RAF Lakenheath lays groundwork for possible return of US nuclear bomb storage, report says

Starts and Stripes ^ | 3/3/25

[EBH]

STUTTGART, Germany — A U.S. Air Force base in the United Kingdom is being prepared as a potential deployment site for nuclear bombs, a leading atomic policy research group said in a new report. Three years of budget documentation and observations that include satellite imagery indicate that the U.S. military wants to reestablish a nuclear mission at RAF Lakenheath for the first time in nearly two decades, the Federation of American Scientists said. “The addition of a large nuclear air base in northern Europe is a significant new development that would have been inconceivable just a decade-and-a-half ago,” according to the report, issued Wednesday. As of now, there are no indications that nuclear weapons have been deployed to Lakenheath, the report said. U.S. Air Forces Europe and Africa did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the potential for a nuclear mission at Lakenheath. However, as a matter of policy the U.S. military doesn’t typically discuss the locations of nuclear weapons stored in Europe. A decision to reactivate the nuclear mission at Lakenheath was likely part of a 2021 posture review that paved the way for various investments at the base, according to the report. For instance, documents submitted to Congress in 2022 showed that the United Kingdom had been added to a list of countries for upgrades to NATO “special weapons” sites. Related contracting documents and satellite images of construction work also added to mounting evidence that the nuclear mission would return to Lakenheath, said the federation, which traces its roots to atomic scientists who formed a group in the aftermath of World War II.

[linMcHlp]

Islamic Jihad Magnet

No thanks

[rfp1234]

The same bombs we plan to pull out of Germany? Probably safer in the UK, temporarily (until the Sharia fanatics take over).

[ETCM]

The F-35A has made the B-61 bomb a serious threat again. While the RAF has F-35A’s at Lakenheath, we don’t have a nuclear sharing agreement with UK, so these would be for US aircraft, or one of the 5 countries in our nuclear sharing agreement.

[whitney69]

“The same bombs we plan to pull out of Germany?”

And maybe, I hope, the packages stored at Incirlik Air Base. Very unstable region.

wy69

[libertylover]

I didn’t know they ever took them away. In the 1970’s I worked on a few planes loaded with nukes at RAF Lakenheath. Of course, the Russians were a lot closer then.

[Secret Agent Man]

Get them out now

We’ll make room for them

Then bye Nato

Bye UN

The socialists of europe can fight the socialists of russia without our help

[griffin]

Screw england, germany, france et. al. Bring our armaments and troops home. Let europe rot.