(VOVWORLD) - The United States has reportedly redeployed tactical nuclear weapons to the United Kingdom for the first time in 17 years, according to the UK Defense Journal on Monday.
The weapons are believed to be B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bombs, transferred to the RAF Lakenheath station in Suffolk, England. The bombs were flown from the US Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico and delivered to a new secure storage facility at Lakenheath.
RAF Lakenheath last hosted US nuclear weapons during the Cold War, with a final removal reported in 2008 amid broader disarmament across Europe. The redeployment comes to boost NATO's nuclear deterrence as NATO-Russia tensions rise over the Ukrainian conflict.