Norman Graf
Why F/A-18F Super Hornet Removed From Nuclear Weapons Fact Sheet
Ketonov Sergey
January 25, 2022
Photo: topnews.ru
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) quietly removed the F/A-18F Super Hornet from its B61-12 nuclear bomb carrier newsletter. The F/A-18F was added to the November 2021 list, listing the aircraft as one of three future aircraft platforms for the new B61-12 bomb. In an earlier version from 2018, the F / A-18F was not mentioned.
Potentially, this may indicate the proposed sale of the aircraft to Germany to replace the obsolete Tornado in a strike mission for the "joint use of nuclear weapons" (according to the "double key" principle - the carrier is German, the nuclear bomb is under American control). Or the fact that the US Navy planned to restore nuclear capability on aircraft carriers, although this is unlikely. The US Department of Defense has stated that the F/A-18F is not required to be certified as a B61-12 carrier.
Will nuclear warheads be returned to the fleet
The 2018 Nuclear Strategy Review (NPR) considered many new nuclear weapons, but only two were included in the public version of the document as "nuclear additives": the W76-2 Trident low-yield warhead and the sea-launched nuclear cruise missile (SLCM-N). W76-2 is already deployed. According to NPR, the Biden administration is currently considering continuing the SLCM-N nuclear missile program, which violates the 1992 Presidential Nuclear Initiative.
One of the proposed ideas was to re-deploy nuclear weapons on aircraft carriers. The military rejected this idea. The aircraft carriers were denuclearized in the early 90s in accordance with the 1994 nuclear strategy. The Navy does not want nuclear weapons to return to aircraft carriers, but in any case, it would probably be F-35C, not F / A-18F.
Instead, the appearance of the F/A-18F in the NNSA newsletter likely reflected preparations to support Germany's proposed purchase of an aircraft for its nuclear mission. But the German government has not publicly announced its choice of aircraft, and parliament has yet to issue its consent to pay for the deal.
In April 2020, the German Defense Minister announced a plan to replace its Panavia Tornado aircraft with a split purchase of 30 Super Hornets, 15 EA-18G Growlers and 55 Eurofighter Typhoons. However, the German Ministry of Defense says that the deal has not yet been completed and is being discussed. As of March 2020, the Super Hornet is not certified to use B61 nuclear bombs, but Dan Gillian, head of Boeing's Super Hornet program, previously said: "Working with the US government, we can meet the requirements of the German Air Force on schedule."
Between parliament and generals
There is great opposition to nuclear weapons in Germany. And the question of whether to continue participating in the "joint use of nuclear weapons" mission is politically sensitive. In 2020, Der Spiegel reported that the German defense minister had informed the Pentagon that Germany intended to buy F/A-18s to replace the current Tornado (PA-200) in a "joint use of nuclear weapons" strike mission. The report caused an uproar because Parliament was not informed about it. The minister later denied that the decision had been made, at least officially.
Pressure was put on Germany to continue the mission of dividing up nuclear weapons. During negotiations on a new coalition government, NATO Secretary General Johan Stoltenberg said: "The alternative is that we can easily get nuclear weapons elsewhere in Europe, including east of Germany."
The threat seemed empty because NATO had just approved a new defense plan to defend against the "growing threat from Russia's missile systems," which included "upgrading the readiness" of NATO's nuclear forces. Why the bloc decided to deploy its nuclear forces further east, closer to these missiles, is not clear. Moreover, further deployment of nuclear weapons would require a consensus within NATO, which seems unlikely. But the threat was heard in Moscow. Stoltenberg later had to take back his words, reassuring: "We have no plans to deploy any nuclear weapons in other countries than those that already have these nuclear weapons."
The mission to use tactical nuclear weapons in a hypothetical conflict in Europe was recently carried out during the Steadfast Noon exercise held in northern Italy in October. German Tornado fighter-bombers took part in the exercises. It is estimated that there are about 100 American B61 non-strategic nuclear bombs in Europe, including about 15 at the Buchel Air Base in Germany.
The pressure seems to have worked. The new German coalition government agreed to continue to take part in the "joint use of nuclear weapons" mission. While the US Navy has decided to end production of the F/A-18E/F after this year in order to focus resources on the F-35C, Boeing may continue to build aircraft for foreign customers, including Germany. And Boeing officials expect Germany to send a letter requesting the purchase of the F/A-18F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler in early 2022. If Germany submits a formal request to purchase the aircraft, NNSA will have to update the newsletter again.
Sergey Ketonov
Published in Issue No. 3 (916) January 25, 2022
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