One of US B61 nuclear bombs might have been damaged at a base in the Netherlands in what could be the first such incident in years, think tank The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) said in a report on Monday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd April, 2023) One of US B61 nuclear bombs might have been damaged at a base in the Netherlands in what could be the first such incident in years, think tank The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) said in a report on Monday.
FAS came to the conclusion after analyzing a photo showing US military personnel wearing Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit patches examining a visibly deformed B61 bomb, the body of which, for some unknown reason, is bent to the left, while a possible hole in the butt is sealed with pink tape, the report said.
The photo was included in a Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) student briefing from April 2022 without identification of where or when the photo was taken, according to the report.
After carefully analyzing the photo, Hans Kristensen, the author of the report, concluded that the photo was taken inside a Protective Aircraft Shelter (PAS) at Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands.
"It must be emphasized up front that there is no official confirmation that the image was taken at Volkel Air Base (in the Netherlands), 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)," the report said. "If the image is indeed from a nuclear weapons accident, it would constitute the first publicly known case of a recent nuclear weapons accident at an airbase in Europe."
The Netherlands is one of six countries in Europe where the United States currently deploys an estimated 100 B61 nuclear bombs in total, the report added.
In October, Politico reported that the United States had accelerated the deployment of a modernized B61-12 nuclear bomb to NATO bases in Europe. The delivery of the upgraded version of the bomb was originally planned for the spring of 2023. However, according to a diplomatic cable, US officials told NATO allies during a closed-door meeting in Brussels in October that the deployment is now planned for December this year.
The B61-12 is a modernized version of the B61 family of air-launched nuclear bombs.
