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Appendix C U.S. Nuclear Weapons, Location Profiles, CONTINUED THE NETHERLANDS Inçirlik AIR BASE COLD WAR NUCLEAR DEPLOYMENTS in Holland included artillery shells and Lance missile warheads (there were also nuclear weapons kept for Dutch forces in Germany). For a short time Woensdrecht air base hosted ground-launched cruise missiles. Today there is a single nuclear base remaining Volkel Air Base is a main operating base of the Royal Netherlands Air Force (Koninklijke Luchtmacht), hosting the F-16A/Bs, equipping nuclear certified 311 and 312 Squadrons. Volkel is located two miles from the town of Uden and about 85 miles southeast of Amsterdam. It was originally established by the German occupation forces in 1941 and was virtually completely destroyed prior to its capture at the end of the war. In 1945, it became a training unit base for Dutch Marines prior to their assignment to Indonesia, before being turned over to the Royal Netherlands Air Force in 1950. In the early 1960’s, the first U.S. nuclear custodial unit was established, providing support for the Dutch 1st Fighter Bomber Wing. The U.S. custodial unit is the 752d MUNNS, subordinate to the 52nd Tactical Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem. The Squadron is made up of over 100 American personnel. Its predecessor unit, the 717th MUNSS was awarded the nuclear surety plaque in 1994 “for distinguished performance.” Geographically separated units of the 52nd Wing also received Quality Air Force Assessments (QAFA) and nuclear inspections on April 7-11, 1997. The Weapons Storage and Security System (WS3) vaults reached initial operational capability at Volkel on September 13, 1991. Eleven are operational. TURKEY Volkel AIR BASE DURING THE COLD WAR TURKEY ranked behind Germany, the U.K and South Korea as the four largest nuclear repository overseas. At the height there were ten separate storage sites with some 500 warheads. Army nuclear weapons (artillery and Honest John warheads) were eventually retired and air bases were consolidated, leaving only InÁirlik Air Base today. In December 1950, the U.S. and Turkish Air Forces began work on InÁirlik, the activity started under the innocuous name “The U.S. Engineering Group (TUSEG).” The name was later changed to The U.S. Logistics Group (TUSLOG), a euphemistic code which served to keep the military profile of U.S. nuclear weapons and intelligence operations in Turkey at a low level during the Cold War. InÁirlik Air Base, located seven miles east of the city of Adana, on the northern Mediterranean coast, is the sole storage location for nuclear weapons in Turkey. The 7216th Air Base Squadron (TUSLOG Det 10) initially arrived at InÁirlik (then called Adana AB) to operate the base late in 1954, 78 TAKING STOCK
Appendix C U.S. Nuclear Weapons, Location Profiles, CONTINUED with the main contingent coming from Wheelus Air Field in Libya on February 20, 1955. From the beginning, the base’s mission was nuclear support, particularly for rotational Strategic Air Command (SAC) B-47 medium-range bombers. The Squadron was upgraded to the 7216th Air Base Group (ABG) on May 1, 1958 and the name of the base changed to InÁirlik about this time. After use as a staging base for Lebanon operations in July 1958, Tactical Air Command (TAC) began keeping permanent rotational fighter squadrons at InÁirlik until May 1966, when USAFE assumed the mission. The 39th Tactical Group (TG) was activated on April 1, 1966, still publicly called TUSLOG Det 10. Today, the 39th Wing is the host and nuclear custodian at InÁirlik. The 39th Logistics Group of the Wing previously was made up of the 39th Munitions Squadron, the 39th MUNSS at Balikesir; and the 739th MUNSS at Akinci. Nuclear weapons in support of the Turkish Air Force (Turk Hava Kuvvetleri) were stored at Balikesir, Erhac, and Murted/Akinci. On April 25, 1996, the last two custodial detachments (Balikesir and Akinci) were deactivated and the nuclear mission was consolidated at the U.S. main operating base in InÁirlik. Twenty-five WS3 vaults are operational at Incirlik and six each are maintained at Akinci and Balikesir in stand-by status. When activated, the 39th Wing also is tasked to maintain a Supreme Allied Command Europe Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) force of nuclear laden aircraft. The 39th Wing received the USAF Nuclear Surety Plaque for 1993 for “distinguished performance.” The Wing again received a USAF Nuclear Surety Plaque in 1995 for “outstanding achievements” and “contributions” to nuclear security. The 39th Security Police Squadron received excellent and outstanding ratings during the inspections. The Wing is scheduled to receive its next inspection from August 17-25, 1998. UNITED KINGDOM NORTHERN IRELAND SCOTLAND WALES ENGLAND RAF Lakenheath THE U.K. HOSTED the first U.S. nuclear weapons overseas, an assortment of bombs for various types of bombers and aircraft. Britain has also uniquely been involved in the long term support of strategic nuclear forces hosting the largest overseas ballistic missile submarine base at Holy Loch. At the height of the Cold War the U.S. had twice as many warheads stored in Britain than were in the British arsenal. Tactical naval nuclear weapons stored in Britain were allocated for use by Dutch forces as well as British and American. Today the sole remaining base is at Lakenheath. RAF Lakenheath, located 20 miles northeast of Cambridge, is two miles from the village of Lakenheath. Established by the RAF in November 1941 as a satellite base of RAF Mildenhall, it was closed for expansion from May 1944 to April 1947 and then allocated for U.S. use in July 1948. The 2d Bomb Group of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) arrived with B-29 bombers in August 1948. On January 16, 1951, when six B-36 bombers made their first deployment to Europe, Lakenheath was the host. The initial U.S. unit at Lakenheath was the 7504th Base Completion Squadron assigned January 17, 1949. The Squadron was elevated to an Air Base Group (ABG) on January 28, 1950 and to a Wing (ABW) Worldwide Nuclear Deployments 1998 79
Page 1 and 2: Appendix A Locations of U.S. Nuclea
Page 3 and 4: Appendix B U.S. Nuclear Weapons by
Page 5 and 6: Appendix C U.S. Nuclear Weapons, Lo
Page 25: Appendix C U.S. Nuclear Weapons, Lo
Page 29 and 30: Appendix D Location of Russian Nucl
Page 31 and 32: Appendix D Location of Russian Nucl
Page 33 and 34: Appendix E Russian Nuclear Weapons,
Page 35 and 36: Appendix E Russian Nuclear Weapons,
Page 37 and 38: Appendix H Chinese Nuclear Weapons
Page 39 and 40: Acronymns and Abbreviations, CONTIN
Page 41 and 42: Recent Publications BOOKS Nuclear W

p.53-94 (pdf) - Natural Resources Defense Council

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