US Nuclear Weapons Return to UK After 2008 Withdrawal

The US has reportedly transferred several B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bombs to the UK, more than 15 years after withdrawing them from British soil in 2008.

Multiple sources tracked a C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft departing from a US Air Force (USAF) base in Kirtland, New Mexico, where the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center is located, and landing at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, eastern England.

Lakenheath used to host US tactical nuclear weapons during the Cold War, and it has been undergoing facility upgrades to protect “high-value assets” since January 2024.

The flight was operated by the 62nd Airlift Wing — the primary USAF unit authorized for nuclear weapons transport.

“It looks like it went to England, dropped off those weapons, and then it went back to regular operations in the US,” William Alberque, former director of NATO’s nuclear non-proliferation center, told The Times.

I believe the first flight of B-61 nuclear weapons were delivered to the newly updated facility at RAF Lakenheath, UK yesterday by US Air Force C-17A Globemaster III #AE2FAC as RCH4574 following the pattern of similar nuclear swaps.

1/https://t.co/N5Kt8aPqON

— TheIntelFrog (@TheIntelFrog) July 19, 2025

Nuclear Weapons in Europe

Neither country has issued any comment regarding the development, which follows after Washington began deploying B61-12 bombs to undisclosed locations in Europe in January.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Chair Tom Unterrainer called on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to release an official statement, but a defense ministry spokesperson said: “It remains a long-standing UK and NATO policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at a given location,” The Guardian reported.

If confirmed, this would mean that the number of US tactical weapons in Europe has increased for the first time since the Cold War, according to Hans Kristensen, Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists.

He also noted that this would indicate a change in NATO’s policy of “not responding with new nuclear weapons to Russia’s nuclear threats and behavior.”

An F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft launches a B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb during a test. Photo: US DoD

B61-12 Bombs

In service with the US military for over 50 years, the B61-12 gravity bomb completed a $9-billion life extension program in January this year. 

It is a tactical nuclear bomb featuring an inertial navigation system for high kill probability and explosive yields ranging from 0.3 to 50 kilotons, which is about three times more powerful than the approximately 15-kiloton bomb the US dropped on Japan’s Hiroshima in 1945.

The B61-12 can be launched by various aircraft, particularly the F-35A Lightning II fighter jet operated by the 493rd Fighter Squadron and the 495th Fighter Squadron stationed at Lakenheath.

Last month, PM Starmer’s office announced that London will purchase 12 F-35As in the “biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation.”

🚨Armed police are patrolling outside RAF Lakenheath as the US air force reportedly transfers more nuclear bombs to British soil with three times the power of Hiroshima.

Photo via @NukewatchUK: pic.twitter.com/Fg8FwYgabZ

— Declassified UK (@declassifiedUK) July 24, 2025