6 Bases during the Cold War

Molesworth), Belgium (Florennes), the Netherlands (Woendsrecht) and Sicily(Comiso). Additionally, launcher repair facilities were identified at EMCHansen, Frankfurt (West Germany) and at SABCA, Gossens, Belgium, and amissile storage site at Weilerbach in West Germany. Originally, this called for464 GLCMs overall, based on 116 launchers, with perhaps nearly double thatnumber of warheads, though by the time of the 1987 INF Treaty only some 309missiles and 109 launchers had been deployed. The Pershing missiles withranges capable of reaching well into the USSR, indeed, as far as Moscow, mayhave been perceived as having “strategic” implications, albeit based outside theU.S. Additionally, there were the remnant German Pershings under U.S. custodiancontrol (with two warheads per launcher), with shorter reaches well short ofbeing able to target the USSR proper (these too were eliminated under the INFaccord).Otherwise, the U.S. based a considerable number of nuclear-capable aircraftforward in Western Europe, that is, those manned directly by USAF personnel,which involved the forward deployment of some 1700 nuclear bombs. Thesewere, obviously, usable for tactical purposes along or directly behind the FLOT,but – particularly with the aid of aerial refueling – also capable of deep interdictionmissions throughout Eastern Europe and well into the Soviet Union proper.Some 72 F-16 fighter-attack aircraft and some 140 nuclear bombs were stored atboth Hahn and Ramstein air bases; at Spangdahlem, a similar number of F-16swith some 140 weapons were stored. At Aviano in Italy, some 200 weaponswere said to have been stored in connection with nuclear-capable F-16s, previouslyrotated forward from Spain but later based in Italy. In Turkey, the base atIncirlik supported some 36 nuclear capable F-4s or F-16s which could be loadedwith the weapons on quick-reaction alert after being rotated forward, whileanother base at Cigli, Izmir acted as a dispersal base for nuclear-capable aircraft.Of course, land-based aircraft were not the only forward-based U.S. nucleararmedaircraft. There were also U.S. aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean Seaand the Atlantic Ocean. Typically, there were two carriers on station in theMediterranean – utilizing ports such as Naples, Souda Bay, Rota – which couldlaunch A-6E, A-7 and F/A-18 aircraft carrying nuclear weapons, with110 Bases during the Cold Warİ 2007 Robert E. Harkavyrespective ranges of 3200, 2800 and 1000km. With the capability to strike theSoviet homeland if within range, each carrier deployed over 100 nuclearbombs.As well as nuclear-armed aircraft, there were the numerous U.S. and otherNATO nations’ ASW aircraft, involving the U.S. P-3C Orions and the BritishNimrods. In a conflict, these would have been vital to NATO efforts at securingNorth Atlantic SLOCs against interdiction by Soviet attack submarines. U.S.and Dutch P-3Cs and British Nimrods were based at or staged through Britishbases at St. Mawgan and Machrihanish (the latter in the Strathclyde area ofScotland) – some 63 U.S. nuclear depth bombs were stored at each base. AdditionalU.S.-manned and operated P-3Cs with forward-stored nuclear depthcharges were based at Keflavik, Iceland (48 bombs), Sigonella on Sicily (63bombs) and Rota, Spain (32 bombs). Other U.S. P-3Cs were rotated throughAndaya and Bodo in Norway, Souda Bay on Crete and Montigo, Portugal, whilesome 32 nuclear depth bombs were stored at Lajes in the Azores for wartimeoperations.Soviet forward-based nuclear-capable aircraft16According to the IISS, the USSR had several types of land-based strike aircraftcapable of being configured with nuclear weapons, each of which could carrytwo nuclear bombs. These were the Su-7 Fitter A (80), the MiG-21 Fishbed L(135), the MiG-27 Flogger D/J (810), the Su-17 Fitter D/H (900) and the Su-24Fencer (700) – a total of 2625 such aircraft. Of the 700 Fencers, 450 fell underthe control of Strategic Aviation. Over 1000 Soviet tactical fighter aircraft wereforward-based at a large number of facilities in the GDR, Czechoslovakia,Poland and Hungary.Nuclear-capable Su-24 Fencers were stationed at Szprotawa AB and ZaganAB in Poland, at Debrecen in Hungary and at Brand-Briesen AB in the GDR, ineach case involving associated nuclear storage sites (the latter base was said tohave been converted from Su-7s in 1982). In the GDR, nuclear-capable MiG-27Flogger D/J regiments and nuclear-bomb storage sites were at Finsterwalde ABand Mirow-Rechlin Larz AB; Su-17 Fitter D regiments were located at Grossen-Page 18