U.S. Air Force Base in Germany Might Be Nuke-Free

Nuclear weapons might no longer be deployed at the largest U.S. Air Force base in Germany, the Federation of American Scientists said yesterday (see GSN, May 9, 2005).

The Air Force removed its base at Ramstein, Germany, from a list of nuclear weapons sites to be inspected.  That list is can be found on a Pentagon report issued in January.  A 2005 version of this document indicated that Ramstein at the time was still receiving nuclear weapons inspections.

The U.S. base at Spangdahlem, Germany, is the only other site in Europe that has been removed from the 2007 list after undergoing inspection in 2005.  No nuclear weapons are stored at the base, which has a nuclear command and control mission.

The United States is believed to have roughly 350 nuclear weapons in Europe, down from the Cold War height of 7,300 in 1971 (Hans Kristensen, Federation of American Scientists, July 9).

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