F-35A Is Officially Certified For Nuclear Strike. . .This capability can also be used in other theaters, including the Korean peninsula and the wider Pacific region

F-35A Is Officially Certified For Nuclear Strike

Confirmation that the F-35A is cleared to carry B61-12 nuclear bombs has come — a revelation that will complicate Russia’s defensive planning.

BY THOMAS NEWDICK

1:52 PM EST MAR 9  

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The F-35’s added survivability will complicate Moscow’s ability to defend against these strikes and whatever predictive modeling they have on the probability of those strikes succeeding will have to be adjusted accordingly. 

• This capability can also be used in other theaters, including the Korean peninsula and the wider Pacific region, but there isn’t a similar standing tactical nuclear weapons delivery mission there as there is in Europe.

A spokesman from the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), Russ Goemaere, said yesterday that the certification was achieved on October 12, according to a report from Breaking Defense. 

• The milestone was achieved earlier than planned — the U.S. Air Force had previously announced that it aimed to have the F-35A certified to carry the B61-12 by January 2024.

We reported last November about a post on X from Johan van Deventer, the commander of the Dutch Air Combat Command, who stated that the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) had received “initial certification for the deterrence mission with the F-35.”

In response to that statement, The War Zone asked the U.S. Air Force for an update on the status of F-35A’s nuclear capability and whether operational certification had come early, as the Dutch tweet suggested. The Air Force did not respond. . .

One of the U.S. Air Force units that seemingly will have nuclear-roled F-35As is the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath in England. 

There have been increasing hints that the United Kingdom will host U.S.-owned tactical nuclear bombs again after the last examples were withdrawn from there in 2008. You can read all about the implications of this change here.

A map of current and former locations where B61 bombs are located in Europe under the NATO nuclear weapon sharing arrangements and a table breaking down estimated total bombs at each current site as of 2022. FAS

Generally, however, there remains much more secrecy about the status of the B61-12 bombs that will provide the F-35A’s nuclear payload.

As of 2023, the Federation of American Scientists assessed that there were likely around 100 of the ‘legacy’ B61-3 and B61-4 bombs deployed in Europe, where they are available for the U.S. Air Force as well as certain allied air forces, under a NATO nuclear sharing agreement arrangement.