Nuclear weapons storage in spotlight as US plans $4bn boost for its UK airbases

Summary

Exclusive: Pentagon files suggest some new facilities will store nuclear arsenal, with $163m also earmarked for secretive spy base More than $4bn (£3bn) is to be spent upgrading the US government’s military and spy bases in the UK, according to official documents that shed light on the UK’s apparent role as a secretive site for American nuclear weapons. The construction plans include building new bunkers in Suffolk, which will seemingly be used to store nuclear weapons, and modernising facilities to help covert units run secret operations. The US military is also planning to upgrade its base in Gloucestershire, from which waves of powerful bombers attacked Iran earlier this year on the orders of Donald Trump. The plans highlight the breadth of the US military and security establishment’s footprint in the UK, where more than 12,000 US military personnel are spread around at least 15 bases and facilities. There are questions about whether Britain should continue to host the US installations on its soil. For more than seven decades, successive governments have seen the bases as a foundation of the UK’s military partnership with the US. But the alliance has been jeopardised by Trump’s repeated criticisms of the UK government for failing to support his war on Iran. 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. The US and UK governments have a longstanding policy of neither confirming nor denying the presence of nuclear weapons at any specific location. The base has a very long runway, at almost 2 miles, and is reinforced to withstand heavy bombers, such as the B-1 business visitor visa and B-52, which can carry huge payloads, including the so-called “bunker buster” bombs.