Nobody wanted to use nukes but we needed them, says former Tornado pilot
The Royal Air Force is set to carry air-launched nuclear weapons - but it will not be the first time it has done so.
The Blue Steel rocket-propelled nuclear armed stand-off missile, which entered service in 1963, was carried by the RAF's V bomber force.
It comprised 50 Valiants, 70 Vulcans and 39 Victors at its height in June 1964.
The missile was designed to reach Mach 3 and was dropped by a Vulcan bomber.
Another munition, this time dating back to the 1980s and 90s, was the WE.177 tactical nuclear bomb.
Air Marshal (Ret'd) Greg Bagwell told BFBS Forces News: "There were a couple of ways of dropping it, and there were a couple of versions… one of which was what's known as an airburst weapon."
The former Tornado pilot explained that after it was dropped it was designed to detonate a few hundred feet off the ground and create what’s known as an airburst - with the crew having flown just four miles away by the time it went off.
But he said it was not tested, and no one had to drop it.
There was another version where it was dropped from around 200ft, and had a small parachute to reduce its speed, and after it hit the ground, following another 30 seconds, it exploded.
Air Mshl Bagwell said the reason the UK had nuclear weapons was that Russia had them as well during the Cold War.
This Cold War idea is based on mutually assured destruction (MAD), which would mean that if Russia fired nuclear weapons at a Nato ally or the UK, it would be met with a strike in return.
"The reason we had them is Russia had them," he said. "And Russia's doctrine was very much to employ them in certain circumstances.
"So, we had them to deter them from using theirs."
Since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, Moscow has threatened to use tactical nuclear weapons.
If the state does not have a tactical nuclear weapon to threaten a counterattack, then the only alternative is a strategic nuclear weapon, which is designed to almost take out large cities and large population areas.
France and the US have their own sovereign capability, and about five other European nations – Turkey, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy - borrow American tactical air weapons to have that deterrent threat to stop Russia from using its.
So can Moscow's tactical nuclear bombers hit the UK?
Well, some of those aircraft that were hit by the Ukrainian drones in Operation Spiderweb, those dual-capable can either carry a conventional missile or a nuclear missile.
Those nuclear missiles can reach the UK, too, meaning Vladimir Putin's Russia has a tactical nuclear response.
"Nobody wants to use them," Air Mshl Bagwell said. "But, sometimes you have to have them to stop the other side from using them too."
The UK is to purchase 12 new F-35A Lightning fighter jets, which can be equipped with nuclear bombs, joining Nato's airborne nuclear mission in the process.
Nato's airborne nuclear mission involves allied aircraft being equipped with American B61-23 bombs stockpiled in Europe.
The F-35A can still hold conventional weapons, but has the option of being equipped with the US-made nuclear munitions.
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