According to a Bloomberg report citing defense analysts and open-source data, the U.S. is likely to have flown the new B61-12 thermonuclear bombs to the U.K. in a C-17 military aircraft earlier this month.

In a signal to Russia that the U.S. remains committed to its security guarantees to Europe, the United States has reportedly stationed nuclear weapons in the U.K. for the first time since 2008.

According to a Bloomberg report citing defense analysts and open-source data, the U.S. has likely flown the new B61-12 thermonuclear bombs to the U.K. in a C-17 military aircraft earlier this month.

The report cited William Alberque, a Europe-based senior fellow at the Pacific Forum, who said that the C-17 flight involved the U.S. Air Force’s Prime Nuclear Airlift Force, which is tasked with transporting nuclear weapons.

According to the flight path, the aircraft flew directly from the U.S. to the U.K., without crossing any other country’s airspace. The transport was conducted from a nuclear weapons depot at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to an airbase in the U.K. city of Lakenheath.

“Capabilities such as the B61 can contribute to limiting the impact of Russia’s large advantage in theater-level nonstrategic nuclear weapons,” said Sidharth Kaushal, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.

The B61-12 thermonuclear bombs have a yield of up to 50 kilotons and can be carried by the F-35A fighter jets as well as other aircraft in the U.S. and NATO’s (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) arsenals.

This comes after President Donald Trump on Monday said he would reduce the duration of the deadline he gave Russian President Vladimir Putin, from 50 days to 10-12 days from now.

As such, the new deadline would be August 9, far earlier than the September 2 that he had previously allowed Russia.

Meanwhile, U.S. equities edged up in Monday morning trading after the EU tariff deal was struck a day before.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which mirrors the S&P 500 index, was up 0.09% at the time of writing, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which mirrors the Nasdaq 100, rose 0.39%. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘bullish’ territory.

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