LONDON, October 10. /TASS/. The North Atlantic Alliance on October 14 will start its annual Steadfast Noon air exercise to practice the use of nuclear weapons, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte upon his arrival in London for a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

NATO’s press service has said the exercise will be held on the territory of Belgium and the Netherlands and over the waters of the North Sea with about 60 aircraft from 13 states of the alliance, mainly F-16 and F-35 fighters, as well as B-52 bombers taking part.

Steadfast Noon drills are held annually with the participation of dozens of aircraft from both nuclear and non-nuclear NATO states for simulating tactical nuclear weapons strikes. The exercise does not involve live weapons.

Steadfast Noon is conducted in accordance with NATO's nuclear sharing arrangements, which provide for the possibility of using tactical US nuclear weapons from aircraft of non-nuclear-weapon states of the alliance, which, according to NATO military planners, should make it far more difficult for the alliance's adversaries to retaliate. The concept of NATO's joint nuclear missions is by definition an offensive one. It is practically inapplicable as a retaliatory measure.

The participants in the joint nuclear missions program are five non-nuclear NATO states - Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Turkey - with 20 US tactical bombs stockpiled at airbases in each of the participating countries, according to some leaks. The US has refused to withdraw its tactical nuclear weapons from Europe after the end of the Cold War. Other NATO countries, apart from these five nations and the alliance's three nuclear countries (the US, Britain and France) participate in the exercise with support missions.