London: For the first time since 2008, the United States has redeployed nuclear weapons on British soil, in a move experts described as part of a reshuffle in NATO's nuclear strategy in Europe following the war in Ukraine. According to National Iraqi News Agency, the British newspaper "The Times" reported that a US C-17 military transport plane landed last Thursday at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, eastern England. The aircraft came from Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, where the US Air Force's nuclear weapons are stored. Military analyses suggested that the flight likely carried nuclear warheads, marking the reinstatement of US nuclear weapons in the UK after their withdrawal under the Obama administration in 2008. Observers noted that airspace over the base was restricted during the aircraft's landing, and the plane did not immediately return to the United States, indicating the flight was a "permanent transfer" rather than a training or temporary mission. The Telegraph previously detailed a "prospectiv e nuclear mission" at Lakenheath, based on unclassified US documents that were accidentally published. Both the US and UK ministries of defense declined to comment on the reports, adhering to their policies that prohibit disclosing the locations of nuclear weapons. Lakenheath is home to the US Air Force's 48th Fighter Wing, which includes squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagle fighters and advanced fifth-generation F-35A aircraft. The United Kingdom is expected to equip its new squadron of F-35A aircraft with US nuclear munitions stored in the country. The British Ministry of Defense confirmed in a recently released document that this move "restores the Royal Air Force's nuclear role for the first time since the withdrawal of WE.177 nuclear bombs at the end of the Cold War in 1998."