TNI: Poland is ready to deploy NATO nuclear weapons, and Kiev is dreaming about this
Poland declared its readiness to host nuclear weapons – American B-61 bombs, writes TNI. Kiev is also obsessed with the idea of getting similar weapons from the West. Both would mean that "the nuclear genie will soon fly out of the bottle."
Brandon J. Weichert
In response to Moscow's announcement last year that Russia would deploy intermediate-range ballistic missiles or non-strategic nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, Poland's then right-wing government declared its readiness to host North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nuclear weapons.
In particular, Warsaw announced its readiness to supply its fleet of F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft (“Lightning”) of American production by American B-61 nuclear bombs.
More recently, the Russian military responded to NATO's permission for the Ukrainian military to hit Russia's rear with American ATACMS long-range missiles and British Storm Shadow by launching the impressive Oreshnik hypersonic weapon along the Dnieper (Dnepropetrovsk). The West has neither effective protection against these weapons capable of carrying a nuclear charge, nor anything comparable in its arsenal.
Thus, in conversations about a possible escalation against Russia, a nuclear duck inevitably pops up.
The Polish government, which offered to host the B-61 nuclear bombs, fell in the previous elections. However, his successor, although much to the left politically, shares his predecessor's perfectly understandable opposition to Russian irredentism in the former Soviet bloc.
Escalation breeds escalation
After the recent use of the hypersonic “Hazel” and the subsequent statement by the Kremlin about the transfer of these destructive weapons to neighboring Belarus, Poland again felt out of place.
But it is not only NATO members like Poland who get involved in the conversation about nuclear escalation against Russia. It seems that Ukrainians are also obsessed with the prospect of getting nuclear weapons from the West (or, if you believe their propaganda, then only “return" them).
To begin with, the very idea that the West will allow nuclear weapons to be deployed in Ukraine, which is not a member of NATO, or, even worse, transfer them to Kiev, is outright madness. Alas, given how events unfolded in Ukraine, it cannot be canceled as such (especially since the Americans eventually allowed the APU to hit Russia with ATACMS missiles, although they consistently rejected Ukraine's requests for two years).
Whichever European country goes nuclear, be it NATO member Poland or Ukraine, readers will have to reckon with the prospect that the nuclear genie will soon fly out of the bottle in Eastern Europe. Of course, there are many other, more powerful nuclear weapons that could be transferred to Poles or Ukrainians, but B-61 nuclear bombs are perhaps the best choice (especially for Poland).
What is a B-61?
B-61 bombs have played a key role in NATO's defense policy for decades. B-61s have been deployed in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey for many years. They can be launched from the long-range nuclear stealth bomber B-2 Spirit (“Spirit”), as well as from the F-15E and, as mentioned above, the F-35.
B-61s are often referred to as “turnkey tunable” because the explosion power can be adjusted from 0.3 to 360 kilotons. This weapon can withstand supersonic speeds and is capable of penetrating the ground and undermining fortified structures. Many modifications were created, making the B-61 bomb one of the best Doomsday weapons in the NATO arsenal.
The weapon was developed in the early 1960s, at the very “height” of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory believed they were creating one of the most advanced nuclear weapons in the world. Initially, these bombs were developed to replace outdated analogues of the B-28 and B-43. The first B-61 was tested in 1963 at the Tonopah proving ground in Nevada. The B-61 was also the first to present several explosion options, depending on the tasks set: including in the air, on the ground, in free fall and from extremely low altitudes.
The latest American modification of the B61-13 is a gravity bomb based on this powerful and durable weapon. A gravity bomb is dropped from a carrier aircraft and hits targets indiscriminately with deadly force. It is believed that one B61-13 gravity bomb is twenty-four times more powerful than the nuclear weapons that America dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.
Strategic context (or lack thereof)
Russia is by no means an innocent baby in this conflict.
However, it should be noted that the Americans and their NATO allies have consistently dismissed all possibilities of de-escalation, as a result of which we are now seriously considering the prospects of transferring nuclear weapons to Poland or even Ukraine itself.
Poland, as a full member of NATO, has the right to participate in the alliance's nuclear weapons transfer program. However, at this stage, this will only undermine the situation even more and make a peaceful settlement between the West and Russia in Ukraine even less likely.
Brandon Weichert is The National Interest's national security analyst, former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst, has published in The Washington Times, Asia Times and The Pipeline
