RAF Lakenheath: Plans progress to bring US nuclear weapons to Suffolk

RAF Lakenheath started to deploy the latest generation F-35A Lightning II combat aircraft which can carry nuclear bombs

Plans to deploy American nuclear weapons to an airbase in Suffolk have progressed, according to a US Department of Defence (DoD) notice.

A contract to build shelters to protect troops that would defend storage facilities at RAF Lakenheath has been awarded.

The document states the work was in preparation for the base's "upcoming nuclear mission".

The US Air Force (USAF) has yet to respond to a request for comment.

The Ministry of Defence said there was a longstanding agreement among NATO partners not to comment on the location of nuclear weapons.

In March 2023, a document from the US Office of the Under Secretary of Defense disclosed how $50m (£39m) had been earmarked to build a facility known as a "Surety Dormitory" at RAF Lakenheath.

This phrase is understood to refer to nuclear weapons storage.

Bulletproof glass

The following September a US government contracts award notice was published which showed how $924,000 (£728,379.96) was to be spent on constructing guard facilities known as "hardened ballistic security shelters".

Twenty-two blast resistant manoeuvrable cabins were being built with bulletproof metal flat sheets welded onto the frame to "to protect our high value assets"of RAF Lakenheath's defence force, the 48th Security Forces Squadron (48 SFS).

The specification for the windows included glass which could withstand an impact from a .30 calibre rifle.

The contractor appointed for the work was an United Arab Emirates based company, Specialist Solutions LLC.

The documents indicated the 48th Security Forces Squadron would protect any nuclear storage facilities

The plans were first revealed in The Telegraph newspaper.

Thermonuclear bomb

This would be the first time in more than 15 years nuclear weapons have been deployed on British soil.

In 2008, the BBC reported the bombs had been removed from RAF Lakenheath, which houses 4,000 service personnel and more than 1,500 British and US civilians.

The base is currently home to the USAF's 48th Fighter Wing, the only unit in Europe which operates both the F-15E Eagle and the F-35A Lighting II fighter aircraft.

Reports from the US indicate the newer F-35A had been flight tested to use the latest variant of the B61-12 thermonuclear bomb, which paved the way for the aircraft to begin carrying such weapons.

According to the defence publication Janes, B61-12 was capable of an explosive power (known as a yield) of up to 340 kilotons, or more than twenty times the power of the Hiroshima bomb.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament's general secretary, Kate Hudson, said: "These documents highlight plainly that an 'upcoming nuclear mission' will be stationed at RAF Lakenheath - confirming what we have strongly suspected since November 2022 - that US nuclear weapons are returning to Britain."

"It's shameful that both the US and UK governments continue to take the public for fools on this serious matter - refusing to give us crucial information about our security," she added.

Ms Hudson claimed it escalated the dangers and had "made us a nuclear target."