Source: World Wide Web
The US Air Force recently announced that it has completed the compatibility test of the new nuclear bomb and the F-35A fighter. The US media used the F-35 as "one step closer" to carrying nuclear bombs to describe this progress, and also speculated about the future deployment plan of the US military, believing that the F-35 will become the main nuclear strike fighter of the US military.
The U.S. Military Times reported on October 27 that the U.S. Air Force recently completed the compatibility flight test of the B61-12 nuclear bomb with the F-35A fighter, paving the way for the fighter to begin to carry nuclear weapons, and the F-35 fighter will need to pass the nuclear operation certification next.
F-35 fighter jets dropped B61-12 nuclear bombs
The U.S. Air Force announced on Oct. 6 that two U.S. F-35A fighter jets had conducted the first actual drop test of a B61-12 nuclear bomb at a test site in Nevada earlier this year. The nuclear bomb is the latest nuclear weapon in the U.S. military, which plans to produce 480 B61-12 nuclear bombs in fiscal years 2022 through 2025. Some U.S. experts estimate that the U.S. currently has a total of 680 B61 nuclear bombs, of which 230 are used on non-strategic platforms such as fighter jets.
The F-35's "nuclear ambitions" are part of the U.S. nuclear weapons modernization program, which will cost $634 billion from 2021 to 2030 alone.
The report mentioned that the Other obsolete aircraft of the U.S. Air Force, the F-15E and F-16C/D fighters, currently have a "dual capability" (conventional strike capability and nuclear strike capability) and will be able to carry B61-12 nuclear bombs. The addition of F-35A fighters provides the Air Force with a quick, stealthy option to allow nuclear weapons to penetrate modern air defense systems. The F-35A will replace the older jet fighter as the main fighter with nuclear strike capability.
The F-35 fighter jet will last longer than the B-2 stealth bomber, the main stealth fighter currently on nuclear strike missions, but it's unclear how many F-35 fighters will take on that role. The U.S. Air Force said: "Not all fighters will be able to carry nuclear weapons after certification." "Only those units that participate in nuclear strike missions are given the hardware and manpower to configure and maintain F-35 fighter jets with nuclear strike capabilities."
B61-12 nuclear bomb
Hans Christensen, director of the American Federation of Scientists and Information Program, said the units could include troops deployed at Rakenheath Air Force Base in the United Kingdom and Aviano Air Base in Italy. But he also mentioned that while the U.S. Air Force regularly uses C-17 transport aircraft to transport nuclear weapons around the world, the Air Force has not used fighter jets to deliver nuclear weapons since the 1960s.
The F-35 will play a key role in the Indo-Pacific region in the coming decades, and it remains to be seen whether the United States will choose to extend the dual-capable fighter's mission to the region.
For the development and deployment of the B61-12 nuclear bomb in the United States, there are many voices of opposition and doubt in the United States and abroad. The Federation of American Scientists warned back in 2014 that new improvements to the B61 bomb could violate domestic approvals. Mikhail Ulyanov, Director of the Department of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, believes that B61-12 bombs would also violate the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons given the new capabilities and their planned uses.