The Pentagon is preparing to spend more than $4 billion upgrading its network of military and intelligence bases across the United Kingdom. Official documents obtained by The Guardian reveal that the investment includes facilities designed to store nuclear weapons and a $163 million allocation for a secretive spy base.
Nuclear weapons head back to Britain
The most striking element of the plans centers on RAF Lakenheath, a US Air Force base in Suffolk, England. The facility is being positioned as a hub for F-35A fighter jet integration, and the Pentagon documents suggest it will also house nuclear weapons storage capabilities.
If nuclear warheads do return to Lakenheath, it would mark the first time US nuclear weapons have been stationed in the UK since their withdrawal in 2008.
Analysts from the Federation of American Scientists and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists have tracked upgrades at the site that point to enhanced security and expanded storage capacity. The US government has neither confirmed nor denied the specific types of armaments involved, with official policy treating the presence or absence of nuclear weapons at any given location as classified information.
