Two squadrons of US fighter jets, capable of nuclear bombing, are set to be based in the UK this year, according to British reports.
Media outlets reported that news, as a defense source told the Telegraph: “F-35s will be based there.”
“They have deployed and will be moving in at the end of this year, if not sometime in 2024,” the source added.
Experts indicated that this move is evidence that the West has entered a new cold war. It comes days after a US report showed the military base could be used for Americans to host nuclear weapons in the UK again.
The planes can carry out tactical nuclear bombings as well as conducting air-to-air missions and gathering intelligence.
The source noted: “It’s newer which has a longer range and stealth, which is crucial if you are going to use them to accurately drop nuclear bombs.”
Meanwhile, the construction at the RAF site for the “surety dormitory” for nuclear arms is set to begin in June 2024 and end in February 2026.
The US budgetary report showed a request for $50 million to build the 144-bed dormitory “to house the increase in enlisted personnel as the result of the potential Surety Mission.”
The reported return of the weapons to British soil is a significant move, with some suggesting it indicates “how dangerous and complex our world is becoming.”
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commander of Britain and NATO‘s Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Regiment, commented: “This is absolutely a cold war and it is strategic brinkmanship.”
“This is a game of poker. If the US is putting nukes in the UK, it’s a message to Russia that they are serious.”
Both the Ministry of Defence and No 10 declined to comment on whether American nuclear warheads would be deployed to the UK.
