Continued construction work on protective shelters at the air base of RAF Lakenheath in England provides conclusive evidence that the United States is poised to bring nuclear bombs back to the United Kingdom after nearly two decades, according to a new report. This comes as NATO’s leading European powers increasingly consider the possibility of some kind of cooperative nuclear umbrella independent of the United States, amid fears that Washington may dial back or even end the current nuclear-sharing program, something we have recently discussed.
The evidence is presented in the report from the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), which has been monitoring the topic since April 2022, when the first official evidence emerged suggesting the reactivation of the nuclear mission at Lakenheath.
It should be noted that, in recent months, Lakenheath came to wider prominence when a number of drones were spotted over and close to the base, something that TWZ was first to report after the Air Force confirmed the incident to us last November. It later emerged that similar drone incursions happened around the same time at nearby RAF Mildenhall and RAF Feltwell.
FAS notes that, as of February 2025, “there are no known public indications that nuclear weapons have been deployed to RAF Lakenheath,” although the writers of the report consider the U.S. Air Force “is re-establishing its nuclear mission on U.K. soil for the first time in nearly two decades.”
The report considers notable pieces of evidence gathered in the last couple of years that point quite clearly to the return of a potential nuclear mission to Lakenheath, whether as a backup or as a permanent fixture.
Most obviously, satellite imagery shows the ongoing upgrades being made to Lakenheath’s Protective Aircraft Shelters, which incorporate underground WS3 vaults for the storage of nuclear bombs. This work began in 2022, and, to date, around 28 of the 33 aircraft shelters have been upgraded, with construction continuing on six more.
Satellite imagery also reveals new tarmac infrastructure related to the arrival of two squadrons of U.S. Air Force F-35A stealth fighters at the base. Although this, on its own, doesn’t point to the nuclear mission’s return, the same upgrades have been made at other air bases in Europe that are known to host U.S. nuclear weapons.
Secondly, there is a paper trail of Pentagon documentation in the public sphere that references this construction work, the fact that it’s related to the Air Force’s nuclear mission, and that it also includes infrastructure in the United Kingdom.
This first came up in the NATO Security Investment Program (NSIP) budget for Fiscal Year 2023, which included the United Kingdom on a list of bases receiving upgrades to their “special storage” sites. The only candidate for this would be Lakenheath.
Upgrades at the same base were also mentioned in other public documents, one of which describes a new “surety dormitory” at the base. The Air Force document notes that the dormitory is needed to accommodate additional airmen at the base because of “the arrival of a potential Surety Mission.” In Pentagon parlance, “surety” typically refers to the safety and security of nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, U.S. Department of Defense procurement contracts described plans for the “upcoming nuclear mission” for the Lakenheath-based 48th Security Forces Squadron (SFS).
The reference to the 48th SFS resulted in The Telegraph newspaper in the United Kingdom publishing a story in January last year under the title “U.S. to station nuclear weapons in U.K. to counter threat from Russia.” This same story also highlighted references in a Pentagon Statement of Work to “imminent surety support” at Lakenheath. Once the story was published, this detail was removed from the same Statement of Work. The original version (annotated by FAS researchers) is provided below.
Finally, as well as upgrades to facilities, Pentagon documents confirm that additional training is being given to nuclear weapons personnel at Lakenheath. Specifically, an Air Force Career Field and Education Training Plan (CFETP) for nuclear weapons specialists, updated in 2023, includes Lakenheath on a list of career assignment locations. The British air base had not previously been on that list.
Considering the growing tensions between NATO and Russia in recent years, including Moscow’s forward deployment of nuclear weapons and fielding of longer-range missiles, the return of the nuclear mission to Lakenheath is not a surprise. The base, in the east of England, is home to the 48th Fighter Wing, which historically had a nuclear mission, although the last nuclear weapons were removed from the base in 2008.
Today, the 48th Fighter Wing comprises the following squadrons:
- 492nd Fighter Squadron “Bolars” flying the F-15E
- 493rd Fighter Squadron “Grim Reapers” flying the F-35A
- 494th Fighter Squadron “Panthers” flying the F-15E
- 495th Fighter Squadron “Valkyries” flying the F-35A
Both these aircraft types are capable of carrying B61 series freefall thermonuclear bombs and making full use of the capabilities of the latest B61-12 version, although it should be noted that this doesn’t extend to all NATO aircraft cleared to carry the weapon, as we have discussed in the past.
In the past, NATO officials have repeatedly implied that nuclear weapons wouldn’t be returning to the United Kingdom.
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.”
“There is no need to change where [nuclear weapons] are placed,” Jessica Cox, then-head of NATO nuclear policy, said in 2023.
With this in mind, FAS concludes that the upgrade work at Lakenheath is being undertaken to make the base ready as a potential backup, “rather than to deploy weapons now.”
In this way, the Air Force could receive nuclear weapons from other bases in Europe or even from the United States in a time of crisis. This would, to a limited degree, increase the flexibility of the nuclear mission in Europe. Whether it would significantly reduce its vulnerability to potential Russian strikes is highly questionable since Lakenheath would already be high on the target list in such a scenario. On the other hand, the fact that NATO is even able to move nuclear weapons around more bases, more efficiently, is a signal of its nuclear readiness.
As for those other bases, as of early 2025, these are Kleine Brogel in Belgium, Büchel in Germany, Aviano and Ghedi in Italy, Volkel in the Netherlands, and Incirlik in Turkey. Of these, the Netherlands notably declared its F-35As fully responsible for the nuclear strike role as of June 2024.
Regardless, FAS estimates that around 100 U.S.-owned B61-12 gravity bombs are available across these NATO air bases, with the United States having announced earlier this year that “the B61-12 gravity bombs are fully forward deployed.”
Having the B61-12 in Europe is a big deal in itself.
Thanks to its precision-guidance system, which combines a new tail kit with an inertial navigation system package and rockets for spin stabilization, the B61-12 offers increased accuracy over older B61 versions. When combined with the F-35A, the B61-12 is increasingly being viewed as a strategic weapons-delivery system, as well as being a tactical strike asset.
The FAS report also highlights the possibility that developments within NATO could also make a backup base at Lakenheath very useful. Namely, the security of nuclear weapons hosted in Turkey was raised after the 2016 coup attempt in that country. A possible evacuation of these weapons — which cannot actually be employed by Turkey, in contrast to other nuclear-sharing nations — was apparently considered again in 2019, when the United States and Turkey clashed over their respective policies in Syria.
Then there is the possibility that Lakenheath might, in the future, become a permanent nuclear base alongside a potential drawdown of U.S.-owned nuclear weapons elsewhere in Europe, something that TWZ has also recently considered.
After all, with U.S. President Donald Trump having advocated for the possibility of slashing the U.S. nuclear inventory as part of a future arms deal with Russia, the NATO nuclear-sharing program might fall victim to cuts. Certainly, a reduction of the U.S. nuclear presence in Europe would have a significant cost-cutting benefit. In such a scenario, were the United States to discontinue one or more of its nuclear-sharing locations on mainland Europe, basing the weapons permanently at Lakenheath might become an attractive option to ensure there is still U.S.-provided European deterrence coverage, albeit at a lower level than now.
For now, there is no evidence of U.S. nuclear weapons having been deployed to RAF Lakenheath. However, it now looks certain that the base is at last capable of accommodating them, should this be required now or in the future.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com