Germany sends tornadoes to NATO nuclear weapons exercises

deterrence against Russia

Germany sends tornadoes to NATO nuclear weapons exercises

NATO wants to deter Russia from attacking by demonstrating strength. This year, too, this includes an exercise for the horror scenario of a nuclear war.

The German one air force In the coming days, several combat aircraft will take part in a NATO exercise to defend the alliance’s territory with nuclear weapons. As a spokesman for the Air Force told the German Press Agency, three Tornados from Tactical Air Force Squadron 33 were relocated to Aviano Air Base in northern Italy for the exercise called “Steadfast Noon”. According to the information, several dozen German soldiers are involved in the maneuver.

The Tornados are normally stationed at the Büchel base in Rhineland-Palatinate. According to officially unconfirmed information, US nuclear weapons are stored there, which in an emergency can be used using the concept of so-called nuclear sharing NATO could also be dropped by German fighter-bombers. Other storage locations for US nuclear weapons in Europe are bases in countries such as Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands.

NATO has not yet provided any information about the details of the exercise that begins this Tuesday. Alliance headquarters simply said that the scope was comparable to the previous year. At that time, NATO spoke of around 2,000 military personnel and more than 70 aircraft involved. These included state-of-the-art F-35 fighter jets as well as surveillance and tanker aircraft.

The training scenario is also secret. According to military experts, the exercises, which take place regularly in October, include training in how to safely transport the weapons from underground magazines to the aircraft and mount them under the fighter jets. However, during this and the subsequent attack exercises, only practice bombs without a real nuclear warhead are used.

NATO nuclear policy chief Nassima Barrows said at the end of last week about the upcoming exercise that “Steadfast Noon” was intended to demonstrate that NATO is ready to defend the alliance’s territory if the worst comes to the worst and that it also has the necessary capabilities. Of course, real nuclear weapons would not be used.

Colonel David Bull, who is responsible for nuclear operations in the alliance, explained that the main aim is to train the interaction of all parties involved in order to maintain a safe, credible and reliable nuclear deterrent.

According to NATO information, the exercise has no connection with current global political events and is not directed against a specific country. In its threat analysis, however, the alliance has been focusing on… Russia in view. It was only at the end of last month Moscow again accused of nuclear saber rattling. Russia had previously threatened the possible use of its entire military arsenal, including nuclear weapons, in view of NATO maneuvers and what it saw as the threat of isolation of Kaliningrad.

There was initially no reaction from the Russian side to the maneuver announcement. Last year, Moscow launched its own large-scale exercise of its strategic nuclear forces in parallel with NATO’s ongoing nuclear exercise. It was a planned military exercise, emphasized the Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin at that time.