The F-35 Is Now the World’s First Stealth Fighter Certified to Carry a Nuke

News released yesterday reveals the F-35a Lightning II stealth fighters have been certified Nuclear capable as of October 12, 2023 , I'm sure we'll all sleep safer in our beds knowing that.

The F-35 is now a “dual-capable” platform being it's the first Stealth Fighter capable of carrying Nukes , it will have a payload of 2 B61-12 nuclear gravity bombs so perhaps Mr Putin won't be sleeping quite as safely in his bed knowing the US has that particular stealthy tool in its Nuclear armoury.

This bombshell—dropped by F-35’s Joint Program Office (JPO)—was reported by Breaking Defense Friday morning. JPO spokesman Russ Goemaere stated that the certification had actually been awarded months earlier and far ahead of schedule.

This means that F-35As will now be considered “dual-capable” platforms useable in both conventional and nuclear warfare—in the latter role carrying up to two B61-12s internally and using its suite of ground-scanning sensors and datalinks to target the bomb more precisely than other B61-delivering aircraft.

Furthermore, while the U.S. Air Force has long operated conventional F-15E and F-16 fighters with the necessary ‘N-wiring’ to employ nuclear weapons, the F-35A is the first ever stealth fighter equipped as such.

While stealth is not strictly impenetrable—there are tactics to combat stealth fighters—a stealth fighter has dramatically greater odds of both reaching its target to deliver a gravity bomb and making it back to base than a non-stealth fighter, which will assuredly be detected from much further away (unless enemy radars have already been thoroughly suppressed).
www.popularmechanics.com...

Good times.

a reply to: gortex

perhaps Mr Putin won't be sleeping quite as safely in his bed knowing the US has that particular stealthy tool in its Nuclear armoury.

With Biden now having the power to use nuclear weapons in a 'first strike' scenario nobody on the planet should be sleeping easy.

a reply to: nugget1

With Biden now having the power to use nuclear weapons in a 'first strike' scenario nobody on the planet should be sleeping easy.

The only country threatening a first strike has been Russia , your politically motivated statement is to be expected I suppose but pointless nonetheless.

a reply to: gortex

As cool as that is, it is also frightening that something with such a minimum radar ping could be carried a nuclear capability weapon load. A sain person would find fear in such a capability and also a sain person wouldn't do such a thing. Kinda a double edge sword as intended with the whole mutual destruction.

originally posted by: nugget1
a reply to: gortex

perhaps Mr Putin won't be sleeping quite as safely in his bed knowing the US has that particular stealthy tool in its Nuclear armoury.

With Biden now having the power to use nuclear weapons in a 'first strike' scenario nobody on the planet should be sleeping easy.

Both the US and the USSR (now Russia) have had a theoretical first strike capability against each other since the Cold War days. Both sides have negotiated the numbers of deployed strategic nuclear warheads downwards from around 25,000 to 30,000 each back then to about 1,700 each now. Those are the ones that could theoretically be used in a first strike. In nuclear war fighting theory, a first strike would be targeted against an opponents nuclear war fighting capability and not their population. That's called a counter-force strike. The idea being to take out a sufficient number of the the opponent's missiles, bombers, and control centers that they could not mount a coordinated counter attack.

In those circumstances, the nation that was struck first would find itself without most of its retaliatory capability gone but with most of its population untouched. Theoretically, that would leave them with only the option of retaliating against their opponents population centers (the "soft" targets). That's called a counter-value strategy. But since the side that struck first would still retain superior nuclear war fighting capability, they would theoretically be able to come out on top in a counter-value fight where each side is trading city for city.

The US and Russia are the only two nuclear powers on the planet that have built and maintain a first strike, counter-force capability, and F-35s don't figure into it. They're not big enough and fast enough and can't fly far enough without refueling. They're basically configured for tactical, or battlefield nuclear weapons.

a reply to: nugget1

He's always had the capability. The B-2 is nuclear capable, and stealthier than the F-35.

a reply to: budzprime69

You think the B-2 isn't nuclear capable?

a reply to: Zaphod58

Stealth fighter, not stealth bomber.

a reply to: WannabeeAuCourant

No kidding. But the F-35 being nuclear certified changes absolutely nothing. It doesn’t suddenly give us a first strike weapon. We’ve had that for over 30 years. It doesn’t suddenly change things because we have a VVLO platform capable of carrying nuclear weapons. We’ve had that for over thirty years. It doesn’t suddenly change the balance of power, because we’ve had this capability for over thirty years.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: nugget1

With Biden now having the power to use nuclear weapons in a 'first strike' scenario nobody on the planet should be sleeping easy.

The only country threatening a first strike has been Russia , your politically motivated statement is to be expected I suppose but pointless nonetheless.

Biden is now just as dangerous to the rest of the world as he is American citizens.

a reply to: Dalamax

BS. This doesn’t change a damn thing. We’ve had a more potent strike capability for over 30 years. This is nothing but a tactical battlefield capability that will replace the F-16 nuclear capability.

a reply to: Dalamax

Biden is now just as dangerous to the rest of the world as he is American citizens.

Biden may not be great but he's nowhere near as dangerous as the other guy who gave classified information to Russia endangering both the US and its allies.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Swan Lake.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Good points 💯

I thought the F-22 was able to carry the B-61 internally?

a reply to: FloridaManMatty

It can fit inside the bay but the F-22 was never certified to carry it. They don’t have the wiring or switches for it.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: FloridaManMatty

It can fit inside the bay but the F-22 was never certified to carry it. They don’t have the wiring or switches for it.

Well dang… Any particular reason they didn’t pursue that option? All I can think of as I sit here is that the focus would be on keeping the F-22 strictly for air to air mission sets. That’s interesting either way.

a reply to: gortex

Just saw that the F-35 also now has a true hypersonic missile being made for it. It will have a range of some 150 to 200 miles.

a reply to: FloridaManMatty

They were going to when it was the F/A-22, but then the JSF came along and the strike mission was extraneous.