The now deliberate buy of F-35As, which is able to be part of the NATO nuclear mission, has led headlines, however the UK’s F-35Bs nonetheless lack any standoff strike weapons.
As UK provider strike approaches the declaration of full working functionality (FOC) with the deliberate simultaneous deployment of 24 UK F-35Bs on board HMS Prince of Wales, it’s notable that, even six years after being declared fight prepared, the UK Lightning Drive’s solely choice in terms of truly putting targets is the Paveway IV guided bomb.
Although Paveway IV, which makes use of the five hundred lb Mark 82 bomb as a base, is a really succesful weapon that includes twin mode GPS and laser steering, it’s nonetheless nonetheless a gravity bomb with a restricted vary. To ship Paveway IVs on a goal, an plane should strategy to inside 15 to 18 miles, nicely throughout the attain of even short-range air protection missiles. The F-35, as an plane constructed from the bottom as much as be stealthy, is extra suited to this kind of mission than most, however it nonetheless locations the plane and its pilot at better danger.
The F-35 Block 4 improve is meant to herald a wave of recent weapons integrations, together with the Meteor air to air missile in addition to the UK’s SPEAR 3 (Choose Precision Results At Vary Functionality 3) missile. SPEAR 3 is meant to incorporate a small 90-100 kg multi-mode air to floor missile in addition to the SPEAR EW with an digital warfare payload. Nonetheless, although flight trials of this missile are underway on the Eurofighter Storm, integration onto the F-35B is just not anticipated till a minimum of 2028 and doubtlessly even later. Integration of UK weapons onto F-35B is a hotly debated subject – with integration managed by the U.S., UK weapons are pretty low on the precedence listing.
Even when F-35B features the SPEAR missile, the comparatively small dimension of the weapon limits it to a smaller warhead and a most vary between 80 and 100 miles. It will likely be a welcome addition to the UK’s stockpile each for the F-35B and for Storm, however it nonetheless leaves functionality gaps for provider strike.
Storm Shadow, which has been fielded by the Storm FGR4 because the retirement of the RAF’s Twister GR4s, is just not deliberate for integration on F-35B. Although the weapon is at the moment the UK’s premier lengthy vary strike weapon, that is considerably comprehensible as Storm Shadow itself is meant to get replaced by the mid 2030s by means of the UK-France Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon (FC/ASW) collaborative program. Nonetheless, below present proposals there isn’t any public plan to combine FC/ASW onto the F-35, leaving it solely to the Storm and, finally, GCAP.
If FC/ASW might be built-in onto F-35, that might absolutely be a welcome functionality, however it might nonetheless go away true standoff strike off the desk for the UK’s F-35s till nicely into the following decade. By the point FC/ASW is predicted to be prepared, the oldest F-35Bs within the fleet could be over 20 years previous.
Joint Strike Missile
Within the meantime, integration of the Kongsberg Joint Strike Missile (JSM) onto the F-35 household is already underway. JSM may be carried internally within the payload bays of F-35As and F-35Cs, however should be carried externally on F-35B. This functionality is deliberate for Italy’s F-35Bs which, like these within the UK, are meant to deploy from plane carriers. In comparison with SPEAR 3, which is the closest factor to standoff strike within the UK F-35 pipeline, JSM incorporates a warhead with twice the explosive yield and a most vary in extra of 3 times additional.
Procuring the JSM as we speak wouldn’t provide a standoff strike functionality tomorrow, however its entry into service may doubtless be measured in months quite than years.
For the Royal Navy, who collectively crew all UK F-35 squadrons, JSM wouldn’t even be a totally new missile. Three Royal Navy warships now carry the ship-launched Naval Strike Missile (NSM) upon which the JSM relies, launched as a ‘stopgap’ measure between the retirement of the RN’s historic Harpoon shares and the anticipated arrival of FC/ASW.
First view of Royal Navy warship geared up with the Naval Strike Missile.@HMSSomerset inbound to Devonport this morning following a go to to Haakonsvern naval base in 🇳🇴Norway the place the missile canisters had been mounted for the primary time.
