US moves nuclear weapons from Turkey to Romania

Euractiv ^ | 08/18/16 | Georgi Gotev, Joel Schalit

[Enlightened1]

EXCLUSIVE/ Two independent sources told EurActiv.com that the US has started transferring nuclear weapons stationed in Turkey to Romania, against the background of worsening relations between Washington and Ankara .

According to one of the sources, the transfer has been very challenging in technical and political terms.

“It’s not easy to move 20+ nukes,” said the source, on conditions of anonymity.

According to a recent report by the Simson Center, since the Cold War, some 50 US tactical nuclear weapons have been stationed at Turkey’s Incirlik air base, approximately 100 kilometres from the Syrian border.

During the failed coup in Turkey in July, Incirlik’s power was cut, and the Turkish government prohibited US aircraft from flying in or out. Eventually, the base commander was arrested and implicated in the coup. Whether the US could have maintained control of the weapons in the event of a protracted civil conflict in Turkey is an unanswerable question, the report says.

Another source told EurActiv.com that the US-Turkey relations had deteriorated so much following the coup that Washington no longer trusted Ankara to host the weapons. The American weapons are being moved to the Deveselu air base in Romania, the source said.

Deveselu, near the city of Caracal, is the new home of the US missile shield, which has infuriated Russia.

[DCBryan1]

We should NEVER have nuclear weapons in ANY muslim country......UNLESS WE USE IT ON THEM. There. Fixed it.

[PghBaldy]

What is it with all the odd sources in posts lately? This should not be in breaking at the least. Probably a rumor or a hoax.

[minnesota_bound]

You would think this would be secret.

[mikhailovich]

The nukes in Turkey are ones that can be equipped on various delivery systems. Smaller nukes, not the large ones that are held in underground silos. Moving these would not be a huge issue.

[DCBryan1]

“It’s not easy to move 20+ nukes,” The number I read was 61. They'd better get them all, down to the last one!

Three ways:
1) Blow them up in the Muzzie country after evacuating non-Muslims ;) (aint gonna happen).
2) Emergency evac plutonium cores by command disable/scramble with false PAL (permission action link) entries.....This completely deadlines the nukes. Then you take out the pits, load the radioactive paper weights onto a C130J PNAF bird , head to RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus, walk them over to a C-17’s filled with angry NNSA/OST psychos and fly out to Pantex in Amarillo, TX for rebuild.

As for the B-61 casings?: Hand over to a fireteam of US Marines at 1700, with a case of beer and they'll destroy it by 0500 PT run.
3A) Send in 5 B2 Spirits to take 50-70 B61s off.
3B) Send in 3-4 B1 Lancers, or
3C) Send in 2-3 B-52 Stratofortresses.

or 4) GO in hot with AC-130s, EF-18s, F-22s and dominate All airspace as nuke capable Tornadoes/F18s/F16s make a mad dash for the ocean before Turks realize what's going on. Hard to miss a US bomber pulling up to the WSA loading pad though....and as soon as a WSA bunker opens up, Erodogen gets an emergency phone call.

This may all be smoke and mirrors because OSINT says all B61s moved out in 2003 by Bush.....Don't know if that's true or not because there is a lot of CounterIntelligence in regards to nukes....and rightfully so. As far as I know, they could all be at Ramstein, Ataxos, Greece, Aviano, Italy, or heck, Barksdale, LA now.

YOu have to have a Q clearance to know.....and even most of those holders DONT KNOW weapon storage.

If you REALLY REALLY want to know where the nukes are, hack into Hillary's servers or the Clinton Crime Family Foundation....they'll SELL you the info.

[pfflier]

“It’s not easy to move 20+ nukes,”

Something is wrong with that statement...The officual policy of the US has always to be ambiguous about the presence of "special weapons".

This was our mantra whenever anyone asked about nukes:

"It is contrary to Department 0f Defense policy to confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons at this facility".

[Vinnie]

We should NEVER have nuclear weapons in ANY muslim country.

Or M1 tanks, F-15, F-35 planes either.

Top of the line weapons to one country in the Middle East.....Israel.

[Licensed-To-Carry]

"some 50 US tactical nuclear weapons have been stationed at Turkey’s Incirlik air base, approximately 100 kilometres from the Syrian border."

So where did the other 30 nukes go?

[BobNative]

This is just great! Now the Gypseys will try to steal our nuclear weapons.

Gypseys are in every “RACKET” ever imagined. Never underestimate any Gypsey organization!

[SisterK]

Romania? Who picked Romania?

[CMB_polarization]

Obviously misdirection of some kind.

[Texas Fossil]

Quality control is excellent. But the devices don’t have indefinite shelf life, without servicing.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

This entire thing smells like a phony story. First off, such movement would by this time likely be stopped using force by Turkey, they wouldn’t just stand back and let the U.S. move such assets out of Incirlik now. If relations are as bad as implied here, they’d take those assets and make the U.S. pay a gigantic ransom to get them back...if they’d give them back at all (they might as they likely would not be able to actually use the weapons themselves). They wouldn’t just let us move something that they could hold “hostage” for free.

Anyway...I doubt the entire scenario here, it doesn’t add up.

[M Kehoe]

Hi.

Does this article verify there are B61 at Incirlic AFB?

I posted on this forum the second day after the coup attempt that the 509th should go enforce to secure and transport the weapons.

Something stinks.

5.56mm

[Nifster]

Should have happened decades ago

[Donna Lee Nardo]

Changes afoot for sure. Let’s see what Putin says and does... Also, subterfuge may play a role in this report. Perhaps a kernel of some sort is valid but what is put out in its specificity can be purposely designed to lead astray.

[Krosan]

90% sure it is not true. There are no (known) nuclear storage bunkers in Romania and Romania has no aircrafts capable of delivering B61s. Romanian foreign ministry has already denied the rumors.

Of course it might be that all the preparations were made in secret.

[Krosan]

B61 is the model name of the bombs.

[Wilum]

OK some clarity and a little history. I was a 462 Weapons loader in the USAF in the 60's and spent 18 months worth of 30-day TDYS at Incerlik. The main mission at that time was to maintain a Victor Alert pad with cocked F-100D's loaded with tactical Nuclear Weapons, IE, MK-57 and MK-61 (now known these days as B-61). Also to load a second mission hopefully before we are wiped out. My understanding was the Victor alert pad was shut down at the end of the Cold War but the Tactical Nuclear mission was and still active.Some say the establishment of the Victor Alert Pads with Tactical Fighters was established after Kennedy promised to remove missiles in Turkey. Up until recent years Turkey has been a strong ally to the US. (Check out the Korean War).

Procedures for handling and transport of Nuclear weapons, at least at my time was very strict. You can forget loading on many fighters because landing with the weight may be a problem. The F-100D was a single mission aircraft once loaded with a Nuke. In order to land, the weapon had to either be dropped on target or salvoed.

Hope this Helps.

Wilum USAF
307th TFS, 401st TFW, '66 - '70

[Roman_War_Criminal]

I agree.
I lived there for a short time, Romanians for the most part are very Pro-USA. And yes they despise Russians.