The Pentagon says B-1 bombers deployed to RAF Fairford have returned to US bases. Downing Street said the Gloucestershire base is safe and declined to discuss foreign military movements.
The United States has withdrawn the B-1 Lancer bombers it had deployed to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, the Pentagon's European Command confirmed on Sunday. The command said all US bombers that had been at the base were redeploying to home stations in the United States. The New York Times, citing two US officials, reported that all 12 aircraft were moved after commanders received new warnings about an Iran-backed plot against the installation.
Downing Street said on Monday that RAF Fairford is safe. A spokesperson declined to comment on another country's military operations and pointed to comments last week in which President Donald Trump praised British police, defence and security services in relation to the base. The BBC reported it had been told the move was a military rather than a political decision, taken at operational level and passed from the US military to British counterparts.
The withdrawal follows a 27 September alert in which police were called to three vehicles described as suspicious near the airbase. US officials told the Times that the latest information was part of the same threat warnings that surfaced about three weeks earlier, with more specific details and a sharper sense of urgency in the preceding day. European Command acknowledged the departure but declined to comment on any new warnings.
A US defence official told BBC Radio 4 that the B-1 is a limited strategic asset no longer in production and that the Air Force would protect it from threats. At least three of the aircraft had landed at their home base in South Dakota by Sunday, US officials told the Times, speaking on condition of anonymity about operational movements.
British ministers have not published a separate threat assessment. The immediate public position from No 10 is that the base remains safe, while the operational picture is that the bombers are no longer there.
People Sentiments Mixed
- Downing Street said the base is safe
- A US official described the B-1 as a limited strategic asset that would be protected
- European Command confirmed the redeployment but would not discuss warnings