Latest news with #USAF
BBC News
17 hours ago
- Politics
- BBC News
CND calls for transparency on 'nuclear weapons' to RAF Lakenheath
Campaigners have called for government "transparency" amid reports the United States Air Force has moved nuclear weapons to a Suffolk airbase. Flight data showed a specialist C-17A Globemaster transporter - capable of carrying extra heavy loads - travelling more than 4,400 miles (8,200km) from New Mexico in the United States to RAF Lakenheath last week. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) said Prime Minister Keir Starmer should "come clean" and make a formal statement about the potential deployment. Neither the United States Air Force (USAF) or the Ministry of Defence comments on nuclear weapons deployments. Last year, US Department of Defence indicated RAF Lakenheath was preparing facilities to house and guard nuclear bombs. Documents detailing a contract awarded to build defensive shelters for the base's "upcoming nuclear mission" were published, and then withdrawn, by the US Department of would be the first time since 2008 that nuclear weapons had been in place at Lakenheath. The base is home to the 48th Fighter Wing, also known as the Liberty F-35A Lightning II jets stationed at the base have successfully been flight tested to carry the short-range B61-12 thermonuclear bomb, a tactical weapon designed for the battlefield. William Alberque, a former NATO arms control expert, said he believed the transporter's cargo included B61-12 nuclear Alberque, who is now at the foreign policy research institute The Pacific Forum, said all signs pointed to the aircraft carrying nuclear weapons."One would have to say the balance of evidence has tipped the scales from 'no' to 'yes'."We know the C-17s loaded at a 'hot weapons' pad because their transponders were on - and that this is voluntary and often not done."The transponder's code was for a dangerous load, he told the BBC, and that air refuelling had taken place over the Atlantic."If they had no nuclear cargo, they could have refuelled on the ground," he said, adding "that's a message". Suffolk-based aviation analyst Roger Smith agreed the indications were the plane was carrying a nuclear payload. The C-17A originally took off from its base at McChord Air Force Base in Washington State on 15 July before going to USAF's Nuclear Weapons Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, according to data from the flight tracking website ADS-B said it used the callsign REACH 4574, which is primarily used by the US Air Mobility Command. He told the BBC the four digit number indicated a more specialised or sensitive mission and that the callsign is also associated with the Prime Nuclear Airlift Force (PNAF) based at McChord AFB. "The PNAF is a group of specialist aircrew and loading crews, trained and cleared to move nuclear weapons by air" he added. Reacting to the reports of the possible delivery of the bombs, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) called on the prime minister to make a formal Tom Unterrainer said: "It is completely inappropriate for the public to be finding out about such a major escalation in nuclear dangers via reports in British newspapers and the assessments of security experts."Keir Starmer must make a public statement about this major change in Britain's security arrangements and allow for a transparent and democratic debate on this to be held in Parliament."A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "It remains a long-standing UK and NATO policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at a given location."A US Department of Defense official said: "Consistent with longstanding US policy, we neither confirm nor deny the presence or absence of nuclear weapons at any particular location." Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Newsweek
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
US Spy Plane Sweeps Russia's Western Flank
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A U.S. spy plane has swept across NATO's northern flank—near major military bases in northwest Russia—flight tracking data shows, marking the latest flight by NATO surveillance aircraft close to Russian soil. A U.S. Air Force (USAF) RC-135V Rivet Joint aircraft took off from a base in eastern England on Tuesday for a roughly 12 hour flight, first traveling north over Norway before nearing Russia's Murmansk region, data from publicly available flight tracking platform FlightRadar24 shows. The aircraft reached the area northeast of the Russian town of Severomorsk before turning back and returning to the U.K. via Finland, the Baltic states that are pressed up against Russia, Poland, Germany and then the Netherlands. It skirts around Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad, a wedge of Russian soil squeezed between Lithuania and Poland, tracking data indicates. Russia's northwestern Murmansk region borders NATO member Finland, and is home to the country's formidable Northern Fleet. The Northern Fleet plays a major role in Russia's nuclear arsenal. An RC-135W Rivet Joint and two F-35 Lightnings fly over The Mall during a flypast to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day in London, England, on May 5, 2025. An RC-135W Rivet Joint and two F-35 Lightnings fly over The Mall during a flypast to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day in London, England, on May 5, has a number of military bases and airfields around the city of Murmansk and nearby Severomorsk, the home of the main Northern Fleet headquarters and a major submarine base. The Olenya airbase, hosting long-range Russian bombers, is north of Severomorsk, and Russia has in recent years modernized its Severomorsk-1 naval airbase. Gadzhiyevo, another major submarine base, sits north of Murmansk and Severomorsk. The U.S. and the U.K. have both operated Rivet Joint aircraft in eastern Europe in recent weeks. A British Royal Air Force (RAF) RC-135 flew an almost identical flight path through Europe up to Murmansk last week. The Boeing RC-135 aircraft hoovers up what is known as signals intelligence, or SIGINT, which can come from a variety of sources, like written messages or data from weapons and radar systems. Iterations of the RC-135 have been in use with the U.S. military for decades. The USAF Rivet Joint, identified on FlightRadar24 by the call sign, "JAKE 17," took off from the U.K. base of Mildenhall at 7 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET) on Tuesday, and landed back at the same base at just after 7 p.m. U.K. time (2 p.m. ET). The USAF's fleet of RC-135s have been "hard pressed of late with urgent demands for SIGINT collection at U.S.-Mexico border, East Asia, eastern Europe, and the Middle East," Olli Suorsa, an assistant professor in homeland security at the government-owned Abu Dhabi-based Rabdan Academy, previously told Newsweek.
