RAF Lakenheath hosted US nuclear weapons for more than five decades, first arriving in September 1954.
At least two major incidents involving nuclear weapons are known to have occurred at RAF Lakenheath. Both incidents were covered up by the US and British governments, only being admitted in 1979 and 2003 respectively.
Despite being called an RAF station, Lakenheath is run by the United States Air Force (USAF) and currently only hosts USAF units and personnel, leading many campaigners to describe it as USAF Lakenheath. The host wing is the 48th Fighter Wing (48 FW), also known as the Liberty Wing, assigned to United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). The wing operates the F-15C/D Eagle, F-15E Strike Eagle and F-35A Lightning II. With around 6,000 personnel on the base, it is the largest deployment of USAF personnel in Britain. For more information about other activities at the base, see our separate post.
Evidence is mounting that the US is preparing to site nuclear weapons at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. This originated when the US Department of Defense added the UK to a list of NATO nuclear weapons storage locations in Europe being upgraded under a multimillion-dollar infrastructure programme.
Published as part of the US Air Force (USAF) 2024 budgetary justification package, papers outline the need for a ‘surety dormitory’. Surety is a term referring to the capability to keep nuclear weapons secure.
The 144-bunk dormitory, the documents say, is needed, for “the influx of airmen due to the arrival of the potential Surety mission and the bed down of the two F-35 squadrons. Construction is expected to last from June 2024 to February 2026”.
Should the UK be hosting or preparing to host US nuclear weapons, this would constitute a further undermining of our safety, and prospects for global peace. The US is the only country to locate its nuclear weapons outside its own borders, and this major increase in NATO’s capacity to wage nuclear war in Europe is dangerously destabilising. Their return will increase global tensions and put Britain on the front line in a NATO/Russia war.