiving aircraft. While slower and more demanding to operate, it allows multiple fighters to refuel simultaneously, offers redundancy (backup options) and is simpler to integrate. Archive image of a fighter jet refuelling in mid-airThe RAF's refuelling predicament stems from an exclusive leasing deal negotiated under the last Labour government, which supplied only probe-and-drogue Voyager tankers. Although the aircraft were designed to support both systems, the UK, unlike Australia, opted not to include booms due to cost constraints and limited demand at the time. Since then, however, the UK has steadily acquired more American-made aircraft that can only use the flying boom method to refuel: the C-17 Globemaster (air transport), RC-135W Rivet Joint (intelligence), E-7 Wedgetail (airborne command and control) and P-8A Poseidon (maritime patrol). The F-35A announcement continues this trend but with greater implications. While the aircraft can carry external fuel tanks to extend its range, this degrades its stealth capability. Stealth means it is less easy for enemy sensors – like radar – to detect. The F-35A needs this stealth capability for nuclear missions that require penetration of contested airspace to deliver unguided B61 bombs. The outcome is that Britain's F-35As, along with alternative and otherwise highly capable aircraft, will not be able to operate independently during critical military operations. London to Eastern Europe, for instance, is roughly 1150 miles (1852km): nearly double the distance the F-35A can fly without refuelling. Without flying boom tankers or bases in foreign countries for refuelling, tactical flexibility is compromised. This shortfall imposes a growing reliance on allied tanker support. In crisis conditions, UK aircraft could be confined to American-led operations where such tankers exist. READ MORE: Labour refuse to block Israel access to F-35 jets despite Gaza bombing This risk was manageable in previous decades; the possibility of operating without the Americans considered remote. But as the 2025 Strategic Defence Review concedes, the United States is clear that the 'security of Europe is no longer its primary international focus'. And while some Nato allies in Europe are increasing their flying boom capacity through a multinational fleet, the UK is not as yet part of those arrangements. Retrofitting the existing Voyager fleet remains an option, but it would require an extensive – and expensive – structural overhaul, prompting the question of whether acquiring new, compatible tankers might now be a more viable path. Either way, until Britain invests in flying boom capability or secures assured access from allies, it will have to accept constraints to its military power. Buying frontline jets is only part of the equation. Without the means to sustain them in the air, the UK risks fielding a force that can't reach its target, leaving it a spectator when it matters most. Arun Dawson is a PhD candidate at the Department of War Studies, King's College London.
Daily Mail
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Britain will need America's permission to carry out tactical nuclear strikes with new fighter jets
Britain will not be able to deploy its new air-launched nuclear weapons without the United States' say-so. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer confirmed this week that the UK is set to buy 12 F-35A fighter jets from the US as world leaders flocked to The Hague for a two-day NATO summit. The £80million jets, a variant of the F-35Bs the UK already uses, can carry conventional weapons but can also be equipped with nuclear weapons - specifically the US B61-12 gravity bomb. When the UK receives its jets and the bombs at the end of the decade, it will be the first time that Britain has boasted an air-launched tactical nuclear weapon since 1998, when Tony Blair 's Labour government shuttered the WE177 programme. But while the Royal Air Force will own the jets and be able to operate them freely, nuclear non-proliferation controls dictate that the US will retain ownership of the nuclear weapons they come with. That means that the UK cannot deliver a nuclear strike with a B61 bomb without explicit approval from Washington, raising concerns over Britain's operational autonomy. For a B61 to be deployed, the strike would require sign-off from NATO's Nuclear Planning Group, the British Prime Minister, and the US President - a complex process that could limit response times in the event of a crisis. Britain's existing nuclear deterrent rests entirely on the Trident system, in which a submarine carrying dozens of strategic nuclear missiles is always at sea, ready to fire at a moment's notice. But last year, Trident misfired during a test - the second successive failure after a missile veered off course in 2016. The B61 bomb differs from the Trident system in that it is a tactical nuclear weapon designed to be delivered on a battlefield, rather than fired vast distances to strike at a target thousands of miles away. The weapons come in varying degrees of destructive power, from small nuclear blasts measuring 0.5 kilotons to 50 kilotons - more than three times the power of the Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, but considerably less than the 80-100 kilotons yielded by the Trident missiles. GPS, laser guidance systems and steerable tail fins allow the B61 to lock on to its target and glide in with lethal precision. Britain's purchase of the nuclear-capable F-35A jets and associated equipment - the cost of which is said to amount to more than £1 billion - aligns Downing Street more closely with NATO allies France and the US, which maintain land, sea, and air-based nuclear capabilities. The Government called it 'the biggest strengthening of the UK's nuclear posture