Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called NATO’s Steadfast Noon nuclear sharing exercise, which kicked off on Oct. 14, untimely. “Under the circumstances of a ‘hot war’ being waged in the framework of the Ukraine conflict … these exercises will lead to nothing but ratcheting up the tensions even higher,” he said, [reported RT].
Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Federation of American Scientists, provided some details on the exercise along with upgrades to nuclear storage facilities in Europe in an article, “Global Risk: NATO Tactical Nuclear Weapons Exercise And Base Upgrades” posted yesterday. The exercise is co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands at the Kleine Brogel and Volkel air bases, respectively, he reported. Flight operations are focused over the North Sea and surrounding countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. NATO says a total of eight bases are involved, though those bases are not identified.
“The exercise coincides with major upgrades underway at most of the nuclear bases in Europe. This modernization involves security upgrades to the underground vaults that store the U.S. nuclear weapons, underground cables and nuclear command and control systems, and facilities needed for the new F-35A nuclear-capable fighter-bomber,” Kristensen reports. “Several of the nuclear bases in Europe have recently seen construction of a special loading pad for use by the U.S. C-17 aircraft that transport nuclear weapons and service equipment.” The bases getting the improvements include not only Kleine Brogel and Volkel, but also Büchel in Germany.
Kristensen’s most stunning assertion is that the nuclear mission has returned to RAF Lakenheath, in Britain, home base for the U.S. 48th Fighter Wing with USAF F-15E and F-35A aircraft. Kristensen had previously reported that nuclear storage vaults are being upgraded at Lakenheath. “Although the Pentagon tried to remove evidence of the change (satellite imagery), other documents made it clear that the nuclear mission was returning,” he writes. Kristensen says it’s not clear whether nuclear weapons will return to Lakenheath, but speculates that if they do they’ll come from Incirlik, Türkiye, where the nuclear mission has been uncertain since the July 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “To that end it is interesting that the number of vaults that appear to be readied at RAF Lakenheath (22) is about the same as the numbers remaining active at Incirlik,” he writes.
