The British government has been accused of recklessness after U.S. Air Force budgetary proposals strongly suggested that American nuclear missiles will be placed on British soil for the first time since 2008 as the UK prepares to drastically ratchet up its own nuclear weapons programme.
Toward the end of August, media reports began circulating in the British press that Royal Air Force (RAF) Lakenheath in Suffolk is about to be retrofitted to host American nuclear weapons after funding proposals revealed plans to install new facilities synonymous with nuclear bases on site as soon as 2026.
Setting the close defence relationship and joint NATO membership aside, hosting American nuclear weapons has been a controversial subject between the two nations after the Johnson administration announced plans in 2021 to rapidly expand Britain’s nuclear stockpile in response to rising tensions with China and Russia.
RAF Lakenheath currently accommodates 4,000 military personnel, has been under American military jurisdiction since 1948, is the largest U.S. Air Force base in the UK, and provides transport for Washington’s air operations in Europe.
Both the Pentagon and the British Ministry of Defence have declined to comment on the rumours. The move to reactivate American nuclear bases in Britain has been unsurprisingly condemned by anti-nuclear groups who accuse London of betraying British sovereignty and safety at the behest of the special relationship.
“It’s becoming increasingly clear that Lakenheath is once again a vital cog in Washington’s overseas nuclear machine—despite refusals from the British government to acknowledge this reality” decried General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) Kate Hudson, who drew a comparison to recent reports that Belarus would play host to Russian nuclear weapons beginning in June.
American nukes were on British soil between 1954 and 2008 with RAF Lakenheath hosting up to 110 warheads at the peak of the Cold War, despite repeated direct action by activists and opposition from the Left’s British Labour Party.
Not just the UK, but the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Turkey were all listed in various Biden administration’s budgetary proposals last year as countries where the U.S. is seeking to expand its nuclear presence. America has an estimated 100 nuclear warheads located across Europe and Turkey, with serious political discussion underway in European capitals about the continent’s strategic autonomy and the need for Europe to provide for its own defence.
