Nuclear sharing
concept in NATO's policy of nuclear deterrence
Nuclear sharing is a concept in deterrence theory in which a nuclear-armed country deploys nuclear weapons on the territory of a country that does not possess nuclear weapons and extends its nuclear deterrent to that country. Nuclear sharing typically also involves joint planning and training processes for potentially using them, going beyond nuclear stationing or nuclear basing, which refer to a nuclear-armed country's deployment of nuclear weapons on foreign soil without an operational role for the host country's military and government.
It was originally conceived during the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union placed their own nuclear weapons in many non-nuclear countries of the American-aligned First World and the Soviet-aligned Second World, as part of the nuclear arms race between the two sides. However, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the concept continues to be practiced by the United States and Russia. United States nuclear weapons, for delivery by fighter aircraft, are based in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Russian nuclear weapons, for delivery by aircraft and short-range missiles, are deployed in Belarus.
As part of nuclear sharing, the participating countries carry out consultations and make common decisions on nuclear-weapons policy, training, and deployment, and maintain technical equipment (notably nuclear-capable aircraft) that is required for the delivery of nuclear weapons. In the event of a war that turns nuclear, the United States has publicly declared—with agreement from the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament (ENDC)—that the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) would no longer be controlling.
Types
Nuclear sharing
Non-substantive
In the modern form, via the usage of permissive action links (PALs), including anti-tampering systems, a host country is prevented from unilaterally detonating its shared weapons, on a short timeframe. This applies to currently shared United States and Russian weapons.
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