Atomic bombs that are close to Ticino

Approximately 150 km, just under two hours by car. Such is the distance that separates Ticino from its nearest nuclear weapons. The military airport of Ghedi, in the Province of Brescia, houses several American B61 atomic bombs. The armament, which may be mounted on Tornado fighter planes, is located in the Lombardy municipality according to NATO's political concept of nuclear deterrence: nuclear sharing. It is hardly news that Europe has U.S. atomic weapons: a report on nuclear deterrence published in 2019 by members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly states that "the United States has deployed an estimated 150 nuclear weapons in Europe for use on both U.S. and allied aircraft." Presumably to "balance the large number of nuclear weapons available to Russia". Italy is no exception, so much so that, in addition to Ghedi, in the base of Aviano (Pordenone) it is estimated that there are about thirty devices. Greenpeace says that there are about 40 atomic bombs in total in both bases.

It has been discussed for years
This issue has been debated for years, and now it has returned powerfully to the news following the outbreak of war in Ukraine. In May 1975, Italy joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which entered into force in Switzerland in March 1977. It is based on the principles of disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear power), so it neither produces nor possesses nuclear weapons, but, as mentioned, takes part in the nuclear sharing program. For many this is a real contradiction.

According to "L'Indipendente", the base in the province of Brescia has been in a state of pre-alert since the beginning of the conflict and several hundred inhabitants of Ghedi have been gathering outside the airport recently, to ask for an end to the war and to object to the delivery of weapons to Ukraine: part of these arms are coming from there. Putin's military action has therefore made the village of 18 thousand souls a sensitive target in case of conflict extension. Local inhabitants are accustomed to see military fighters in action overhead, even in times of peace (at least at our part of the world). It is enough to think about the last big atomic exercise (without loaded weapons) in October 2021 known as the Steadfast Noon. With that training mission, NATO intended to ensure that the nuclear deterrent remained "safe, secure and effective."

Protests and fear
The promoters of the latest demonstrations have made their voices heard: "This base is the symbol and the ultimate tool of the most extreme and final war, the nuclear one. At Ghedi there are nuclear bombs and bombers to use them, and we want to install new ones that are criminally more effective (...). We want to stop the escalation of reprisals and weapons, fuelled by an unprecedented warlike hysteria, which may result in the third world war. If you want peace you have to build peace, that is to disarm and dissolve military alliances starting from NATO". Refusal of the war, but also concerns in case of malfunctions of the devices or accidents, because damages could be really heavy. In a report issued by Greenpeace in 2020, which denounces the enormous costs of nuclear weapons, it cites a study by the Italian Ministry of Defense, indicating that in case of terrorist attacks with high penetrating directional bombs at the bases of Ghedi and Aviano there would be catastrophic effects: the people reached by the radioactive mushroom would be from 2 to 10 million. A massacre, as in a war.