US may consider placing nukes in Poland, Baltic States, report says

VIENNA — U.S. officials are engaged in NATO-internal discussions about the possibility of deploying nuclear weapons to new countries within the alliance, a new report says, in what would be a remarkable proliferation in nuclear sharing.

The Financial Times was the first to report the discussions on Tuesday, citing three unnamed people “briefed on the discussions.” The conversations were reportedly focused on the forward deployment of what Washington calls dual-capable aircraft - military jets that can carry out either conventional missions or drop nuclear bombs.

Such DCAs are integral to the NATO nuclear sharing architecture, which currently has forward-deployed U.S. nuclear bombs at air bases in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkey and the U.K.

Countries at the eastern flank of NATO, particularly Poland and the Baltic States, were the most vocally interested in hosting U.S. dual-capable aircraft, the Financial Times reported its sources as saying.

Poland has publicly courted nuclear bombs being deployed in its country to deter Russia, with former president Duda explicitly inviting such a deployment from the U.S. This has since been walked back somewhat by the new government, but the conversation remains active and urgent in Warsaw.

Poland has also signed up for France’s “forward deterrence” scheme, which promises to expand the French nuclear umbrella over the Eastern European country and may see the temporary deployment of French nuclear-capable jets to Poland down the line.

According to the Financial Times, the current U.S. nuclear sharing discussions are being held through NATO channels.

The alliance is undergoing a transformation as the U.S. reduces its focus and conventional forces in Europe, and capitals on the continent significantly step up their own defense spending. The discussion surrounding expanded U.S. nuclear sharing is meant to assuage fears in European capitals that they may be left to fend for themselves by their powerful treaty partner in Washington, the FT cited its sources as saying.

While the discussions were ongoing, an agreement to expand U.S. nuclear hosting was not imminent, an unnamed source told the FT.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

维也纳——一份新报告称，美国官员正在北约内部讨论向联盟内新国家部署核武器的可能性，这将是核共享的一次重大扩散。

《金融时报》周二率先报道了这些讨论，援引三位“了解讨论情况”的匿名人士的话称，讨论的重点是华盛顿所称的双用途飞机的前沿部署——这种军用喷气式飞机既可以执行常规任务，也可以投掷核弹。

此类国防合作协议是北约核共享架构不可或缺的一部分，该架构目前已在荷兰、比利时、德国、意大利、土耳其和英国的空军基地前沿部署了美国核弹。

据《金融时报》援引消息人士报道，北约东翼国家，特别是波兰和波罗的海国家，对接收美国双用途飞机表现出最浓厚的兴趣。

波兰曾公开表示欢迎美国在该国部署核武器以威慑俄罗斯，前总统杜达甚至明确邀请美国进行此类部署。新政府后来对此有所缓和，但华沙方面仍在积极讨论此事，而且讨论十分紧迫。

波兰也加入了法国的“前沿威慑”计划，该计划承诺扩大法国对这个东欧国家的核保护伞，并可能在未来将法国具备核能力的战机临时部署到波兰。

据《金融时报》报道，目前美国与北约就核武器共享问题进行的讨论是通过北约渠道进行的。

随着美国减少在欧洲的常规部队投入，而欧洲各国首都大幅增加国防开支，联盟正在经历转型。《金融时报》援引消息人士的话称，围绕扩大美国核共享的讨论旨在缓解欧洲各国首都的担忧，即它们可能会被其强大的条约伙伴华盛顿抛弃，孤立无援。

一位不愿透露姓名的消息人士告诉《金融时报》，虽然讨论仍在进行中，但扩大美国核设施部署的协议尚未达成。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。