On Monday, the NATO and U.S. military alliance will hold a training exercise, known as Steadfast Noon, in which US B-52 bombers and F-16 fighter jets will simulate dropping atomic bombs on Europe.
Hans Kristensen who is of the Federation of American Scientists said the exercise practices «a controversial agreement known as a nuclear swap, under which the United States installs nuclear equipment on warplanes from selected non-nuclear NATO countries.» and trains their pilots to carry out a nuclear attack with US nuclear bombs.’
Bomber planes will rehearse the deployment of B61 ‘tactical’ thermonuclear bombs; each device is up to 20 times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima during World War II, killing up to 126,000 civilians.
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Nuclear training exercises are normally presented as «routine, non-threatening and not targeting any specific country», but NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made it clear that Russia was the main concern when announcing the exercise. In announcing the exercise, Stoltenberg mentioned Russia five times.
Nuclear exercises or collective dementia?
In announcing Steadfast Noon, NATO confirmed that the training flights include «14 countries and up to 60 aircraft of various types, including fourth- and fifth-generation fighters, as well as surveillance and tanker aircraft.»
NATO added: “US B-52 long-range bombers [will] fly from Minot Air Base in North Dakota [to take part in the exercise].”
NATO also said, “the flights will take place over Belgium, which is hosting the exercise, as well as over the North Sea and the United Kingdom”.
It’s been confirmed that “no live weapons are used” during the exercise.
