Polish President Andrzej Duda announced on 22 April 2024 that his country is prepared to host nuclear weapons on its territory if NATO decides to reinforce its strategic forces in Eastern Europe.
“Russia is increasingly militarising the Königsberg oblast [Kaliningrad]. Recently, it has been relocating its nuclear weapons to Belarus,” Duda stated in an interview with Polish news outlet Fakt during a visit to the United States.
“If our allies decide to deploy nuclear weapons as part of nuclear sharing on our territory as well, in order to strengthen the security of NATO’s eastern flank, we are ready for it,” said Duda.
Poland has been in talks with the US government about joining NATO’s nuclear-sharing programme for some time, Duda noted. He first mentioned the discussion in 2022.
Three NATO members – the United States, France and the United Kingdom – are nuclear weapons states, but a number of NATO allies – including Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey – voluntarily participate in the NATO nuclear mission by contributing dual-capable aircraft (DCA) that can be armed with the US B61 freefall nuclear bomb.
The Polish Air Force’s current fleet of F-16C/D multi-role combat aircraft are capable of carrying the B61, as are the 32 F-35A Joint Strike Fighters that Poland has on order.
NATO nuclear missions would only be undertaken in wartime after explicit political approval is given by the alliance’s Nuclear Planning Group (NPG) and after authorisation is received from the US president and UK prime minister.
Within NATO, the NPG provides a forum for consultation, collective decision making and political control over all aspects of NATO’s nuclear mission, including nuclear sharing.