Newsweek
2 days ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
US Nuclear Weapons 'Deployed' to UK for First Time in 17 Years
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The United States military has moved nuclear weapons to British soil for the first time in close to two decades, new analysis indicates. Open-source analysts identified an aircraft taking off from the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, bound for the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Lakenheath, in the east of England. Kirtland Air Force Base is the headquarters of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) Nuclear Weapons Center, a main storage site for nuclear weapons. A U.S. defense official told Newsweek the U.S. did not comment on the "status or location of strategic weapons." A spokesperson for the British Defense Ministry said: "It remains a long-standing UK and NATO policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at a given location." Why It Matters Speculation has long surrounded whether the East England RAF base could once again host U.S. nuclear weapons. RAF Lakenheath hosted American nuclear weapons for several decades until 2008. The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) said in 2023 that U.S. military budget documents "strongly" implied the Air Force intended to re-establish its nuclear weapons mission in the U.K. RAF Lakenheath—the home of the 48th Fighter Wing, dubbed "Liberty Wing"—has been upgraded in recent years. If Washington moves nuclear weapons back into the U.K., "it would break with decades of policy and planning and reverse the southern focus of the European nuclear deployment that emerged after the end of the Cold War," the FAS said in updated analysis earlier this year. A USAF C-17 Globemaster III from the 97th Air Mobility Wing participates in the Miami Beach Air and Sea Show on May 25, 2024. A USAF C-17 Globemaster III from the 97th Air Mobility Wing participates in the Miami Beach Air and Sea Show on May 25, 2024. AP/NewsBase What To Know Flight tracking data shows that a USAF C-17 cargo plane departed from Albuquerque for a flight of just over 10 hours to Lakenheath on July 16 and left the U.K. two days later. "It looks like it went to England, dropped off those weapons and then it went back to regular operations in the U.S.," William Alberque, a former head of NATO's nuclear non-proliferation center, told Britain's The Times. The U.K. government announced last month it would buy at least 12 F-35A fifth-generation aircraft, which, unlike the F-35B jets the country's RAF already operates, are certified to carry nuclear weapons. The jets will be stationed at RAF Marham, a base north of Lakenheath. The purchase "reintroduces a nuclear role for the Royal Air Force for the first time since the UK retired its sovereign air-launched nuclear weapons following the end of the Cold War," the British government said in a statement. The U.K. has Trident, its own nuclear weapons program made up of four Vanguard-class submarines able to fire nuclear missiles. The U.S. has both strategic and nonstrategic nuclear weapons. Nonstrategic nuclear weapons, which in the U.S. case are variants of the B61 gravity bomb, are also known as tactical nuclear weapons. The U.S. announced at the start of the year that it had completed a long-running program to upgrade the B61 to the B61-12. Strategic nuclear weapons are deployed on intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and those fired from bomber aircraft. They are thought of as the missiles that could level entire cities and threaten major global superpowers. Unlike strategic weapons, tactical nuclear weapons are designed for use on the battlefield or in what is known as a specific theater. They have a smaller yield and are designed to be used against different targets than strategic nuclear weapons, which are limited under the New START Treaty that is due to expire in 2026. The U.S. has an estimated 200 tactical nuclear weapons, with roughly half deployed at European bases. The U.S. is believed to have around 100 tactical bombs deployed in five NATO countries on the continent, including in Turkey, Germany and Belgium. What People Are Saying Sidharth Kaushal, a senior research fellow with the British think tank, the Royal United Services Institute, told The Times that the C-17 flight "could be the transport of B61s for potential use on RAF F-35As in due course. Kaushal added, "It represents a move towards the use of tactical nuclear weapons. It reintroduces a bit of flexibility in terms of how nuclear weapons are used."
