In 2024, the German military fighter planes that guarantee the country’s role in NATO’s nuclear sharing will be outdated. If this equipment is not replaced, Germany will no longer be able to host US nuclear weapons on its soil. This would be a major break in the transatlantic defence cooperation.<\/p>\n
Nuclear sharing is one of NATO’s principles, according to which the countries of the alliance which do not have their own military nuclear power (Turkey, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany[1]<\/a>) agree to hold American nuclear missiles on their soil. For that purpose, they each have fighter aircrafts certified to deliver such weapons to their targets in case of emergencies. In Germany, the Tornado aircrafts at the B\u00fcchel air base in the Eifel region fulfil this role. In return, these countries are involved in the political and strategic nuclear decisions within the alliance.[2]\t\t