Could nuclear weapons be returning to RAF Lakenheath?

The Federation of American Scientists says new United States Air Force budget papers "strongly imply" the US Air Force is in the process of re-establishing its nuclear weapons mission on UK soil.

It cites plans to build a 144-bed dormitory at RAF Lakenheath, near Thetford, to house "the influx of airmen due to the arrival of the potential surety mission".

It adds: "Surety is a term commonly used within the Department of Defense and Department of Energy to refer to the capability to keep nuclear weapons safe, secure, and under positive control."

Reports last year said the US was upgrading so-called special weapons sites across Europe, along with its nuclear bombs which could be dropped from aircraft, amid rising global tensions.

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RAF Lakenheath has been approached for comment. The Ministry of Defence said: "It remains a long-standing UK and Nato policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at a given location."

It added it could not comment on US spending decisions and capabilities, which are a matter for the US government.

Kate Hudson, general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said: “It’s increasingly clear that Lakenheath is once again a vital cog in Washington’s overseas nuclear machine – despite refusals from the British government to acknowledge this reality."

Nuclear weapons were stored at a number of US bases in England from the Cold War, peaking at an estimated 3 - 400 in the 1970s.

Numbers were reduced as relations thawed with Russia in the 1980s.

They are believed to have been removed from Lakenheath in 2008.

The base is the largest US Air Force station in England, operating F-15 Eagle fighters and F-35 Lightning stealth bombers.

Britain's nuclear deterrent consists of sea-launched missiles carried on board the Royal Navy's Trident submarines.