The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) sees the recent visit of US Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks to RAF Lakenheath, as further proof that Washington is preparing the Suffolk airbase to host new US nuclear weapons in Britain.
RAF Lakenheath: hosting US nuclear weapons
As the Canary previously reported, the US and UK governments and militaries are reportedly planning to allow American nuclear weapons to be stored at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) and West Suffolk Council have already put plans in place to develop the site – including a rapid airfield damage repair facilities (RADR), a child development centre, and a 144-bed dormitory.
CND has already launched a legal challenge against the plans – but now, the visit of Hicks to RAF Lakenheath appears to confirm that the plans are still going ahead.
Hicks’ tour included an inspection of “infrastructure improvements” at RAF Lakenheath. Among the works previously revealed in US Air Force budgetary documents are: upgrades to the special weapons hangers so they can store the new B61-12 guided nuclear bomb; rapid airfield damage repair facilities; and a 144-bed “surety dormitory” for US Air Force personnel. In US military terminology, the word “surety” is used to refer to the handling of nuclear weapons.
CND has already challenged the planning rights used for the dormitory – which so far has not received an environmental impact assessment ahead of its planned construction next year. It believes that the construction of buildings at RAF Lakenheath for the purpose of a nuclear weapons mission poses an outstanding environmental risk. As the Canary previously reported, the group:
claims the MoD and West Suffolk Council have failed to assess the environmental impact of potentially facilitating the weapons at the Suffolk airbase and has called on the MoD to halt development works at RAF Lakenheath while the necessary screening is carried out.
In letters to the MoD and West Suffolk, CND says that under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2017 the development does not have permitted development rights which would allow it to go ahead.
The work could go ahead without an environmental impact assessment if it was being carried out by or on behalf of the Crown but this does not apply since the building works are being done by and for the USAF, it is believed.
Moreover, the presence of nuclear weapons will make the base – and the UK – a target in the event of nuclear war; it will also run the risk of an accident at the base prompting a nuclear incident.
Making the UK a ‘nuclear target’
CND condemns the UK government’s lack of transparency surrounding the siting of these weapons at RAF Lakenheath. It has refused to answer questions about the deployment of US nuclear weapons to Britain; about new construction work at the base; or about any safety measures in the event of a nuclear accident.
CND general secretary Kate Hudson said:
Kathleen Hicks’s visit to RAF Lakenheath is further proof that Washington intends to use Britain as a launch pad for its nuclear arsenal in Europe. The lack of transparency surrounding this deployment is shocking given how dangerous it is. Russia has already retaliated: it has stationed its own nuclear weapons in Belarus in response.
A YouGov poll found that almost two thirds of the British public don’t want US nuclear weapons stationed here. That’s not surprising – they will make us a nuclear target. CND calls on the UK government to say that US nuclear weapons are not welcome in Britain.
Featured image via U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Gaspar Cortez
