The United States Air Force maintains a small, tightly controlled fleet of aircraft certified to deliver nuclear weapons, and the newest member of that club just passed a significant real-world test. With the B61-12 gravity bomb now in full production and flight-tested on the F-35 Lightning II, the roster of nuclear-capable American warplanes is shifting in ways that carry real consequences for how the country projects deterrence. Understanding which jets can actually carry these weapons, and why that list is changing, matters for anyone tracking defense strategy or global security.
The B61-12: America’s Modernized Nuclear Gravity Bomb
Before identifying which aircraft carry nuclear weapons, it helps to understand the weapon itself. The B61 family has been the backbone of the U.S. air-delivered nuclear arsenal for decades, and its latest variant, the B61-12, represents the most significant upgrade in a generation. The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration completed the B61-12 life extension effort with its Last Production Unit on December 18, 2024, marking the end of a multi-year modernization program described in detail by the National Nuclear Security Administration. That milestone means the full production run is finished and the weapon is now in the hands of operational forces.
The program extends the bomb’s service life by at least 20 years, which means the B61-12 will remain a central element of American and allied nuclear posture well into the 2040s. The NNSA describes it as a gravity bomb deployed from both U.S. Air Force and NATO bases, a detail that highlights its dual role in American strategic planning and the alliance’s nuclear sharing arrangements across Europe. For taxpayers and policymakers, this means the investment in modernization is not a short-term fix but a long-duration commitment that shapes which aircraft need to be compatible with the weapon for decades to come.
F-35 Lightning II Proves Nuclear Capability in Live Tests
The most consequential recent development is the confirmation that the F-35 Lightning II can reliably deliver the B61-12. Sandia National Laboratories, working alongside the NNSA, conducted stockpile flight tests from August 19 to 21, 2025, at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada. During those tests, an F-35 carried and dropped inert B61-12 units, and the results were reported as successful in Sandia’s own account of the flight tests. These were not laboratory simulations or computer models. They were operationally realistic drops designed to validate the integration between aircraft and weapon under conditions that mirror actual combat delivery.
What makes this significant is the nature of the evidence it provides. The tests delivered post-certification data, meaning they go beyond the initial qualification process and into the kind of sustainment testing that confirms the weapon system works reliably over time. For the Air Force and its NATO partners, this is the difference between theoretical capability and demonstrated readiness. The F-35 is already the most widely produced Western fighter of its generation, with orders from more than a dozen allied nations. Adding a proven nuclear delivery role to its portfolio fundamentally changes how allied commanders can plan for deterrence missions and how quickly they can transition away from older jets that were designed in a very different technological era.
Legacy Platforms and the Shifting Nuclear Fleet
The F-35 is not the only American warplane with a nuclear mission. The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber has long served as a primary delivery platform for earlier B61 variants, and the venerable F-15E Strike Eagle and certain F-16 variants have historically been part of the nuclear equation, particularly in NATO’s European theater. However, the verified sourcing available for this analysis confirms only the F-35’s recent flight-test integration with the B61-12 specifically. Official documentation of comparable recent testing for the F-15E or F-16 with the B61-12 is not present in the primary reporting that can be cited here, leaving an incomplete public picture of how quickly those older fighters are being adapted to the newest bomb.
This gap itself tells a story. The direction of investment and testing effort clearly favors stealth-capable, fifth-generation platforms. Older fighters, while still formidable in conventional roles, face growing challenges in penetrating modern air defenses built around advanced radar networks and integrated missile systems. A nuclear delivery mission demands the highest possible confidence that the aircraft can reach its target, which gives the F-35’s low-observable design a distinct operational edge. The question is not whether legacy platforms will lose their nuclear role overnight, but how quickly the balance tips toward newer airframes as the primary carriers, especially as maintenance costs and survivability concerns mount for aircraft designed during the Cold War.
What the B-21 Raider Could Mean for the Future
The next major variable in this equation is the B-21 Raider, the Air Force’s next-generation stealth bomber currently in flight testing. Based on the limited, carefully managed public information about the program, the aircraft is widely understood within defense circles to be designed with both conventional and nuclear missions in mind, even if specific certification milestones for the B-21 with the B61-12 are not detailed in the sources available for this article. Its eventual integration with the B61-12 or successor weapons would represent a generational shift in how the United States delivers air-launched nuclear deterrence, moving from the aging B-2 fleet to a larger, more survivable bomber force optimized for contested airspace.
For now, the confirmed picture is this: the B61-12 is in full production, its service life stretches at least 20 more years, and the F-35 has demonstrated in operationally realistic conditions that it can carry and release the weapon. That combination of a modernized bomb and a proven fifth-generation fighter forms the near-term foundation of American air-delivered nuclear capability. Any future additions to the certified aircraft list, whether the B-21 or upgraded legacy platforms, will build on this baseline rather than replace it, suggesting a layered force where stealth bombers and stealth fighters share responsibility for deterrence, backed by a smaller cadre of older jets in niche roles.
Why Aircraft Certification Matters Beyond the Military
The question of which warplanes carry nuclear weapons might seem like an inside-baseball concern for defense analysts, but it has broader implications. NATO’s nuclear sharing policy means that allied nations hosting B61 bombs on their soil need compatible aircraft. Countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and Germany have all been linked to these arrangements, and several of these nations are acquiring F-35s to replace aging fourth-generation fleets. The successful integration testing at Tonopah directly affects whether these allies can fulfill their deterrence commitments with their own pilots and aircraft, rather than relying solely on American delivery platforms flown from more distant bases.
There is also a legitimate critique worth raising. The B61-12’s improved accuracy compared to older variants has prompted some analysts to argue that precision nuclear weapons could lower the threshold for use by making smaller-yield strikes seem more “manageable” in a crisis. Supporters of the modernization effort counter that a more accurate bomb allows for lower yields to achieve the same military effect, potentially reducing collateral damage if a weapon were ever used. The debate underscores why aircraft certification is not just a technical milestone but a political one, every new jet added to the nuclear roster represents both an additional deterrent option and a new focal point for domestic and international scrutiny. As the F-35 assumes a larger share of the mission and the B61-12 becomes the standard gravity bomb in the U.S. and NATO arsenals, those questions about risk, credibility, and control will only grow more central to the broader conversation about nuclear policy.
More from Morning Overview
*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
