The inside story of how America sent nuclear weapons to Britain

American nuclear weapons with three times the power of the Hiroshima bomb were transported to England last week, new evidence suggests.

The arsenal is under the control of president Donald Trump and could be used without British approval.

Our team at Nukewatch UK observed a special flight carrying the bombs as it landed at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk on 17 July, having tracked its journey and monitored radio messages.

The transport plane, a giant C-17 Globemaster (flight number RCH4574 or Reach 4574) had taken off from Lewis–McChord base in Washington state two days earlier.

It was assigned to an elite, highly-trained transport unit, called the 62nd Airlift Wing, which serves as the US Air Force’s prime nuclear airlift force.

The C-17 aircraft undertaking the flight was on a high priority mission and flew across the continental United States to Kirtland Air Force base in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

That’s the hub of the US Air Force’s nuclear operations, where the largest nuclear weapons storage facility in the world is located: the Kirtland Underground Munitions Maintenance and Storage Complex.

This stores a significant portion of the US nuclear arsenal, including gravity bombs and warheads.

Reach 4574 landing at Lakenheath on 17 July. (Photo: Nukewatch UK)

Loading up

At Kirtland the aircraft almost certainly loaded up with a cargo of anything up to 20 newly manufactured B61-12 nuclear weapons – a modernised version of the US Air Force’s principal nuclear gravity bomb with greater accuracy than older variants of the weapon.

Manufacturing of the B61-12 variant was completed in December 2024 and the weapon is currently being rolled out on deployment.

Whilst at Kirtland the aircraft was parked on Pad 5 – the section of the airbase designated for handling hazardous cargoes.

Other aircraft at the airport were given a warning not to overfly the aircraft on Pad 5 for a period of over five hours, which ended only once the C-17 had departed.

Mid-evening local time on 16 July Reach 4574 took off, with the pilot reminding the ground controller that the aircraft had “haz cargo” on board.

The aircraft flew through the night across the Atlantic Ocean, rendezvousing with two KC-46 tanker aircraft from Pease Air National Guard base and McGuire Air Force base to refuel over the ocean east of New York.

In a co-ordinated operation, a second C-17 aircraft also left Lewis-McChord on 15 July and flew to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany (stopping briefly at Lakenheath) to be on standby in the event of a failure or emergency involving the primary aircraft.

This standby aircraft may have been loaded with nuclear emergency response equipment for dealing with an accident involving the primary aircraft.

Reach 4574 approached the UK flying south of Ireland, then flew up the Bristol Channel, cut across north Devon, and flew north west along a corridor taking it close to Oxford and Milton Keynes, but avoiding overflying major centres of population.

Unloading

The plane landed at Lakenheath air base at 12.50 local time. Our team was waiting outside to monitor its arrival and unloading.

Base security was at an unusually high level, with USAF security patrols and police cars undertaking patrols inside the base’s security fence.

Plain-clothed (but badged) personnel from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations patrolled outside.

After landing, the aircraft taxied to an area of the base known as ‘Victor Ramp’ – a location near the centre which is designated for loading and unloading hazardous cargoes.

During the entire unloading operation the aircraft was accompanied by a US Air Force fire tender, stationed alongside the right wing of the aircraft, and the tender also did a sweep along the runway before the aircraft landed.

Security vehicles surrounded the unloading area and a number of vehicles approached the aircraft for the unloading operation, deploying close to its rear drop-down ramp.

Following unloading a convoy of several vehicles moved very slowly with red lights flashing to a protected aircraft shelter near the unloading area and disappeared from sight behind the shelter.

Among the vehicles seen unloading the aircraft were MHU83 Aircraft Aerial Munitions Lift Trucks, used by the US Air Force for loading and unloading munitions from aircraft, and certified for use with nuclear weapons.

Whilst Reach 4574 was at Lakenheath no other flights flew from the base and a strict ‘no fly’ restriction was in place for a 2.5 nautical mile radius around the base in the Lakenheath Aerodrome Traffic Zone area.

The aircraft departed from Lakenheath at the end of the afternoon on 18 July and flew straight back to Lewis-McChord.

The US and UK authorities declined to comment when asked by journalists what was onboard.

Strong signals

We believe that this aircraft delivered a batch of B61-12 nuclear weapons. Lakenheath hosts F-15E Strike Eagle and F-35A Lightning aircraft, both of which are certified to carry B61-12 nuclear gravity bombs.

During much of the Cold War nuclear weapons were stored at Lakenheath but in 2008 they were quietly removed from the base following consolidation of the US nuclear arsenal in Europe.

Since 2022 nuclear-related infrastructure at Lakenheath, including hardened aircraft shelters and a ‘surety dormitory’, has been upgraded, giving rise to speculation that nuclear weapons would be returning to Suffolk.

The 62nd Airlift Wing regularly conducts Prime Nuclear Airlift missions across the Atlantic to transport materials and equipment to air bases in Europe.

Nukewatch has been actively tracking these flights for three years, and has used archived tracking data to analyse flights since the beginning of 2020.

Over this period missions have included occasional operations which have been unusually complex, involving up to seven aircraft as stand-bys and for in-flight refuelling.

In addition to operations involving nuclear weapons, the unit also conducts missions transporting special nuclear materials which visit several NATO nuclear bases in Europe in sequence, and also conducts missions involving training with ground personnel at several nuclear bases.

It is possible that the earliest of these missions were training and rehearsal flights for the delivery of new B61-12 nuclear bombs to Europe, with more recent flights actually transporting the nuclear bombs across the Atlantic for deployment at bases in Europe.

Close to home

Nukewatch has observed that Lakenheath has been involved in many of these missions, initially as a location for basing a stand-by aircraft in Europe – possibly for use by a nuclear emergency response team.

More recently Lakenheath appears to have been involved in a series of ‘work up’ exercises and security drills involving aircraft from 62 Airlift Wing to prepare the base for the arrival of nuclear weapons, culminating in a large-scale exercise over two days on 10–11 June 2025 which may have been a dress rehearsal for the nuclear delivery operation.

The day before flight Reach 4574 landed Lakenheath air base held a ‘quiet hour’ from 9-10am – a session where all base personnel are briefed by senior officers on important matters.

It is likely that the briefing took place to inform staff at the base that Lakenheath had been formally ‘stood up’ for its nuclear role and to explain arrangements for the delivery operation the next day.

It can be expected that Prime Nuclear Airlift Force flights to Lakenheath and other European nuclear weapons bases will continue on a regular basis for the foreseeable future.

These flights are necessary to deliver materials required for the B61-12 nuclear programme (for example tritium, a radioactive gas involved in boosting a nuclear explosion which has a relatively short half-life and needs regular replenishment); to transport loads to and from the US for servicing and maintenance; and for emergency, security, and crew training exercises.

It is important to understand that the delivery of B61-12 nuclear weapons to Lakenheath has nothing to do with the recent announcement by the prime minister Keir Starmer that the UK will purchase a small number of F-35A nuclear-capable aircraft for the Royal Air Force.

The UK has not yet purchased these aircraft and a long period of training and certification would be mandated by the US authorities before the RAF was deemed competent to take part in NATO’s tactical nuclear mission.

As yet doctrine and operational arrangements for any RAF nuclear role do not appear to have been developed.

The UK government may not have even been notified that the weapons are now stationed at Lakenheath.

Far from protecting Europeans during wartime, these nuclear weapons would contribute to turning Europe into a radioactive wasteland.

Despite the significant issues and risks involved in basing these weapons of mass destruction in Europe, neither the US nor the UK government have bothered to inform citizens or parliament that they have been deployed here.

For more details visit the Nukewatch UK website.