By Li Jiabao
According to a report by American magazine Politico, American officials told their NATO allies in Europe in a recent closed-door meeting in Brussels, Belgium that they will accelerate the deployment of the enhanced nuclear bomb B61-12 at multiple NATO bases across Europe. Britain’s The Guardian reported that the national defense budget document for the fiscal year of 2023 submitted by the Biden administration to the US Congress planned to allocate US$384 million to upgrade America’s nuclear storage facilities in six NATO member states – the UK, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Türkiye– to enable them to deploy B61-12.
The B61-12 nuclear bomb is the latest version of America’s B61 series of tactical nuclear bombs and a key member of its future tactical nuclear attack system. The US side’s evasiveness cannot hide its obvious intention of upgrading the nuclear arsenal in Europe, and its accelerated deployment of new tactical nuclear weapons amid the ongoing geopolitical conflict now will incur dire consequences in many ways.
First, it will further escalate the Russia-Ukraine conflict that’s currently in a logjam. The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the greatest security crisis for Europe after WWII, and the essential reason for the conflict is that the US and NATO, regardless of Russia’s security concerns, have been aggressively squeezing its security space, stirring up conflicts between the two countries, and splitting Europe. Intense and risky as the current situation is, the US, driven by its so-called “major country competition” strategy, has continued to pour fuel on flames by upgrading its arsenal in Europe and escalating the nuclear confrontation with Russia. Russian ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said lately that nuclear states shoulder the special responsibility for preventing an escalation of the situation, and the US should bring back home all its nuclear weapons stationed overseas.
Second, it will aggravate the risk of nuclear proliferation both in Europe and worldwide. The B61-12 bomb is equipped with the newest precision-guided empennage components and a new type of navigation system with a Circular Error Probability (CEP) of allegedly no more than 30m. It is designed to be able to load on the fighters and bombers of the US itself and other NATO members. Jessica Cox, Chief of NATO’s nuclear policy directorate, said the commissioning of more F-35 fighters will enhance NATO members’ capability of interoperability and tactical nuclear attacks. More dangerously, the low-yield warheads carried by B61-12 have largely lowered the threshold of using nuclear weapons, adding to the risk of their use in real combat. America’s deployment in Europe will crank up the nuclear risk on the continent, generating extremely negative impacts on Europe’s and the world’s strategic security and stability as well as the international arms control system.
Third, it exposes American selfishness as the upgrade of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe comes at the expense of European and global security. America’s deployment is partly to enhance Europe’s nuclear combat capability to deter Russia and partly to tighten the nuclear control over the continent to derail its defense independence efforts. Behind the move are America’s deep-rooted Cold War mindset and hegemonistic logic at play. Its recently released 2022 Nuclear Posture Review is rife with the narrow and extreme hegemonistic mentality – it reaffirmed the plan to upgrade the current nuclear bombs into the more intelligent and precise B61-12s and to use the F-35A stealth fighter jet as a dual-capability aircraft, and imagined conflicts with major nuclear states.
A nuclear war must not be fought. No one will come out of it a winner. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation”. America’s obsession with upgrading its nuclear arsenal will bring nothing but disaster to Europe and the world in general.
Editor's note: Originally published on paper.people.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
