From: slider@anashram.com   
      
   A NATO nuclear exercise with warplanes that can drop atomic bombs will   
   take place from next week over the United Kingdom, the North Sea and   
   Belgium, the alliance has said.   
      
   The annual training - called Steadfast Noon - is going ahead despite   
   escalating tensions with Russia over fears President Vladimir Putin might   
   consider a real nuclear strike in Ukraine.   
      
   Unusually, NATO chose to highlight well in advance the fact the exercise   
   was coming up.   
      
   This appears to have been in a bid to ensure transparency and reduce the   
   risk of any misunderstanding about the top secret and highly sensitive   
   exercise.   
      
   Even the name, Steadfast Noon, was only formally declassified three or   
   four years ago.   
      
   Air forces from some 14 countries are set to take part, with up to 60   
   aircraft operating over northwestern Europe, the alliance said on Friday.   
      
   They will include fighter jets from allied nations, such as Belgium and   
   Germany, that can carry B61 bombs provided by the United States as well as   
   US B52 bombers.   
      
   No live weapons will be used.   
      
   The jets will be escorted by other warplanes along with refuelling   
   aircraft and spy planes.   
      
   The aim is to test the ability of allies to conduct nuclear strikes - the   
   bedrock of NATO deterrence policy.   
      
   "Training flights will take place over Belgium… as well as over the North   
   Sea and the United Kingdom," NATO said in a statement.   
      
   Training helps ensure nuclear deterrent is 'safe, secure and effective'   
      
   The B-52 long-range bombers will fly from Minot Air Base in North Dakota.   
      
   Hosted this year by Belgium, the training will run from Monday until 30   
   October.   
      
   Oana Lungescu, the alliance spokesperson, said: "This exercise helps   
   ensure that the alliance's nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure and   
   effective."   
      
   A different NATO country hosts the exercise each year. Last year it was   
   Italy's turn.   
      
   Everything related to the alliance's nuclear policy, posture and activity   
   is normally top secret.   
      
   Allies try to be incredibly careful about any comments on nuclear weapons   
   because even that could be seen as escalatory.   
      
   Similarly, NATO does not spell out when it might use nuclear weapons,   
   other than to say such circumstances would be "extremely remote".   
      
   Drawing red lines could undermine the alliance's ability to deter threats   
   so it prefers to be deliberately ambiguous.   
      
   But France's president appeared to break with this convention on Wednesday.   
      
   In a television interview, Emmanuel Macron said his country would not   
   retaliate with a nuclear strike should Russia's Vladimir Putin launch a   
   nuclear weapon in Ukraine or in the region.   
      
   Axing training event would have sent 'very wrong signal'   
      
   Russia has used the threat of a nuclear strike in Ukraine as part of its   
   efforts to deter the West from supporting the Ukrainian military.   
      
   The Ukraine crisis appears to have prompted the alliance to be   
   increasingly public about its annual nuclear exercise.   
      
   Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary General, said earlier in the week it   
   would send a "very wrong signal" to cancel the long-planned event.   
      
   Ben Wallace, the British defence secretary, echoed this view and noted   
   that Russia's nuclear forces are due to conduct their annual training   
   exercise at around the same time.   
      
   "I think that is the key. What we don't want is to do things out of   
   routine," he said on Thursday, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of   
   NATO defence ministers in Brussels.   
      
   Only three of NATO's 30 allies have nuclear weapons - the US, the UK and   
   France.   
      
   But France plays no direct role in NATO's nuclear deterrence and is not   
   part of the alliance's nuclear planning group, which oversees all allied   
   nuclear matters.   
      
   https://news.sky.com/story/top-secret-nato-nuclear-exercise-to-t   
   ke-place-over-uk-as-russia-tensions-intensify-12720522   
      
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