Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Weapons | Lavrov new nuclear plan

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said US-made F-16s could be fitted with nuclear warheads if delivered to Ukraine, writes Reuters.

He also warned that supplying Ukraine with F-16s would further escalate the conflict, the news agency wrote.

We must remember that one of the modifications to the F-16 fighters makes them capable of carrying nuclear weapons, Lavrov said in a speech at a military base in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on Monday.

– He said that if they do not realize this, then they are worthless as planners and military strategists.

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Some F-16s are equipped with nuclear weapons

Nettavisen asks a Norwegian nuclear weapons researcher if it is true that some F-16s are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

“It’s a fact that some F-16s have been prepared for nuclear weapons, but I don’t know the details of which variants have been or are being discussed,” senior researcher at the Defense Research Institute (FFI) Halvor Kibby tells Nettavisen.

– Several types of combat aircraft among European NATO allies over the years ready to deliver US nuclear bombs B-61, not just F-16. Kibby says this applies to countries where these weapons have been stockpiled.

According to an unclassified overview of US tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, there were about 100 US nuclear weapons deployed at six bases in five European countries in 2022 (Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Turkey).

These are non-strategic nuclear weapons of the B61-3 and B61-4 types (gravity bombs that can be launched by bombers).

As is known, Ukraine does not have nuclear weapons. The country gave up nearly 1,900 nuclear warheads to Russia in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union.

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– Lavrov must be desperate

Hans Christensen is the director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists.

Christensen, considered the world’s leading expert on nuclear weapons arsenal and deployment, reacts to Lavrov’s latest nuclear weapons offer.

Lavrov must be desperate. Now he is trying to make the potential supply of F-16s to Ukraine a nuclear issue, saying the fighters could deliver nuclear weapons. Although some US/NATO F-16s can, these are not the aircraft to be delivered. Ukraine will also not be able to use nuclear weapons, “Christensen wrote Twitter.

Last month, several NATO countries announced that they would train Ukrainian fighter pilots for the F-16s. This means that Western countries are likely planning to supply Ukraine with an unknown number of F-16s.