STOCKHOLM — Sweden will participate in NATO’s annual nuclear military exercise for the first time, a major step for a nation that avoided military alliance for 200 years and has avoided nuclear entanglements entirely.
The Swedish government’s statement on Friday regarding the deployment of Saab Gripen fighter jets to the Steadfast Noon exercise follows Finland’s confirmation of its participation with F/A-18 Hornets. Finland first participated last year. The exercise will be hosted by the Netherlands and kicks off next week.
Last year’s exercise involved 13 allied countries and more than 60 aircraft, including nuclear-capable jets, bombers, and fighter escorts. Refueling aircraft and planes capable of reconnaissance and electronic warfare also took part in the exercise, which is designed to ensure the strength and credibility of NATO’s nuclear deterrent.
NATO has yet not stated the extent of this year’s exercise, but according to news reports, 71 aircraft from 14 nations are taking part this year. No live nuclear weapons are used.
“In an increasingly uncertain world, NATO needs a credible nuclear capability to prevent attacks against the Alliance. Steadfast Noon contributes to ensuring this,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a written statement Friday.
The exercise “sends a clear signal to any potential adversary that we will and can protect and defend all allies against all threats,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Friday.
While Sweden joined the NATO alliance in March 2024, it has been an open question of how much Stockholm would embrace the fact NATO is undergirded by nuclear weapons from the United States, United Kingdom and France. At a seminar in Stockholm in June 2024, NATO’s head of nuclear policy, Jim Stokes specifically called this out, saying, “Sweden needs to communicate to its public the importance of having joined a nuclear alliance.”
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Which is why today’s announcement is notable, as is the language Defense Minister Pål Jonson used in the announcement: “By participating with conventional Gripen combat aircraft in Steadfast Noon, Sweden contributes to ensuring that NATO’s nuclear deterrence remains credible, robust, and effective.”
To be clear, neither Swedish nor Finnish military jets will touch nuclear weapons. Their participation focuses on practicing conventional support capabilities with Gripen and F/A-18 Hornet jets, contributing to the alliance’s nuclear deterrence strategy and tactics, known as SNOWCAT (Support of Nuclear Operations with Conventional Air Tactics). But that has real value.
“With conventional air tactics, one can, for example, escort combat aircraft loaded with simulated nuclear weapons or, in actual combat, real nuclear weapons. Each ally can participate in accordance with their own preferences and national political decisions,” former director of NATO’s weapons control, William Alberque said, when Sweden applied for membership in 2022.
To ensure the security of NATO’s allies, the US maintains B-61 nuclear weapons in Europe, under strict US custody and in compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
In a NATO nuclear mission, certified allied dual-capable aircraft would deliver the weapons, supported by conventional forces. Such a decision would require explicit approval from NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group, which involves both Sweden and Finland’s defense ministers, as well as authorization from the leaders of Washington and London.
The US Air Force is estimated to store around half of its 200 tactical B61 bombs at airbases in NATO countries Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Turkey. These bombs can be carried by specially certified fighter aircraft of these nations, as well as American fighter and bomber aircraft.
Full-scale production of the new version of the non-strategic (tactical) B61-12 bomb began in 2022. Manufacturing and deployment was completed at the start of 2025, according to Stockholm’s International Peace Research Institute.
The F-15E was the first jet certified to carry the B61-12 nuclear bomb, then the F-35A. Last year, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) confirmed certification for the B-2, F-16, and German Air Force PA-200 Tornado, with efforts ongoing to certify the Italian Air Force’s Tornado and the U.S. Air Force’s B-21 bomber.
A new variant, the B61-13, is designed to have a higher-yield in the range of a 360 kiloton blast, which would represent a major step up from the 50 kiloton B61-12. A first production unit on the B61-13 is scheduled for fiscal 2026, according to the announcement, as Breaking Defense reported in January.