THE US Navy is set to base spy aircraft in Scotland, triggering alarm with campaigners.
The move represents a first since the Cold War, with Poseidon P-8A anti-submarine aircraft soon to be based at RAF Lossiemouth in Moray.
It comes amid growing concerns over Russian activity, as reported by The Ferret – with hopes the presence will bolster Nato's defence capabilities.
The Ministry of Defence told the website: “We recently completed a six-year, £350 million project to modernise and upgrade RAF Lossiemouth.
“As one of our closest Nato allies, we continually operate alongside US forces. The US Navy maritime patrol aircraft presence at RAF Lossiemouth enables our forces to seamlessly deliver maritime security, improving the defence of the UK and Nato.”
The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, meanwhile, said the presence was “a new twist in Scotland’s incorporation into the US nuclear-war-fighting capacity”.
The campaign’s chair, Lynn Jamieson, said: “It puts yet another target on our backs without any say-so from Scotland’s citizens. Scottish and British people’s real security needs are compromised by entanglement with US military strategy.”
Captain Aaron Shoemaker, commander of the US Navy's Poseidon operations in the Euro-Atlantic region, said: “These new facilities will play a crucial role in enhancing the collective readiness, responsiveness, deployability, integration, and interoperability of P-8A forces, and our ability to maintain aircraft and support operations in the North Atlantic and across the 6th Fleet area of responsibility.”
