No new US nuclear weapon elements at German airbase — ambassador
The diplomat noted that expired components of deployed nuclear weapons are being replaced in order to keep the weapons in safe condition
MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/. The US is replacing old components on nuclear weapons at the Buchel air base in south-west Germany and no new arms are being deployed, Germany’s ambassador to Russia told a TASS news conference on Monday.
"There’s nothing new here, as this is not the expansion of what is there. This concerns the replacement of those components the service dates of which have expired," Ruediger Freiherr von Fritsch said in comments to media reports.
The diplomat stressed that "this serves the goals of keeping the weapons in safe condition. "This is in everyone’s interests," he said.
Germany’s ZDF television reported earlier this month that the Buchel airbase in Rheinland-Pfalz federal land has launched preparations for the deployment of new US nuclear bombs of the B61-12 type.
The TV channel said some 20 new nuclear bombs have the total explosive power 80 times greater than that of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Japan’s Hiroshima in 1945.