US Nuclear Weapons Return to UK After 2008 Withdrawal: Reports
The US has reportedly transferred several B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bombs to the UK, more than 15 years after withdrawing them from British soil in 2008.
Multiple sources tracked a C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft departing from a US Air Force (USAF) base in Kirtland, New Mexico, where the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center is located, and landing at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, eastern England.
Lakenheath used to host US tactical nuclear weapons during the Cold War, and it has been undergoing facility upgrades to protect “high-value assets” since January 2024 .
“It looks like it went to England, dropped off those weapons, and then it went back to regular operations in the US,” William Alberque, former director of NATO’s nuclear non-proliferation center, told The Times .
I believe the first flight of B-61 nuclear weapons were delivered to the newly updated facility at RAF Lakenheath, UK yesterday by US Air Force C-17A Globemaster III #AE2FAC as RCH4574 following the pattern of similar nuclear swaps.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-1153587320-0631e4b801ca4f54899ca1fd26350a28.jpg)
