A spokesman for the Pentagon has denied that a damaged American “nuclear bomb” patched up with tape has been pictured in the Netherlands.
No damaged American nuclear bombs have been pictured in the Netherlands, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defence has insisted.
It comes after an image of what appears to be a badly damaged B61 nuclear bomb was published by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) on Wednesday, showing the device to be bent out of shape with some parts missing and others patched up with pink adhesive tape.
According to a report by FAS, the image is believed to originate from the Volkel air base in the Netherlands, with the body claiming that there is evidence to believe that such American nuclear weapons are being kept at the facility.
The report expressed particular concern at the state of the device, arguing that — if it really is the case that what is pictured is a nuclear weapon — it denotes a so-called “Bent Spear” incident, which is defined as “evident damage to a nuclear weapon or nuclear component that requires major rework, replacement, or examination or re-certification by the Department of Energy”.
It would reportedly be the first publicly known incident of its kind to happen at an air base in Europe, with the group also expressing concern that such damaged weaponry poses a greater risk of accidental detonation.
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However, speaking to Dutch public-service broadcaster Omroep Brabant, a spokesman for the Pentagon is said to have completely denied the suggestion that what was depicted in the image published by FAS was a nuclear bomb at all.
“We are aware of a news story that a photo has been found of US military personnel inspecting a damaged B61 nuclear bomb following an accident at a NATO base,” the Department of Defence spokesman reportedly said.
“This is absolutely untrue,” they continued, before claiming that what was pictured was actually a training exercise using a dummy bomb.
“What you see is students doing routine training with an unarmed training weapon,” the official argued. “It is preparation to work in a special team.”
The spokesman reportedly refused to clarify whether or not the training exercise pictured took place at the Volkel air base.
Breitbart Europe has contacted the Dutch Ministry of Defence for comment regarding the incident.
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