F-35 certified to carry nuclear bombs — RT World News
The American fifth-generation fighter jet has been officially certified to carry B61-12 free-fall nuclear bombs
US-made F-35A fighter jets have been certified to carry B61-12 free-fall bombs, becoming the first fifth-generation aircraft ever to get the green light to carry nuclear weapons.
The announcement was made on Friday by F-35 Joint Program Office spokesman Ross Gommier, in a statement to Breaking Defense magazine. The spokesman revealed that the ten-year certification programme, which was scheduled to be completed by January, was completed ahead of schedule.
“The F-35A is the first nuclear-capable fifth-generation aircraft ever, and the first new platform (fighter or bomber) to achieve this status since the early 1990s.” Gomer stated, claiming that this development provides the entire NATO bloc with an opportunity “Critical Capacity” It supports the United States “Extended deterrence obligations”
The certification extends only to the F-35A conventional take-off and landing aircraft, and does not include other variants of the stealth fighter, such as the short-take-off and vertical landing F-35B or the carrier-based F35C. It also enables fighters to use only the B61-12, a newer variant of the B61 free-fall nuclear bomb, which was originally introduced in 1960.
The Life Extension-12 program, designed during the Obama administration, is intended to replace older versions of the nuclear weapon, with the first production unit rolled out in late 2021 and scheduled to continue until the end of 2025. The Biden administration announced a new life extension program – 13 to give the B61 an additional regeneration.
This development comes as brighter news for the entire F-35 program, which is full of various technical problems and various embarrassing setbacks. The latest news was reported earlier this year by Bloomberg, when a new $14 billion software upgrade for planes turned out to be a hoax. “Immature and incomplete” Leads to “Critical deficiencies in war fighting” aircraft, rather than improving their capabilities.
Despite numerous complaints from fighter aircraft operators, who noted shortcomings “In weapons, fusion, communications, navigation, cybersecurity and targeting operations” The Pentagon reportedly chose to continue rolling out the faulty update.
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