US nuclear weapons in Germany

Germany hosts an estimated 10 to 15 US B61 gravity bombs at Büchel Air Base in the Eifel, under NATO nuclear sharing. The weapons are in US custody; German aircraft and crews train to deliver them under dual authorization. Berlin's participation, dating to the Cold War, when US nuclear weapons in West Germany numbered in the thousands, is framed as the counterpart of its seat in NATO's Nuclear Planning Group.

The Luftwaffe's aging Tornado fleet is being replaced in the nuclear role by 35 F-35As ordered in 2022 precisely to preserve the mission. The first German F-35A made its maiden flight on 8 September 2026 and was handed over at Fort Worth on 18 September 2026; the first eight aircraft go to Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Arkansas for training, and Büchel is to receive its jets from the third quarter of 2027 through 2029, alongside a rebuild of the base's infrastructure. The United States completed certification of the B61-12 on the F-35A in October 2023 and announced it in March 2024. In October 2025 Berlin planned to order 15 more F-35As, which would bring the fleet to 50; parliamentary approval of that order has not been publicly confirmed.

Germany is a non-nuclear-weapon state under the NPT and reaffirmed its renunciation of nuclear weapons in the 2+4 treaty of 1990. The hosting role survived repeated coalition debates; since 2022, and more sharply since doubts grew over the durability of US guarantees, German discussion has widened to include French and British proposals for a European pillar of deterrence.

That debate found a concrete outlet on 2 March 2026, when President Macron, speaking at Île Longue, launched a "forward deterrence" under which French nuclear-capable aircraft could be stationed temporarily at allied bases. A Franco-German nuclear steering group was announced the same day, and Germany is one of the nine European partners in the dialogue as of June 2026. The German debate has thus moved from whether to host US weapons to what the French and British arsenals could underwrite if American guarantees thinned.