For the first time in nearly two decades, the United States appears to be reintroducing nuclear weapons to British soil. Open-source analysts recently tracked a military aircraft departing from Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, home to the US Nuclear Weapons Center, en route to RAF Lakenheath in eastern England.
Both US and UK officials have declined to confirm the deployment, citing long-standing policies on strategic weapons secrecy. Nonetheless, the development has
raised fresh questions about the shifting balance of power on the global stage, seen by some as a potential response to Vladimir Putin’s increasingly aggressive posture and China’s growing influence in Europe.
As whispers of Cold War-era moves echo across the Atlantic, click through the gallery to take a closer look at what this strategic shift could mean.