Business Wire
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Perini Management Services, Inc. Announces Two Projects Collectively Valued at $48.9 Million
FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tutor Perini Corporation (NYSE: TPC) (the 'Company'), a leading civil, building and specialty construction company, announced today that its subsidiary, Perini Management Services, Inc. (PMSI), is underway with work on two new projects that were awarded earlier this year: Barrier System Repair at Royal Air Force (RAF) Lakenheath, United Kingdom Customer/Owner: United States Air Force (USAF) Contract Value: $28,404,177 This project was awarded as a task order under the USAF's Worldwide Engineering & Construction (WE&C) contract. The project includes civil, mechanical, electrical, and paving scopes of work involved in the design and construction of security fencing; aircraft, vehicle, and pedestrian gates; infrastructure to support surveillance equipment; and patrol roads. Work began in February 2025 and substantial completion is anticipated in the fall of 2026. Rio Bayamon Housing Infrastructure, Utilities, and Resiliency, Puerto Rico Customer/Owner: United States Coast Guard Contract Value: $20,463,394 This design-build project will improve the resilience of the electrical and water storage infrastructure and distribution at the Rio Bayamon Housing site. The scope of work includes construction of new access roads, security fencing and gates, patching existing roadways and curbs for the new electrical distribution, and resiliency work, in addition to providing a new utility building, water storage tank, selective demolition, and improvements to existing storm drainage piping. Work began in January 2025 and substantial completion is anticipated in the spring of 2027. About Tutor Perini Corporation Tutor Perini Corporation is a leading civil, building and specialty construction company offering diversified general contracting and design-build services to private customers and public agencies throughout the world. We have provided construction services since 1894 and have established a strong reputation within our markets by executing large, complex projects on time and within budget while adhering to strict safety and quality control measures. We offer general contracting, pre-construction planning and comprehensive project management services, and have strong expertise in delivering design-bid-build, design-build, construction management, and public-private partnership (P3) projects. We often self-perform multiple project components, including earthwork, excavation, concrete forming and placement, steel erection, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), and fire protection.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
American nuclear weapons return to British soil
The US has stationed nuclear weapons in Britain for the first time in more than 15 years, experts believe. An American C-17 transport plane visited RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk on Thursday, making a transatlantic journey from Kirtland Air Force base in New Mexico, where the US Air Force (USAF) stores nuclear bombs. Analysts said it was likely that the flight contained nuclear bombs, which were last stationed in the UK in 2008, before being removed under the Obama administration. The Telegraph previously revealed details of an upcoming 'nuclear mission' at Lakenheath in unclassified documents that appeared to have been published by the US government by accident. Neither the British nor American governments routinely comment on the location of nuclear weapons. However, experts said the C-17 flight last week closely matched previous missions by the USAF to transport nuclear bombs. The airspace over the base was restricted on Thursday and the aircraft did not immediately return to the US, in what one analyst told the Times appeared to be a 'one-way drop-off'. Priority mission The plane also refuelled over the East Coast of the US. The Aviationist specialist news website said this was a clue that it was flying a priority mission. RAF Lakenheath is the home of the USAF's 48th Fighter Wing, which contains two squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagle fast jets and two squadrons of the fifth-generation F-35A jets. The UK announced recently that it would purchase its own squadron of F-35As, which the Ministry of Defence confirmed on Monday could drop nuclear gravity bombs. These British planes are expected to be equipped from a stockpile of US weapons stored in Britain. It will be the first time that Britain has the capacity to air-launch nuclear weapons since the retirement of the WE.177 gravity bomb in 1998. 'This decision reintroduces a nuclear role for the RAF for the first time since the UK retired its sovereign air-launched nuclear weapons after the Cold War,' said an MoD document published on Monday. The decision by the previous US government to station nuclear weapons in Britain again came as part of an adjustment of Nato's nuclear posture in Europe, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Telegraph revealed last year that the Lakenheath base had bought new blast shields and was building a 'surety dormitory'. Surety is a euphemism used by the US military to refer to the safe storage of nuclear weapons. William Alberque, the former director of Nato's nuclear non-proliferation, told The Times that the transport aircraft that visited Lakenheath on Thursday had flown from the US with its transponders on, which allowed it to be tracked by foreign governments and aviation enthusiasts. He said: 'Flying transpondered C-17s from hot storage in Kirtland to Lakenheath and then returning and not going to a storage facility tells me this is a one-way drop-off flight. 'Sometimes these particular C-17 flights are flown without transponders. So, the fact that they transpondered, this suggests to me that this has got to be deliberate.'
