The Pentagon and US European Command said all US bombers deployed to RAF Fairford have returned to home stations after a suspected plot targeting the Gloucestershire base.
All US bombers deployed to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire have left the British base and returned to home stations in the United States, the Pentagon and US European Command told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The magazine reported that the dozen B-1B Lancer bombers departed on 4 October.
The departure follows arrests connected to a suspected plot against the base. Air & Space Forces Magazine reported that six people had been arrested and that Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there were strong indications Iran was behind the threat. The Wall Street Journal, cited by the Jerusalem Post, reported that US officials had information about an Iran-linked plot aimed at bombers and personnel at Fairford.
A Pentagon statement carried by the Jerusalem Post said that, for operational security reasons, the movement could not be confirmed in real time, but that all US bombers deployed there had been returned to home bases. The department said the return did not remove its ability to conduct long-range strike missions from US territory.
The bombers had been stationed at Fairford during hostilities with Iran. Air & Space Forces Magazine said the deployment began in early March during an operation it named Epic Fury, and that B-52 bombers previously at the base had already left.
British counterterrorism investigators were still examining the incident near the airfield. The Pentagon confirmation covered the aircraft movement; it did not, in the statements quoted by those outlets, publish a full timeline of the alleged plot.
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- UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there were strong indications Iran was behind the threat to the base