After 18 “nuke-free” years, UK activists are protesting the return of
US atomic arms at an encampment at Royal Air Force Base Lakenheath.
UK Activists Are Challenging
the Return of US Nuclear Weapons
Colonel (Ret) Ann Wright / World BEYOND War
(April 17, 2025) — Organized by Lakenheath Alliance for Peace and a coalition of many groups, the 11-day encampment with specific events each day will culminate in a peace conference on April 24, 2025 and a blockade of the air base on April 25, 2025.
The peace conference is titled “Analysing and Resisting US Nuclear Expansion” and will feature well-known speakers who will focus on topics from global militarism to the arms trade, with a detailed focus on the dangers of nuclear weapons.
Preparations for Storage of
US Nuclear Weapons Again in the UK
As reported in a March 3, 2025 article in the US military newspaper Stars and Stripes titled “RAF Lakenheath lays groundwork for possible return of US nuclear bomb storage, report says,” the US Air Force has been constructing facilities in Royal Air Force (RAF) airbase Lakenheath for its “surety” program, a program that refers nuclear weapons.
The article refers to a report written by the American Federation of Scientists (AFS) that after three years of collection of documentation and observations they determined that the United States Air Force is re-establishing its nuclear mission on United Kingdom soil for the first time in nearly two decades. AFS researchers Hans M. Kristensen Matt Korda and Eliana Johns have written voluminously about US nuclear weapons in Europe. Much of the information in this article comes from their excellent and extensive research.
Approximately 100 US B61-12 gravity bombs currently are stored in six air bases in five NATO countries – Aviano and Ghedi in Italy, Incirlik in Türkiye, Kleine Brogel in Belgium, Volkel in Netherlands, and Büchel in Germany
The AFS report states that “the change appears to be a direct reaction to the worsening political and military relations with Russia, resulting from its invasions in 2014 and 2022 of Ukraine, frequent nuclear warnings, and Russian deployment of increasingly capable long-range conventional weapons.”
The American Federation of Scientists assessment is that as of February 2025, there are no indications yet that nuclear weapons have been deployed to Royal Air Force (RAF) Lakenheath, and that the return of the nuclear mission to Lakenheath is intended primarily as a backup, rather than to deploy weapons for now.
In 2021, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated: “We have no plans of stationing any nuclear weapons in any other countries than we already have these nuclear weapons as part of our deterrence, and that… have been there for many, many years.”
Two years later, in 2023, while the Lakenheath upgrade was well underway, Jessica Cox, then-head of NATO nuclear policy, echoed Stoltenberg’s assurance: “There is no need to change where they are placed.”
RAF Lakenheath to Receive US Nuclear Weapons Stored at Other Sites in Europe
The AFS report states that once construction at RAF Lakenheath is completed and the base becomes an active nuclear site, it could potentially receive nuclear weapons from other locations in Europe in a crisis or emergency contingency.
Visible upgrades at bases across Europe are also designed to facilitate the rapid movement of weapons between bases to increase operational flexibility and reduce vulnerability to Russia’s increasingly capable long-range conventional missiles.
In the case of a nuclear crisis with Russia, a portion of US nuclear weapons could be redistributed from more vulnerable NATO bases to RAF Lakenheath to improve survivability and complicate Russia’s targeting strategy.
Redistribution of weapons could potentially also be used to signal a willingness to use nuclear weapons during a serious crisis. Changes within NATO itself could also potentially force a redistribution of nuclear weapons.
The AFS report identifies one such potential scenario that occurred in 2016 during the coup attempt in Türkiye, when power to Incirlik Air Base was cut off for nearly a week. US security forces were put on full alert while Turkish president Erdogan accused the head of US Central Command of “taking sides” in the coup.
Another scenario occurred after a clash between Türkiye and the United States over Syria in 2019, during which US agencies reportedly quietly reviewed evacuation plans for the nuclear weapons at Incirlik Air Base.
The number of vaults being reactivated at Lakenheath appears to be similar to the number of active vaults at Incirlik. Satellite images from 2017 and 2019 did show what appeared to be nuclear weapons shipments at Incirlik, but these could have been regular transports or exercises, and there is no public indication that US nuclear weapons have been withdrawn from Incirlik.
US Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Jill Hruby in remarks at the Hudson Institute on January 16, 2025 stated that “the B61-12 gravity bombs are fully forward deployed.”
From that remark, AFS estimates that approximately 100 US B61-12 gravity bombs are stored in six air bases in five NATO countries – Aviano and Ghedi in Italy, Incirlik in Türkiye, Kleine Brogel in Belgium, Volkel in Netherlands, and Büchel in Germany.
In 2022, RAF Lakenheath became the first European base to receive the F-35A which was technically certified in March 2024 to carry the B61-12 gravity bomb, officially making it a dual-capable aircraft. Aside from Türkiye, each NATO country that hosts US nuclear weapons has purchased the F-35A to replace their nuclear delivery aircraft.
Despite all the preparations, so far, the researchers for the American Federation of Scientists have not seen indications that the B61-12 nuclear bomb has yet been deployed to RAF Lakenheath, an occurrence that would break with decades of policy and planning and reverse the southern focus of the European nuclear deployment that emerged after the end of the Cold War and would likely require consent from the UK Prime Minister.
History of Nuclear Weapons in the UK
The end of the Cold War brought about significant changes to the postures and force structures of nuclear-armed states. The United States conducted major Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) activities from 1993 to 1995 that restructured US forces in Europe and resulted in a significant reduction to the number of nuclear weapons in Europe.
While nuclear weapons were still deployed at host country bases, the US Air Force (USAF) consolidated its nuclear operations to four main bases: RAF Lakenheath in England, Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Incirlik Air Base in Türkiye, and Aviano Air Base in Italy.
The US reduction of its nonstrategic nuclear arsenal in Europe coincided with the United Kingdom eliminating its own nonstrategic nuclear weapons.
Following the lead of the unilateral Presidential Nuclear Initiatives in 1991 and 1992 that withdrew most US and Russian nuclear weapons from Western Europe, the United Kingdom retired its naval nonstrategic nuclear weapons and withdrew its last air-delivered gravity bombs from Europe.
By 1998, all British nonstrategic nuclear weapons had been scrapped, making the United Kingdom the first nuclear-armed state to reduce its arsenal to a single platform: nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines.
Meanwhile, the United States continued to deploy and upgrade its own nuclear-capable aircraft and gravity bombs at RAF Lakenheath. By the early 2000s, Lakenheath hosted 110 B61 gravity bombs for delivery by US F-15Es of the 492nd and 494th fighter squadrons of the 48th FW.
As FAS researcher Hans Kristensen wrote in 2008, the George W. Bush administration further downsized the US nuclear posture in Europe by reducing the number of nuclear deployment bases and cutting the number of nuclear bombs in half. This included withdrawing all nuclear weapons from RAF Lakenheath, marking the first time since 1954 that there were no US nuclear weapons on UK soil.
The F-15Es of the 48th Fighter Wing at Lakenheath continued to participate in nuclear exercises, but the WS3 vaults at the base were placed in caretaker status. This meant that they would receive basic maintenance but would no longer be nuclear certified and therefore would no longer store nuclear weapons until a decision was made to reactivate the vaults.
Today, RAF Lakenheath is the largest USAF-operated base in the United Kingdom and maintains a significant role in the US military posture in Europe.
In addition to two squadrons of F-15Es, the 48th Fighter Wing at Lakenheath in 2021 became the first wing outside of the United States to operate the F-35A Lightning II and is currently the only USAF wing to operate both F-15E and F-35A nuclear-capable fighters.
Kate Hudson rallies members of the RAF Lakenheath Peace Camp
Join the Lakenheath Peace Camp April 14-27, 2025
If you are in Europe now or plan to be until April 27, please join the citizen activists mobilizing public opinion in the United Kingdom to oppose US nuclear weapons from returning to the UK.
Join the spirited Lakenheath Peace Camp from April 14-26, 2025 and the excellent Lakenheath Peace Conference on April 24, 2025.
Many events will take place during the encampment including:
Monthly Vigils the Last Saturday of Each Month
About the Author: Ann Wright served 29 years in the US Army/Army Reserves and retired as a Colonel. She was a US diplomat for 16 years and served in US Embassies in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. She resigned from the US Department of State in March 2003 in opposition to the US war on Iraq. She is the co-author of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.”
