Europe’s First Nuclear Stealth Fighter Squadron: Dutch F-35 Unit 313 Armed and Ready For Atomic War

The Royal Netherlands Air Force 313 Squadron’s F-35 fifth generation fighters have fully taken over the country’s nuclear attack role as of June 1, taking over from F-16 fourth generation fighters acquired during the 1980s based at Volkel Air Base. This has made the country the first in Europe, and possibly the first outside the United States, to field a stealth fighter unit capable of launching nuclear attacks. Indeed, the U.S. Air Force’s F-35s themselves were only confirmed to have obtained a nuclear strike capability on March 9. Regarding this new capability, the Royal Netherlands Air Force commented: “The Dutch transition from the F-16 to the F-35 for the nuclear role within NATO was initiated many years ago. In the last couple of years, the F-35 underwent a comprehensive testing and certification process for the nuclear role of the Netherlands. The RNLAF already started using the F-35 for conventional tasks… NATO’s nuclear deterrence is essential to the security of the Alliance, and therefore also to the security of the Netherlands.” 

Although the Netherlands is not a nuclear weapons state, the United States retains a nuclear sharing agreement with it alongside other NATO members Belgium, Germany and Italy, allowing its forces to use American nuclear warheads stationed in the country in the event of a conflict. This arrangement has remained controversial due its de facto creation of new nuclear weapons states, with Western analysts having widely highlighted that it violates Articles I and II of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The nuclear strike capabilities of F-35s armed with B61 warheads has been a leading concern for Russia in particular, with reports from U.S. media outlets in November having highlighted that a single nuclear armed F-35 could kill over 310,000 inhabitants in Moscow or 360,000 in St Petersburg with a single attack. Nevertheless, the F-35 itself remains plagued with around 800 performance bugs and considered far from ready for high intensity combat, with the Pentagon having refused to accept new fighters since mid-late 2023 and making significant cuts to future orders. This is expected to limit the fighter’s capabilities on more complex nuclear strike missions for the foreseeable future.