By way of @Rockhoppas pic.twitter.com/uAHSa8s1UE
— Navy Lookout (@NavyLookout) December 18, 2023
As an extra bonus, JSM, as a Norwegian weapon, could be one other space of commonality between the UK and Norway in addition to a possible bargaining chip in ongoing procurement negotiations. Norway is known to be extremely concerned with procuring the British Kind 26 frigate design, doubtlessly in a package deal alongside AW101 Merlin anti-submarine warfare helicopters. Norway already operates the Merlin, constructed within the UK, as a search and rescue helicopter.
Each nations are, in fact, members of NATO, however they’re moreover linked by means of the Joint Expeditionary Drive (JEF). JEF is a multi-national army partnership of ten Northern and Jap European nations led by the UK meant to enrich NATO, although it may additionally act independently of the alliance.
.@KOGDefence and @BAES_Maritime have signed a cooperation settlement on board @HMSStAlbans alongside in 🇳🇴Oslo.
Will additional industrial collaboration to help the defence necessities of Norway, the UK and different allies.
Kind 26 frigate mannequin in picture that includes 16 x NSM.… pic.twitter.com/TsWzVL6U77
— Navy Lookout (@NavyLookout) Might 9, 2025
Although JSMs could be relegated to exterior carriage on F-35Bs, the JSM is designed to have a low radar cross-section. The plane could be much less stealthy than in a clear configuration, however nonetheless a lot stealthier than a legacy plane with an identical payload. Exterior carriage is already routinely practiced by UK F-35Bs to hold the ASRAAM air to air missile, in addition to Paveway IVs in ‘beast mode’. JSM’s vary, permitting for standoff strikes, moreover lowers the danger of detection by hostile radar.
JSM, which may be built-in on the Storm fleet, could be the Royal Air Drive’s first return to an anti-ship missile functionality (JSM is a twin function land assault and anti-ship cruise missile) for the primary time because the retirement of Sea Eagle in 2000.
Different Choices
The obvious different to JSM could be the AGM-158C Lengthy Vary Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) together with its land assault AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Floor Standoff Missile (JASSM) forebear. Additionally carried externally on F-35B, the LRASM/JASSM presents a a lot bigger warhead in comparison with JSM in addition to a better vary. The specs of the 2 weapons are totally different sufficient that the U.S. has actually procured each, however the UK’s monetary reaches are rather more restricted.
Nonetheless, this selection would create two additional missile sorts in service quite than a single kind. It could additionally not have the shared parts and design ethos as JSM has with NSM. When it comes to the broader air drive, JASSM would in some methods create an overlap with Storm Shadow.
“The #JASSM XR offers the warfighter a 1,000lb warhead stealth missile functionality with an excessive standoff vary..whereas sustaining compatibility with the identical platforms that JASSM and #LRASM have as we speak, together with the F/A-18 and the quickly to be added F-35″ ~ Lockheed Martin pic.twitter.com/ccPnrrMTFJ
— AirPower 2.0 (MIL_STD) (@AirPowerNEW1) September 16, 2024
On the upside, through the use of a design in in depth service with the U.S. army, there’s a good likelihood to ‘piggyback’ on the in depth improvement pathways provided by the big U.S. protection finances.
SEAD/DEAD
Suppression and/or destruction of enemy air defenses was beforehand the remit of the RAF’s Air Launched Anti-Radiation Missile, or ALARM. This novel design was by no means built-in on Storm, and was retired in 2013 regardless of being newer than the AGM-88 Excessive-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) nonetheless in U.S. service.
ALARM featured an built-in parachute that might deploy if the radar the weapon had locked onto was shut down. When the radar was finally fired up once more, ALARM would re-acquire the goal, lower the chute, and fireplace a secondary rocket motor and resume the assault.
The Nineties noticed UK aquire extra enhanced Paveway II and extra trendy goal designators from the US, and the MBDA Sea Eagle sea skimming subsonic ASuM was built-in with Buccaneer, Twister and Sea Harrier.
