The first F-35A Lightning II to land at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, arrives Sept. 13, 2013. The multirole, fifth-generation fighter arrived from the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis AFB, Nev., and is scheduled to undergo post-production modifications at the Ogden Air Logistics Complex in Utah. (U.S. Air Force photo by Alex R. Lloyd/Released)
The nominee for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, has suggested that the United States could share its nuclear weapons with more NATO countries in an effort to “enhance flexibility, survivability, and military capability.”
NATO currently shares nukes with Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Turkey.
During a hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services committee on his nomination, Caine noted: “Nuclear proliferation, even among Allies, significantly limits U.S. ability to manage escalation risk. It could trigger further acceleration of adversary efforts to modernise and expand their nuclear arsenals. Additionally, it would irreparably erode the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and could encourage proliferation around the world.”
Poland has lobbied heavily to host NATO nuclear weapons. The AP reported in April of 2024:
Poland’s president says the NATO member would be ready to host the nuclear weapons of the military alliances’s other members in response to Russia’s moving its nuclear weapons to neighboring Belarus.
President Andrzej Duda made the comments in an interview published Monday in the Fakt tabloid.
Russia has “recently relocated its nuclear weapons to Belarus,” Duda said, in a reference to Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko’s announcement in December.
“If there were a decision by our allies to deploy nuclear weapons within the nuclear sharing also on our territory in order to strengthen the security of NATO’s eastern flank, we are ready,” Duda said.
Military Watch Magazine reports that Finland and the United Kingdom could also be destinations for American nuclear arms sharing agreements.
Watch Lt. Gen. Dan Caine’s opening statement during his Armed Forces Committee hearing below:
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