US-Russia Nuclear Weapons Standoff: Air Force Won't Station New Atomic Bombs In Germany Until 2020

[bananas]

Source: International Business Times

The United States will not station new nuclear weapons in Germany, according to a statement by a U.S. government official reported by the Russian news site Tass. Rumors had surfaced of a plan by the U.S. to introduce additional atomic bombs into Germany in an effort to further deter Russian hostility against Europe.

"The B61-12 won't reach full production until FY20,” said Shelley Laver, deputy director of the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration public affairs department, who spoke with Tass Wednesday. "The articles implying deployment to Europe by the end of the calendar year would be inaccurate."

In response to the reports that surfaced Tuesday, Moscow threatened to respond to the U.S. plans by sending its own nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles into Kaliningrad, a Russian-held enclave on the Baltic coast. The missiles would be capable of reaching almost any part of Europe.

The reports were based on an analysis of 2015 U.S. budget documents that said Air Force Tornado jet fighter bombers would be equipped with a new nuclear weapons system in the third quarter of this year.

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Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/us-russia-nuclear-weapons-standoff-air-force-wont-station-new-atomic-bombs-germany-2112791

[bananas]

1. TASS: US says not to place new nuclear bombs in Germany this year

http://tass.ru/en/world/823451

US says not to place new nuclear bombs in Germany this year

September 24, 17:40 UTC+3

Germany’s ZDF television reported on its website previously that the preparation for the deployment of new American nuclear bombs was beginning at Bundeswehr’s Buchel airbase

<snip>

Germany’s ZDF television reported on its website previously that the preparation for the deployment of new American nuclear bombs was beginning at Bundeswehr’s Buchel airbase (Rheinland-Pfalz federal land). Journalists obtained this information based on analysis of the US government's budget documents for the current year. They allegedly say that starting from the third quarter of 2015 the allocation of funds will begin to the US Air Force for equipping Germany’s Tornado jet fighter bombers with new nuclear weapons’ system.

Read also
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US plans for upgrading nuclear weapons in Germany alarm Russia — foreign ministry

Meanwhile, Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, said that the German media meant that "the Tornados were now in the first phase of a two year integration program." It's "more like a status update, that the Tornados (are) now in the integration program."

"All of these things have been in the books for years. The [US] Air Force has reported about the timelines for when these upgrades of the aircraft were going to be made and NNSA and many other agencies, of course, reported about the plans for the bomb itself," Kristensen said.

Referring to the American tactical nuclear weapons deployed in Europe, he said that "Now the estimate is closer to a hundred and eighty," despite his previous estimates of 2011 when it was believed that the United States had 150-200 tactical nuclear weapons in Europe.

[red dog 1]

2. K&R

[Still In Wisconsin]

3. Jesus H. Christ in a sidecar... what doe we need nukes in Germany for?

We've got ICBMs, and subs, and planes, and...

[mpcamb]

4. Instead of 2020, howsa bout never?

[red dog 1]

5. + 1

[Bradical79]

6. Who's getting richer off this deal?

Do we not already have the nuclear capability to glass Russia? What does putting nukes in Germany get us?

Edit: read some more, and see it's an upgrade for existing nukes. Still... If it's going to cause an uproar just decommission them. We'Ve got more than enough.