At the NATO summit in The Hague on 24-25 June, member states collectively agreed to commit to investing 5% of GDP for defence and reiterated their support for Ukraine. Sir Keir Starmer followed up by announcing that the UK “will procure at least 12 F-35A fast jets, and we will make these UK aircraft available to bear nuclear weapons if necessary”. He stated, “It marks the return of the RAF to nuclear deterrence for the first time in three decades, representing the biggest strengthening of our deterrence posture in a generation”. The RAF added that these jets “will be based at RAF Marham and support the stand-up of a third front line F-35 Lightning Squadron.”
In mid-July, a specialist C-17A Globemaster transporter travelled from New Mexico to RAF Lakenheath with a cargo which arms control experts claim included B61-12 nuclear bombs. These weapons were developed to enable ‘tactical’ use against a limited number of enemy targets such as military installations or even conventionally-armed invading forces. The hostile detonation of even a few such weapons would nevertheless risk rapid escalation to all-out nuclear war.
This nuclear transfer contravenes Article 1 of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which the USA and UK are party, which “mandates that each state with nuclear weapons that is party to the treaty may not transfer nuclear weapons or explosive devices or control over such weapons or devices to any recipient, directly or indirectly…”.
Under the NPT, China, France, Russia, the UK and the USA are the only states accredited to possess nuclear weapons. They all profess conformity to the Articles, including Article 1, and have even repeatedly said that “Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” Nevertheless, and in spite of claiming to accept ‘deterrence’ as a restraining force against proliferation, all five States – as well as India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea (which are not party to the NPT) – have indulged in developing more advanced nuclear weapons and delivery systems launched from land, sea or air, as well as sophisticated defence systems all with the aim of making nuclear wars ‘winnable’.
The Medact Nuclear Weapons Group, the UK affiliate of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), unreservedly denounces the delivery to the RAF of any jets intended to deploy any nuclear weapons from British soil. We consider the advice issued by the International Commission on Radiological Protection for the medical management of victims of a nuclear war to be wholly inadequate*. The health effects of nuclear war are too profound to be amenable to such advice. In response, IPPNW and the World Medical Editors are calling for a renewed focus on nuclear weapons as a global health crisis, urging a radical rethinking of our approach to these weapons before they destroy us.
*The best thing you can do after a nuclear detonation is go inside. Put as much material as possible between you and the radioactive material outside.
