Britain will buy 12 F-35A fighter planes which will be capable of delivering tactical nuclear bombs. Photo / Getty Images
Britain will buy 12 F-35A fighter planes which will be capable of delivering tactical nuclear bombs. Photo / Getty Images
British fighter jets are to carry nuclear warheads for the first time since the Cold War era, after a deal with the US.
At a Nato summit in the Hague this week, Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister, will announce that Britain will buy 12 F-35A fighter planes. Unlike theF-35B jets the UK currently possesses, they can carry nuclear weapons.
Starmer said: “In 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.”
The agreement marks the first time since the retirement of the RAF’s Tornado aircraft in 1998 that the UK will have a plane capable of dropping tactical nuclear weapons on the enemy.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence said: “It 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.”
The announcement came as Britain’s newly published national security strategy warned that for the first time in years, the country must “actively prepare for the possibility of the UK homeland coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario”.
The report also warned of the “growing” threat to the UK from nuclear weapons, adding that the “proliferation of nuclear and disruptive technology” meant the UK needed to adapt its approach to national security.
Keir Starmer will detail the defence spending increase at the Nato meeting in The Hague. Photo / Getty Images
Nato’s 32 leaders are to meet on Wednesday to confirm a new 5% target for spending on defence and associated infrastructure.
US President Donald Trump will be among the attendees, days after America bombed Iranian nuclear sites.
The US President has criticised Israel for breaching a ceasefire agreement with Tehran, claiming both sides “don’t know what the f*** they’re doing” and demanding that Israel bring home its warplanes.
Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary-general, praised Trump for making Europe “pay in a big way” before the gathering.
“You will achieve something no American president in decades could get done,” Rutte wrote in a private message later shared online by the US President.
“It was not easy but we’ve got them all signed on to 5%!” the Nato chief added. “Europe is going to pay in a big way, as they should, and it will be your win.”
A Nato official confirmed to The Daily Telegraph that the message was genuine.
Trump nonetheless cast doubt over his support for Nato’s Article 5 mutual defence clause, which is designed to ensure that if an adversary attacks one member, then all others will come to its aid.
“There’s numerous definitions of Article 5. You know that, right? But I’m committed to being their friends ... I’ve become friends with many of those leaders, and I’m committed to helping them,” the US President told reporters before boarding Air Force One for Europe.
An RAF source told the Telegraph that the deal to secure fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear payloads showed the UK was “changing our posture to meet the threats of the day”.
The source added: “Our enemies should be a little bit more scared to see us getting tactical nuclear weapons that can be dropped on advancing troops. It should make their eyes water.”
Unlike the city-destroying strategic warheads carried on Britain’s Trident submarines, tactical nuclear weapons are designed for use on a much smaller scale, such as against enemy formations on a battlefield.
They allow atomic firepower to be used earlier in a conflict, before hostilities have escalated to a full-blown nuclear exchange.