MBDA ALARM anti-radiation missiles had been built-in with Twister for SEAD. pic.twitter.com/VVbQWgjs54
— JamesFennell.bsky.social (@FennellJW) December 2, 2024
No anti-radiation missile at the moment serves within the RAF, with the SEAD and DEAD missions counting on Paveway, Brimstone and Storm Shadow weapons which require prior intelligence and surveillance to determine radar threats earlier than launch. When SPEAR EW was first talked about, many had hoped it might be a approach again in direction of this functionality for the UK, however as a substitute it’s centered on the (additionally vital) jamming and decoy function just like the ADM-160 MALD.
Fewer choices can be found to fulfil this function, with notions of European constructed designs nonetheless a few years away from fruition. The one life like contender could be the AGM-88G AARGM-ER (Superior Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Prolonged Vary), a improvement of the HARM. It’s regrettable {that a} UK developed munition like ALARM, which was reportedly nicely regarded for its capabilities, was uncared for and has now basically been misplaced to historical past, with the one different being a brand new variant of a missile that actually pre-dated it.
Glide Bombs
Even with out propulsion, wing kits can add a major quantity of vary to gravity drop weapons. These at the moment are seen used extensively on the Small Diameter Bomb collection of weapons. Each the GBU-39 SDB and the GBU-53 StormBreaker, or SDB II, are built-in on the F-35 and eight of the weapons may be carried internally. The deployable wings imply that, when launched at enough altitude and pace, these bombs can attain ranges not incomparable to these proposed for SPEAR 3. In reality, there’s a proposed unpowered variant of SPEAR 3 which ditches the rocket motor in favor of a better payload capability, however there’s little indication that this has been funded past producer proposals.
For present shares of Paveway IV, a major functionality enhance might be achieved by means of the procurement of LongShot glide kits which might add a deployable wing module to the bomb. Studies of this method re-emerged when Paveway IV was included in shipments to Ukraine, however no additional speak has been obvious. Paveway IV with glide kits alone may go some option to solidifying the UK provider strike group’s capacity to strike, with the weapon confirmed in opposition to each land and sea targets.
A wing was at all times thought of as a part of the event path of Paveway IV, though it doesn’t look like of a excessive precedence in the meanwhile. One of many unique choices was a Leigh Aerosystems/Lockheed Martin Lengthy Shot wing package, however there are different choices now out there.
— Assume Defence (@thinkdefence) June 22, 2025
This improve would additionally, in principle, be out there now, with F-35Bs already capable of deploy Paveway IV. There could be no want to attend for brand new software program or the Block 4 improve to roll out, which even when it does arrive would require all beforehand constructed airframes to be upgraded to the usual. That is one motive why the UK’s sluggish procurement of F-35s is just not as ill-considered as it might generally appear.
Conclusion
There are arguments each for and in opposition to the UK’s F-35A choice, however it’s debatable from nearly any perspective that the transfer is just not one that ought to have taken precedence over many different procurements. With some pretty easy procurements of recent weapon shares, and even simply further upgrades for present weapons, the UK may rapidly add an enormous credibility enhance to the costly provider program whereas on the similar time diversifying its choices for air-delivered strikes typically.
The RAF, when destroying floor targets, has only a few weapon choices to select from in comparison with a lot of its allied air forces. Whereas the weapons it does have are thought of excellent, the shortage of choices can result in mismatched deployments the place a particular weapon needs to be used regardless of not being ideally suited to the strike. That is inefficient each by way of value in addition to ammunition administration.
Having UK pilots skilled to make use of these further weapon sorts has the added benefit of permitting the sharing of weapons stockpiles between allies, particularly inside NATO. At current, the UK’s weapons are nearly distinctive. No different NATO nation makes use of the Paveway IV, although Paveway IV kits may in principle be fitted to different nations’ Mark 82 bomb casings. Comparably, although, different variants of the Paveway are rather more frequent, whereas the Joint Direct Assault Munition (JDAM) is nearly ubiquitous all through NATO.
Brimstone and Storm Shadow are operated by, or are deliberate to be operated by, a small variety of NATO allies, however nowhere close to to the identical scale as many U.S. weapon sorts. There are, in fact, many advantages to homegrown munitions improvement, however with growing tensions and the necessity for capabilities now and never sooner or later the UK’s most suitable choice could also be to grit its enamel and purchase from abroad to enrich its sovereign designs.
