A new maintenance hangar for US fighter jets has opened at a Suffolk airbase amid speculation that nuclear weapons storage facilities are returning to the site.
The fuel cell maintenance facility, which includes bays for two aircrafts, forms part of a multi-million dollar programme of investment at RAF Lakenheath to allow the US Air Force to service and maintain the fuel cell of F-35 aircraft.
Steve Rix, the Defence Infrastructure Organisation Programme Director, said: "F-35s are complex, advance pieces of machinery with many moving parts that need to be kept in top condition for the effective operation of the aircraft.
"The fuel cell maintenance hangar is a vital part of that process and will allow our colleagues from the US Air Force to keep their F-35s in top condition."
According to US Air Force budget estimates for 2024, a $50 million 144-bed dormitory is planned for RAF Lakenheath, north of Mildenhall, to house airmen as part of a "potential surety mission" and to bed down two F-35 squadrons.
The Federation of American Scientists previously reported that, in the 2023 defence budget, the UK appeared in a list of countries where investment is taking place for "special weapons" storage facilities.
On Saturday, September 23, a team from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) gathered outside RAF Lakenheath with the aim of searching the base for nuclear weapons.
They believe the United States Air Force is using the base, which is the largest US-operated base in England, to deploy nuclear weapons for the first time in 15 years.
After the CND wrote to the base commander about a potential inspection, the campaign group was refused access at the last minute by British Royal Air Force authorities, and so the group staged a protest outside the base.
CND Chair Tom Unterrainer said: "We know the base is being readied for the B61-12. We know they are doubling the amount of F-35 jets to be stationed there. So, in the event of a nuclear war between Russia and the US, you don’t need to be Carl von Clausewitz to know that Lakenheath is going to be on the target list."
Speaking in August, John Marais, spokesperson for Norwich CND, said: "Having nuclear weapons there makes East Anglia a potential target for nuclear attacks should nuclear war happen. That is our first concern, it is not very comfortable to be right in the front line which is where this would put us.
"We also don't want to be complicit in in mass-murder which could arise. Whether we like it or not if NATO gets dragged into some kind of nuclear exchange we would have no choice but to face the outcome of that."
At one time, RAF Lakenheath had capacity to store some 110 nuclear bombs, but all of these were withdrawn by 2008.
The UK adopts a posture of "minimal credible nuclear deterrence" and has a "no-first use" policy.
The country has a ceiling of no more than 260 warheads, which rose from 180 in 2021, and operates continuous at-sea deterrence.
In August, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: "It remains a long-standing UK and NATO policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at a given location."
Also in August, an RAF Lakenheath spokesperson said: "The United States routinely upgrades its military facilities in Allied nations.
"Consistent with long-standing practice, the UK, NATO, and the U.S. do not disclose nuclear posture or basing.
"It is policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence or absence of nuclear weapons at any general or specific location."
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