The US Has Deployed Nuclear Weapons In The UK
- 21.07.2025, 18:39
For the first time in 17 years.
The US has delivered to its largest European airbase the most advanced version of the bombs that are the main nuclear weapon of the US strategic forces. This is the Lakenheath base in the United Kingdom, thus becoming the sixth country in Europe to host U.S. nuclear weapons.
They have returned to British soil for the first time since 2008, writes The UK Defense Journal. According to multiple sources cited by the publication, the B61-12 thermonuclear bombs were delivered last week to a newly built secure storage facility at Lakenheath Air Base in the county of Suffolk in eastern England. The operation was confirmed by open data analyst OSINTdefender.
The munitions were apparently delivered from the U.S. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center in New Mexico. The B61-12 is a modernized nuclear bomb that can have a variable explosive yield. It is the latest modification of the B61 bomb, which is the main nuclear weapon of the US strategic forces: it is made guided and more precise, it can be launched from an aircraft flying at high altitude, after which it autonomously plans towards a target that may be far away.
The feature of the B61-12 is the variable explosive power, from 0.3 to 50 kilotons (a bomb with a power of 13-16 kilotons was used in Hiroshima). "Simply put, it's four bombs in one," wrote The National Interest magazine.
The bombs of this type can be launched, in part, from F-35A fighter jets, two squadrons of which are stationed at Lakenheath (more than fifty aircraft in all). It was used to store American nuclear weapons during the Cold War, after the end of which, as part of the disarmament of Europe and the reduction of the nuclear arsenal, the bombs were removed: the last known such case was recorded in 2008, notes The UK Defense Journal.
On the deployment of the new B61 in Europe, Washington announced in January 2025, as part of the NATO mechanism to provide a "nuclear umbrella". At the same time, the UK is not among the European countries known to have US nuclear weapons on their territory: they are Belgium, Germany, Italy (two bases), the Netherlands and Turkey. But Jill Hruby, director of the US National Nuclear Security Administration, in announcing the deployment of the B61-12 in Europe, said, "We have a very strong strategic partnership with the UK, as does its commitment to the nuclear deterrent force."
A year earlier, in January 2024, The Telegraph newspaper wrote, citing Pentagon government procurement documents, that work was planned at the Lakenheath base to deploy B61-12 bombs with a capacity of 50 kilotons.