At present, “Cyclone” is still the main German air force to the ground strike force, its payload list includes the U. S. B -61 tactical nuclear bomb.
According to a report by the German Münchner Merkur website on September 8, a German tornado fighter-bomber was spotted flying over an air base in California in late August, the fighter plane apparently carried a nuclear bomb for training. As part of NATO’s nuclear-sharing policy, a large number of U. S. nuclear weapons were deployed to Germany.
A photo taken on August 27 in a California Edwards Air Force Base has now been reposted on social media platform X, the report said. The photo shows a cyclone fighter-bomber carrying a B61-12 training missile. Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Research Program at the Federation of American Scientists, made the announcement on Platform X. Cyclone fighter-bomber can carry both nuclear and non-nuclear weapons.
S?ren Schmelz, a spokesman for the Bundeswehr’s procurement office, confirmed by e-mail to Newsweek that the German tornado fighter-bomber were in the US. They took part in the just-concluded silent partner-24 military exercise. “Both planes are currently undergoing routine checks and will return home between September 11 and 13,” Schmelz added
Like Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Turkey, Germany is part of the nuclear-sharing policy and therefore participates in NATO deterrence. As NATO stated in February 2022, the United States has deployed B61 nuclear weapons in certain locations in Europe. According to Newsweek, some of them are deployed in Büchel Air Base in the state of Rhineland-palatinate. Earlier this year, the US had planned to redeploy nuclear weapons in the UK.
According to Newsweek, the B61-12 is the latest model of the B61 family of nuclear bombs, with a choice of four explosive power levels, up to 50,000 tons of explosive yield. That compares with the 15,000-ton and 20,000-ton equivalent bombs dropped by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945. The B61-12 has been extended for at least 20 years and will replace all United States nuclear weapons deployed in Europe in the next few years. It is said that the United States has been developing a new type of nuclear weapon.