Locals living around an airbase in Suffolk earmarked to house nuclear bombs are asking clarity after an excercise was carried at by personnel from RAF Lakenheath simulating an aircraft accident with nuclear weapons onboard.
Although nothing has been confirmed by either the UK Ministry of Defence or the US Department of Defense, RAF Lakenheath is understood to be preparing to house and secure B61-12 Thermonuclear bombs which can be carried by F35 Lightning aircraft based there.
The excecise, known as Diamond Dragon, was designed to test Lakenheath crews ability to deal with a nuclear accident in or around the base in what is described as a highly unlikely scenario but something that must be prepared for.
The Sussex resilience forum, which s in charge of emergency planning for the local area, confirmed to the BBC that local plans did not include a scenario involving a nuclear incident and it would rely on the Ministry of Defence to advise it on what needed to be done with regards to evecuatuons of local people.
The last nuclear weapons held at RAF Lakenheath left 15 years ago and US Nuclear Missiles left the UK in the early 1990s. The only nuclear weapons currently on UK soil are those for the Royal Navy’s submarine launched ballistic missile system, Trident.
The staging of the recent excercise, which took place in September last year, could be another indicator that the US is preparing to return nuclear weapons to the UK.
RAF Lakenheath is home to USAFE’s fighter bomber aircraft incuding the Lockheed Martin F35 and the Boeing F15 Eagle.