RAF Lakenheath being upgraded to store US nuclear weapons

A Suffolk airbase is being upgraded to store US nuclear weapons for the first time in 14 years, according to a national report.

The Guardian has reported that the UK was added to a list of countries in the Biden administration's 2023 defence budget request where infrastructure investment is under way at 'special weapons' storage sites.

Other locations are in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.

Hans Kristensen, the director of the nuclear information project at the Federation of American Scientists, said it is believed RAF Lakenheath was the British site being upgraded.

The US withdrew its B61 nuclear gravity bombs from Lakenheath in 2008 which was the end of more than half a century of keeping a US nuclear stockpile in the UK.

The US budget documents said NATO funds infrastructure required to store special weapons within secure sites and facilities.

They added that NATO is wrapping up a 13-year, $384 million infrastructure investment program at storage sites in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and Turkey to 'upgrade security measures, communication systems, and facilities'.

Read here how the the Cold War near disasters at RAF Lakenheath could have left Suffolk as a nuclear wasteland.