in a generation', while NATO boss Mark Rutte declared it 'yet another robust British contribution to NATO'. Britain plans to procure as many as 138 F-35s in the coming years - a move that Westminster says will support 20,000 jobs, with British military firms BAE Systems, Cobham and Rolls-Royce playing a role in their construction. The jets will continue to be manufactured by Lockheed Martin in the US, but 15 per cent of the parts which go into them will be made in Britain. At the NATO summit this week, Prime Minister Starmer vowed to increase Britain's defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035 in line with a new bloc-wide target. The total includes 3.5% on defence and another 1.5% on broader security and resilience efforts. Britain currently spends 2.3% of national income on defence, and says that will rise to 2.6% by 2027. The purchase of F-35A jets follows a recent announcement that the UK will build up to 12 new nuclear-powered and conventionally armed attack submarines to replace the Royal Navy's seven-strong fleet of Astute-class subs from the late 2030s onwards. Both announcements come as part of an effort to bolster Britain's military capabilities across the board as a chilling new report outlined the growing threats faced by the UK. The National Security Strategy, published yesterday, warned that Britain must prepare for the prospect of a direct attack as the world enters a new age of warfare. 'For the first time in many years, we have to actively prepare for the possibility of the UK homeland coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario,' it said. In a foreword to the document, Sir Keir wrote: 'Russian aggression menaces our continent. 'Strategic competition is intensifying. Extremist ideologies are on the rise. 'Technology is transforming the nature of both war and domestic security. Hostile state activity takes place on British soil. 'It is an era of radical uncertainty and we must navigate it with agility, speed and a clear-eyed sense of the national interest. 'That is what keeping the British people safe demands. In a statement to the House of Commons, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said the strategy would aim to deliver 'three crucial things'. The first of these is to 'protect security at home', by bolstering the borders and making the UK 'more resilient to future threats'. Ministers are stepping up calls for the whole of society to become more resilient and plan to carry out a cross-government exercise on how to deal with crises, such as a future pandemic, later this year. The UK must also work to 'promote strength abroad' with allies in order to defend their 'collective security', Mr McFadden said. The third step Mr McFadden set out was for the UK to increase its 'sovereign and asymmetric capabilities', including by rebuilding its defence industries and building 'advantages in new frontier technologies' like AI.
ITV News
25-06-2025
- Politics
- ITV News
Starmer has bought nuclear bomb-carrying jets - what does this mean for UK defence?
The UK already flies F-35B jets, which operate from the Royal Navy 's aircraft carriers. Now the government is to swap out at least a dozen F-35Bs from its next order for F-35As which fly from conventional runways, have a greater range and which can carry American B61 tactical - or battlefield - nuclear weapons. These can deliver a smaller nuclear yield than the strategic nuclear weapons carried by the Royal Navy's Trident system. The theory is that the smaller yield allows NATO to respond in kind to the use of battlefield nuclear weapons by an opponent like Russia. Without lower yield nuclear weapons, the choice would be between a conventional response which might not work as a deterrent, and using a strategic nuclear weapon which would be a massive - potentially world ending - nuclear escalation. It's believed the United States stores around a hundred tactical nuclear weapons across six airbases in western Europe. The government isn't saying where the nuclear bombs for these new jets will be stored. Britain's nuclear warheads are built in Aldermaston in Berkshire and stored at Coulport near Faslane, but the new aircraft will be based at the other end of the country at RAF Marham in Norfolk. One option for storage is RAF Lakenheath which held American nuclear weapons until 2008 and where the US Airforce has reportedly been refurbishing aircraft shelters with underground vaults. The big question is who would command these nuclear armed jets. The answer is - not us. While the new jets belong to the RAF and the US retains 'absolute control and command' of the nuclear bombs, any mission combining the two would have to be approved by the 31 members of NATO 's Nuclear Planning Group. As a member the UK would always have the option to opt out. But this decision is controversial. Campaigners are accusing the government of nuclear proliferation and are already planning protests at airbases.
Times
25-06-2025
- Business
- Times
UK to expand nuclear deterrent with F-35A fighter jets carrying weapons
Britain will buy a new squadron of fighter jets that can drop tactical nuclear weapons to match Russia and China in the biggest expansion of the deterrent since the end of the Cold War. Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister, warned that 'we can no longer take peace for granted' as he unveiled plans to buy 12 F-35As, which will carry American B-61 nuclear gravity bombs, capable of killing thousands. The £80 million jets, a different variant of aircraft to the F-35Bs already flown from Britain's two aircraft carriers, will be deployed with nuclear bombs as part of a Nato mission in a moment of crisis. American nuclear weapons are expected to be stored on British soil for the first time since 2008 under the proposals.
