Britain is to buy 12 fighter jets capable of dropping nuclear bombs, Keir Starmer will announce tomorrow.
The F-35A aircraft, which can also deliver conventional weapons, will be a major boost for this country’s nuclear deterrent.
The Prime Minister will make the announcement at the Nato summit in The Hague.
Downing Street said the move was ‘the biggest strengthening of Britain’s nuclear posture in a generation’, and will also see the UK become part of Nato’s airborne nuclear mission.
It came as the Government warned that the nation must ‘actively prepare’ for a ‘wartime scenario’ at home for ‘the first time in many years’.
The F-35A move is a major victory for the Royal Air Force, which has long pushed for a return of its nuclear capabilities. The last British air-dropped nuclear weapon was withdrawn from service after the end of the Cold War.
Since then, the UK’s nuclear deterrent has been carried exclusively by the Royal Navy’s submarines, which the Government has also promised to invest in renewing with four new vessels.
The jets are a variant of the F-35Bs the UK already uses and will be based at RAF Marham. Worth around £100million each, they will be in the air within the next year or two.
