One of the 🇺🇸 US nuclear bombs stored at a 🇳🇱 Dutch air base may have been damaged in a recent accident, according to a report published on Monday, which comes at a time when a new generation of the weapons are due to arrive on the continent.

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) discovered a photograph of a B61 bomb being inspected for damage by US soldiers, including two from an explosive ordnance disposal unit, and a civilian. The rear of the bomb appears to have been twisted by an impact and one of the tail fins is missing. There is pink sticky tape covering an apparent hole.

A FAS report on Monday said the picture was included in a 2022 presentation for student job applicants by Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, one of the country’s nuclear weapons facilities, and it geolocated the image to the Volkel air force base in the Netherlands, one of six bases in five European countries where a total of 100 B61 nuclear gravity bombs are currently stored as part of a nuclear-sharing agreement with the US.

“It must be emphasized up front that there is no official confirmation that the image was taken at Volkel AB, that the bent B61 shape is a real weapon (versus a trainer), or that the damage was the result of an accident (versus a training simulation),” wrote Hans Kristensen, the report’s author and the director of the FAS nuclear information project. “If the image is indeed from a nuclear weapons event, it would constitute the first documented case of a recent nuclear weapons accident at an airbase in Europe.”

Any damage to a nuclear weapon is known as a “bent spear” incident, and generally kept secret. A spokesperson for the US air force in Europe would not comment directly on the photograph, but said: “The US maintains the highest level of standards for personnel and equipment supporting the strategic arsenal, which includes routine training, maintenance, and security activities, to safeguard America’s critical capabilities.”



“It is US policy [that] we can neither confirm nor deny the presence or absence of nuclear weapons at any general or specific location, including specific exercise or real-world operations,” the spokesperson said.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory said in an emailed statement: “No additional information is available for that photo.”

The B61 bomb is the only tactical nuclear weapon left in the US arsenal, and 100 of them are stored in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Turkey. The bombs remain US property, but air crews from six other Nato allies (the five hosts plus Greece) are trained to put them on planes and fly them. In the event of hostilities, it would require the agreement of the US, the Nato nuclear planning group and, and by dint of the history of the arrangement, the UK prime minister, for the weapons to be transferred to allied planes. Such nuclear-sharing operations are practised each year in Nato’s Steadfast Noon exercise, most recently in November, and since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Poland has asked to be part of the arrangement.

Arms control advocates have long argued the B61 was militarily obsolete and should be withdrawn from Europe as an easy step towards disarmament. The Obama administration contemplated its withdrawal but met with resistance from some European allies who saw it as symbolic of the US nuclear umbrella protecting them, and the idea was dropped altogether following 🇷🇺 Russia’s seizure of Crimea in 2014.

The Guardian

I like how they quickly discovered the problem before it causes harm

American policing the world but can’t be able to police its citizens!

Nuclear bomb

Like for Putin.

Share for the united states of America

WriterNig:
Like for

Imagine what humans developed so as to be used to destroy fellow humans

Hope there's no cause for danger oo?

But seriously, na man go still destroy man finally!

See people wey wan fight Putin

AbdulMagaji:
Imagine what humans developed so as to be used to destroy fellow humans

Don't Be Surprised, It Is Fundamental Strategy That Is Being Given By God & Who Gave Them The Sense Of Manufacturing Nuclear Weapons? That Is To Say, One Thing Must Kill A Man.

All these weapon of mass destruction sef

US should be careful.

Abeg make blow up jare.. Make earth restart

Dey play.

Guys on a serious note.
Twitter app is sucking my data what can I do to stop this.

Wahala

Nothing last forever..

Guns don't kill people.
It is people that kill people.
😂

If dem like make White house underground bunker damage..I go still Japa!!

Thiefnubuu

k

Pwettylinda:
Thiefnubuu

IPOB YES DADDY

They got money for the war, but they can't feed the poor.
USA
CHINA
NORTH KOREA
RUSSIA are all becoming threat to humanity.

Na me damage am

Sell it to Kanu or Ekpa his dog. Obidients would be happy. They are looking for now to destroy Alaigbo.

But other Countries aren't supposed to possess a Nuclear Weapon. Hypocrites!!!