4w ago

UK to purchase F-35As and join NATO nuclear mission as Government steps up national security and delivers defence dividend

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4w ago

UK to purchase F-35As and join NATO nuclear mission as Government steps up national security and delivers defence dividend

www.gov.uk /government/news/uk-to-purchase-f-35as-and-join-nato-nuclear-mission-as-government-steps-up-national-security-and-delivers-defence-dividend

49 comments

Good to know Lockheed Martin has the same strangle hold on the UK as the US. You guys might want to fix that before Nigel or Boris make themselves king or supreme chancellor.
- Considering how well the F35 did against Iran, I expect more F35 purchases from Europe going forward. I’m not aware of any European jets with comparable stealth and radar capabilities.
  
  F35 are too expensive and if you buy american you dont support domestic weapon manufacturers
  
  There's no equivalent jet in general. And for good reason - the requirements were insane and the development process was both massively slow and unfathomably expensive.
  In the long run, you have to wonder if sensors will move to any number of alternatives to radar reflections, but word is that stealth is still pretty (war)game-breaking ATM.
  It's just that the US has privileged access to all the software...
  
  Didn't Israel lose one? And this further sinks you into a position of reliance on empire America. Like who are you going to fight with these? Iran?
  OK I thought just the photos were AI. Looks like they've yet to loose one.
They just need to supports Trumps nobel peace prize and their journey to the dark side will be complete. Starmer will be allowed to come to the US and pick up the papers at Trumps feet every day from now on.
It was a bit odd that they were going to use the B varient even for their land-based fleet.
- I think the advantage there is they don't need a full airfield to operate from, but if the UK has lost all it's airfields, somebody's getting nuked.
  
  Unless the US is the enemy and just disables the UK's fighters, stops maintenance and support, etc.
Looks like the arms race is ramping up.
So basically, nuclear-armed planes and new warheads. That's good. It was almost all on the French before. I wonder if Canada could sign on to collaborate and host UK nukes.
The F-35 thing is questionable, but lots of non-US countries depend on them and manufacture the parts (and they're great planes). In the long run I wonder if a custom ROM for the things might be in the cards, in defiance of the current agreements.
- Canada 100% needs nukes. I used to be against it but Trump's bullying has changed my opinion of that.
  
  Proliferation is bad, though. If there's any chance we can host one of the existing nuclear powers like the UK we should. Failing that, it becomes a much more difficult debate.
Uk shoudln't be allowed to harry jeta that can carry nukes. Israel should bomb the uk \s
Good to see UK step up in this regard, Europe needs to bolster its own nuclear deterrent independent of the USA as the USA is no longer a trustable partner.
- I'm not sure if buying American equipment is a good way to rid ourselves of our dependence on America.
  It allows America to control our supply of spare parts and software updates, and it doesn't bolster the European defence industry.
  
  A lot of the F-35 parts are produced in Europe, it's mostly the software that is a concern. But it's not like there are any alternatives right now. Developing a new European plane will take decades.
  
  Obviously having an EU alternative to the F35 would be ideal, but it will take a long time and a lot of money to develop. For now there isn't another option.
- Yeah bolster your military with a jet fighter that requires updates from a single source controlled by another country. I'm sure there will never be a problem with that arrangement
- By buying American aircraft?
  
  As opposed to what alternative? Do you have a European 5th generation stealth fighter bomber in your pocket that you've been keeping secret?
- Never mind the American planes... these planes if nuclear-armed will be armed with American-owned bombs that will require American authorisation to arm.
- The USA can remotely deactivate those airplanes though.
  
  That's never been verified and pretty much every European defense expert has stated that it's not the case.

49 comments