No Evidence of Nuclear Weapons at RAF Akrotiri, Fact-Checkers Conclude
Claims circulating on social media and in some media outlets allege that RAF Akrotiri, the British military base on Cyprus, currently houses 56 nuclear weapons, with some reports linking the presence of such an arsenal to recent NATO mobilisation and US travel advisories for the island.
A fact-check published on March 5 by FactCheckCyprus concludes there is no evidence to support the claim. While archival material confirms that Akrotiri was built in the 1960s to house Britain's V-Bomber force, which was designed to carry nuclear weapons, the existence of that infrastructure does not confirm the presence of warheads today. Britain withdrew its air-launched nuclear weapons in 1998 following the decommissioning of the WE.177 bomb, and its nuclear deterrent has since been based exclusively on the Trident missile system, launched from Vanguard-class submarines. The RAF no longer holds operational certification to carry nuclear warheads. US nuclear weapons in Europe are currently stored at six air bases across five countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Türkiye. Akrotiri is not among them. Satellite imagery of the base shows no evidence of the specialised underground storage facilities and double-perimeter security zones that NATO protocols require for nuclear weapons storage, infrastructure that is clearly visible at Incirlik Air Base in Türkiye, which houses approximately 50 B61 bombs according to the Federation of American Scientists.
The figure of 56 nuclear weapons cited in the original claim appears to be an anachronistic reference to historical Cold War-era infrastructure rather than any current capability.