Our first stealth fighter/bomber was the F-117 Nighthawk from the 1980s. It has an RCS of 0.003m2, about the size of a hummingbird, and those F-117s hit more than 1,600 targets without being molested by Iraqi air defenses during the 1991 Gulf War.

We didn’t discuss long range bomber aircraft in the previous article, but it’s worth throwing those values in here for your reading enjoyment. The B-52 has an RCS of about 100m2. The B-1 bomber is 10m2. The B-2 bomber has an RCS of 0.0001m2, the same as the F-22, the size of a bumble bee.

US to station nuclear weapons in UK to counter threat from Russia

Tony Diver
Fri, January 26, 2024 at 11:00 AM PST·6 min read
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https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/A_LWw6Hhe44QMryOE5uXqg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD03NzY-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_telegraph_258/ebcbefd6ef3490216db0fdbaea07ee4f

The United States is planning to station nuclear weapons in the UK for the first time in 15 years as the threat from Russia increases, Pentagon documents seen by The Telegraph reveal.

Procurement contracts for a new facility at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk confirm that the US intends to place nuclear warheads three times the strength of the Hiroshima bomb at the air base.

The US removed nuclear missiles from the UK in 2008, judging that the Cold War threat from Moscow had diminished.

The disclosure comes in the wake of warnings that Nato countries need to ready their citizens for war with Russia.

Last week, Adml Rob Bauer, a senior Nato military official, said that private citizens should prepare for all-out war with Russia in the next 20 years that would require wholesale change in their lives.

General Sir Patrick Sanders, the head of the British Army, went on to warn that the public would need to be called up to fight if there was war with Russia because the Army was too small. His comments forced Downing Street to rule out conscription.

Boris Johnson on Friday night backed Sir Patrick’s call for a citizen army, as he pledged to sign up if the UK went to war with Russia.

The US navy secretary, Carlos Del Toro, then urged Britain to “reassess” the size of its armed forces. On Friday, No 10 defended the Government’s military spending, pointing out that “the UK is the second biggest defence spender in Nato and the largest in Europe”.

The return of American weapons to the UK is part of a Nato-wide programme to develop and upgrade nuclear sites in response to heightened tensions with the Kremlin in the wake of the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine

RAF Lakenheath is expected to house B61-12 gravity bombs, which have a variable yield of up to 50 kilotons – more than three times the power of the atomic weapon dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, a Pentagon review of the US’s nuclear posture said it served as a “stark reminder of nuclear risk in contemporary conflict” and warned of “nuclear threats to the homeland and US allies and partners”.

President Joe Biden said that the US would “enhance our force posture in Europe to respond to the change in the security environment”.

The US has already announced plans to station two squadrons of fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets, which have the ability to carry the bombs, with the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath.

In October, US officials requested permission from Congress to begin development of a new B61 bomb with a higher payload, arguing that more powerful weapons would “provide the president with additional options against certain harder and large-area military targets”.

The documents revealing the decision to station nuclear warheads in the UK were posted on a US government procurement website.

One notice, posted in August, requested a private-sector contractor to provide sentry cabins and shields to protect troops in the base’s 48th Security Forces Squadron from “forced entry and ballistic attack” from assault rifles on the nuclear weapons site.

“The 48th Security Forces Squadron upcoming nuclear mission is required to operate under ballistic protection,” it said.