UK to expand nuclear deterrent with US fighter jets capable of carrying warheads – always only with US go-ahead

The Guardian summarizes the UK’s nuclear weapons extension planning.

At the moment, the UK’s nuclear deterrent force is exclusively based on submarines. These systems are considered as strategic arms and probably have less use for limited nuclear warfare on battlefields.

The UK considers the threat from Russia as considerable and would, within the NATO protection strategy, purchase new systems for short range nuclear attack weapons. Therefore, the UK now is buying US F 35 A fighter jets that are able to launch conventional or nuclear missiles.

The current submarine missiles that we know are the Trident systems, produced by the US, by Lockheed Martin, serviced by the US when the missiles are shipped annually to the US.

The nuclear warheads are said to be British, as a delivery from the US to the UK would violate the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The new F 35 and assorted missiles are as well US products and will be serviced as well by the US.

The Guardian considers this new equipment as “the most significant change in Britain’s nuclear posture since the end of the cold war, with US bombs set to return to the UK,”

Indeed, if the UK will receive US nuclear bombs, this fact is a complete and profound new strategy in the UK’s nuclear armament process. US nuclear bombs on US planes with US missiles?

The Guardian reports: “US nuclear weapons have not been stored in the UK since the last left RAF Lakenheath in 2008 – while Britain has not had its own air-launched nuclear weapons since 1998, when the WE177 was scrapped by the then Labour government.”

As a result, since 1998, the UK has four submarines with some US made and serviced missiles to which nuclear warheads can be added. Now, the UK is buying 12 F 35 and some US missiles. And the Guardian continues: “The F-35As will be based at RAF Marham in Norfolk and will join Nato’s dual capable aircraft (DCA) programme – part of the alliance’s longstanding strategy to deter adversaries with a shared, US-led nuclear umbrella.”

The F 35s will go nuclear only with US prior consent, but will not fly without the UK’s pilots. Such arrangements exist with Italy, Germany and other countries. The question that remains is to what extent the nuclear warheads are really British? Probably it is a US nuclear warhead, reading the Guardian’s article to the end. To comply with the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the warheads, even if stored in the UK must stay under US control.