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US $4bn UK nuclear plans
The Guardian reported that the US government plans to spend more than $4bn upgrading its military and spy bases in the UK, with construction plans including new bunkers in Suffolk that would seemingly be used to store nuclear weapons.
“More than $4bn (£3bn) is to be spent upgrading the US government’s military and spy bases in the UK”
The documents described by The Guardian say the largest portion of funding—more than $1.6bn—is due to be spent at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, the largest American base in the UK and home to 6,000 military personnel.
The Guardian also said the plans suggest the expenditure includes new infrastructure to house a nuclear arsenal returning to the base after nearly two decades, with US nuclear weapons believed removed in 2008.
Crypto Briefing added that the Pentagon documents obtained by The Guardian reveal the investment includes facilities designed to store nuclear weapons and a $163 million allocation for a secretive spy base.
Crypto Briefing further said that if nuclear warheads do return to Lakenheath, it would mark the first time US nuclear weapons have been stationed in the UK since their withdrawal in 2008.
Bases, protests, and policy
The Guardian said the US and UK governments have a longstanding policy of neither confirming nor denying the presence of nuclear weapons at any specific location, even as anti-nuclear campaigners pointed to evidence suggesting a nuclear presence at Lakenheath and mounted regular protests at the base.
The Guardian reported that the US modernisation plans were outlined in papers presented at a military engineering conference earlier this year and documents submitted to the US Congress detailing Pentagon expenditure.
Crypto Briefing described the same policy as treating the presence or absence of nuclear weapons at any given location as classified information, while also saying analysts from the Federation of American Scientists and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists have tracked upgrades at the site.
The Guardian said Members of a Pentagon unit responsible for overseeing the construction of military projects, the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center, gave the presentation to the conference in March.
Crypto Briefing said the most striking element of the plans centers on RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, England, and that the facility is being positioned as a hub for F-35A fighter jet integration.
Iran war context and fallout
The Guardian said the US military is planning to upgrade its base in Gloucestershire, from which waves of powerful bombers attacked Iran earlier this year on the orders of Donald Trump.
“bombers attacked Iran earlier this year on the orders of Donald Trump”
Geo.fr reported that the United States deployed a second carrier strike group led by the USS Gerald R. Ford toward the Mediterranean and the Gulf, with the two formations expected to be in position by mid-March.
Geo.fr added that, according to The Times, the United Kingdom refused to allow the United States to use RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia to strike Iran, and said the first lies west of Oxford in the United Kingdom and the second is on a namesake island of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
Ici Beyrouth reported that Iran fired two ballistic missiles at the U.S.-British base at Diego Garcia, about 4,000 kilometers from Iranian territory, and that neither of the two missiles fired at this base hit its target.
France 24 said the Islamic Republic retaliated by launching missiles toward American bases located in Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates after the United States and Israel launched a campaign of strikes against Iran on Saturday February 28.
