CND warn against bringing back US nuclear weapons to the UK

Britain is up to store US nuclear weapons for the first time in more than a decade, and it will undoubtedly increase global tension. Bringing these atomic weapons to UK soil will put the country in the first row in the NATO-Russia war.

Why did CND warn against storing US nukes in the UK?

Disarmament campaigners warned Wednesday of “a further undermining of prospects for global peace” following reports suggesting an air force base in the UK is once again going to be storing US nuclear weapons. The development, said Kate Hudson, general secretary of the London-based Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, would again make Britain “a forward nuclear base for the US in Europe.” Hudson’s remark came after Hans Kristensen, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Nuclear Information Project, spotted a detail in the Biden administration’s latest funding request for the Pentagon regarding upgrades at nuclear weapons storage locations. 

In a blog post-Monday, Kristensen wrote that “previous budget documents listed ‘special weapons’ storage sites in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey as receiving upgrades under a 13-year NATO investment program,” the budget request for 2023 now includes the UK as well. He wrote that the specific site in question is believed to be the US Air Base at RAF Lakenheath in southeast England, where the US stored nuclear gravity bombs in dozens of underground vaults until 2008. Lakenheath, Kristensen noted, “was not on the list of ‘active sites’ in the 2016 contract to upgrade the nuclear weapons storage site in Europe. 

The budget documents indicate the base has since been added to the list.” The UK addition “signals a change in the nuclear status of RAF Lakenheath.” However “it is unclear if nuclear weapons have been returned to the base yet or NATO is upgrading the base to be capable of receiving nuclear weapons in the future if necessary.” “In recent years, there have been rumours about nuclear exercises at the base,” Kristensen wrote. 

Kristensen added:

“CND’s Hudson noted that her group campaigned against the “110 US/NATO free-fall B61 nuclear bombs” hosted for five decades at Lakenheath until 14 years ago. the apparent return of atomic weaponry “will increase global tensions and put Britain on the front line in a NATO/Russia war.” “The US is the only country to locate its nuclear weapons outside its borders,” said Hudson, “and this major increase in NATO’s capacity to wage nuclear war in Europe is dangerously destabilizing.”

Housing US nukes in the UK is dangerous for the Nation

According to US defence budget documents, United States nuclear weapons are set to be stored in the UK for the first time in 14 years. The US military withdrew their B61 gravity bombs from RAF Lakenheath in 2008 when they were seen as obsolete, with disarmament hopes high. However, after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and his indication he would not shy away from using nuclear weapons if provoked, US President Joe Biden has reassessed.

 Hans Kristensen from the Federation of American Scientists believes the site involved in the defence documents is likely to be Lakenheath, Suffolk again, and is currently undergoing a multi-million-pound renovation to house nuclear weapons from across the Atlantic. Similar depots exist in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. The Conservative government is keen to take an assertive role in Europe’s nuclear ‘deterrent’ and is set to increase the stockpile of Trident nuclear warheads by 40 per cent to 260. This would be the first rise since the end of the Cold War.

 Daryl Kimball, the Arms Control Association executive director, says the decision is “an early sign that the US and NATO are preparing to engage in a protracted and maybe heightened standoff with Putin’s Russia”. The UK has ‘a clearer appreciation of its role as a nuclear weapons state in competition with Russia and China. Despite the UK having a total population that equals the equivalent of just two Chinese cities and relying heavily on the US for defence. The news has not been met with universal praise. The UK Ministry of Defence has refused to comment. Nuclear disarmament group CND said the ‘quiet announcement’ of the decision to house more ‘nukes’ adds to Britain’s dangers and continues the country’s militarisation. General secretary of the CND, Kate Hudson, said: “Nuclear weapons don’t make us safe – they make us a target”.

Why is it dangerous for Britain to store US nukes on its soil?

The return of US nuclear weapons to Britain and the upgrading of its nuclear weapons across Europe further undermines prospects for peace in Europe and beyond. The US is the only country to locate its atomic weapons outside its borders, and this significant increase in NATO’s capacity to wage nuclear war in Europe is dangerously destabilizing. The nuclear disarmament group CND said the “quiet announcement” by the US amounted to more militarisation at a time of growing risk and would add to the dangers faced by the British public. Kate Hudson, the general secretary of CND, said she feared it could lead to US warheads being redeployed in the UK. “Nuclear weapons don’t make us safe; they make us a target,” she added. 

Housing the nuclear weapons in the UK is, without a doubt, making it vulnerable and putting it on the frontline in a NATO-Russia war. Along with this, it will make Britain’s image much more worst in the views of its enemies. The recent redeployment of nukes In the UK has raised the fear among the people. The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and the hostility of Britain toward Russia have also added to the fear of the UK citizens. Besides, this redeployment will increase the global tension, and all the eyes would be on the UK, making it unsafe for the public of Britain. Thus this whole movement of nukes will become dangerous for Britain. This is a massive challenge for the peace movement, and people should do everything they can to prevent these weapons from being sited here.

Conclusion

RAF Lakenheath hosted US nuclear weapons for more than five decades, first arriving in September 1954. By the time of their removal in 2008, the site had 33 underground storage vaults and stored around 110 B61 gravity bombs that could be dropped from F-15E warplanes based there. These bombs are assigned to NATO. The return of US nuclear weapons to Britain – along with the upgrading of its nuclear weapons across Europe – constitutes a further undermining of prospects for global peace. The US is the only country to locate its atomic weapons outside its borders, and this significant increase in NATO’s capacity to wage nuclear war in Europe is dangerously destabilizing. Their return will increase global tensions and put Britain on the front line in a NATO/Russia war.” CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said the introduction of more free-fall nuclear bombs to Europe was hazardous and destabilizing.