Trump says threat forced US bombers out of RAF Fairford

The US has withdrawn all of its B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire after what President Donald Trump described as a security threat. Around a dozen B-1 Lancer bombers left the base on Sunday, some in such a hurry that they took off before refuelling tankers needed for the Atlantic crossing were ready. The Pentagon later confirmed that all US bombers deployed to Fairford had been redeployed to their home stations in the United States. At least three aircraft were reported to have landed in South Dakota.

The move followed a security incident at the base. Counter-terrorism police were alerted to three suspicious vehicles near the perimeter on 27 September. Six men have since been arrested in connection with the investigation. Five were from London and were in their 20s. The sixth is a 25-year-old British-Iranian dual national. All six have been released on police bail. No one has been charged. Police say they are examining multiple lines of inquiry, including possible foreign state involvement. Some reports say no explosives were found in the vans.

Iran has denied any involvement and has made a formal complaint to the British government about the allegations. In July, Iranian officials said any country that allows its bases to be used for attacks on Iran would be considered a legitimate target, and RAF Fairford was named. MI5 has said it tracked more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots in a single year. The UK terror threat level remains at severe, meaning an attack is highly likely, but it has not been raised to critical.

US officials gave conflicting accounts of the withdrawal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the move was a routine rotation and that he would not directly tie it to the arrests near Fairford. He said Washington had confidence in the security of all its bases and praised British cooperation. Vice President JD Vance said the bombers were moved out of an abundance of caution to protect US personnel and pointed to a long-standing Iranian threat. President Trump later said the aircraft did not fly out by accident, that there were threats, and that the US knew who made them. He warned that if Iran had brought combat drones into the UK, it would suffer greatly.

The most specific reporting suggested the US acted on intelligence about a possible Iranian drone attack on the base. Sources familiar with the investigation said Washington feared a multiple drone attack similar to Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb, which destroyed Russian aircraft after drones were launched from lorries near an airbase. One source said there were fears Iranian drones may already be in the UK and described the men arrested and released as useful idiots used to test reaction times at the base. Former US military officers said the asymmetric drone threat to large bases is now being taken extremely seriously.

Downing Street has insisted RAF Fairford is safe and declined to comment on foreign military operations. Local residents said they were relieved the noisy aircraft had gone, though some also felt more vulnerable after the security scare. The base has been a key forward platform for US bombers, and its 10,000-foot runway is the only European airfield regularly used by the US Air Force for heavy bombers. It has hosted B-1, B-52 and B-2 aircraft. The B-1s are no longer manufactured, can carry 24 cruise missiles, and are estimated to be worth around $330 million each. The US has already lost an E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft worth about half a billion dollars in the Iran war.

The withdrawal does not remove the US ability to strike Iran, because bombers can fly from the United States and refuel in the air. But losing Fairford as a forward base is a logistical and strategic setback in the short term. Britain has final say over how the base is used, and permission was granted for defensive strikes on Iranian missile and drone sites. The episode has raised questions about the vulnerability of airbases to drones and other hybrid attacks, and about the state of US-UK defence cooperation, even as both governments stress that cooperation remains close.