US Has Likely Moved Nuclear Arms to UK for First Time Since 2008

A US Air Force C-17 military aircraft. 

Photographer: Jeffrey Groeneweg/AFP/Getty Images

The US has likely stationed nuclear weapons in the UK for the first time since 2008, in a signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin that it remains committed to European security.

On July 16, a US military aircraft flew with its transponder on — making its identification and location publicly visible — from a US nuclear weapons depot at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to an airbase in the UK city of Lakenheath, according to defense analysts and open-source data.