American nuclear weapons may return to the UK for the first time in almost two decades.

According to The Telegraph, images published in the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) report show that 22 previously mothballed nuclear bunkers at the Lakenheath military base in Suffolk have undergone extensive modernization.

The decision to restore nuclear capability for US aircraft in Britain was made in 2021, the report says, and the proposals gained momentum after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

A NATO document published in 2023 shows that the United Kingdom has been added to the list of countries where “special weapons” facilities will be modernized.

Last year’s Pentagon procurement contracts confirmed plans for a new facility at Lakenheath.

The documents and images “show that the US Air Force is resuming its nuclear mission in the UK for the first time in almost two decades.” It is noted that this step “appears to be a direct response to the deterioration of political and military relations with Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine, frequent nuclear warnings, and Russia’s deployment of increasingly powerful long-range conventional weapons.”

It is yet unclear whether the plan of the previous US President Joe Biden’s era will continue under Donald Trump, but six more bunkers at Lakenheath are being modernized, and work is underway.

The bunkers are protective shelters for aircraft with underground storage facilities underneath. Each of the bunkers can hold four nuclear warheads.

However, the FAS report emphasizes:

“There is no known public indication that nuclear weapons have been deployed at Lakenheath. The intention may be to ensure that they can be moved there quickly from more vulnerable locations in Europe in the event of a crisis. This would help to increase the survivability of the West’s nuclear stockpile and make Russia’s targeting strategy more difficult.”

Deployment of nuclear weapons

There may be about 100 US B61-12 nuclear bombs at air bases in Italy, Turkey, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany.

The United States withdrew its last nuclear weapons from the United Kingdom in 2008, believing that the Cold War threat from Moscow had diminished.

The first nuclear weapons in Europe were deployed at bases in the UK, including Lakenheath, in 1954. With the end of the Cold War, nuclear arsenals were gradually reduced, and the last American weapons left Lakenheath and British soil when George W. Bush was president of the United States.

RAF Lakenheath remains the largest US Air Force base in Britain and one of the largest in Europe, home to F-15E Strike Eagle and F-35A Lightning II fighter squadrons. These aircraft are capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

At the same time, it was recently reported that France is ready to use its nuclear deterrent to protect Europe instead of the United States.