US returns all bombers from RAF Fairford to America

The Pentagon says every US bomber deployed at the Gloucestershire base has returned to the United States. About a dozen B-1s had been there as British police investigated a suspected attack.

The Pentagon confirmed on Sunday that all US bombers deployed to RAF Fairford had returned to their home stations in the United States.¹
Reporting identifies the aircraft remaining at Fairford as about a dozen B-1B Lancers, not a mix of all three US bomber types.²
The move came amid a British counter-terrorism investigation; a US official separately told Axios that the base faced a threat of attack by Iran.³
Police say no improvised explosive devices were found in the vehicles examined. All six people arrested had been released on bail.⁴

RAF Fairford, a British base in Gloucestershire used by the US Air Force, was left without its deployed bombers after the aircraft departed on Sunday. The Pentagon confirmed the redeployment but gave no public reason for it. It said the US bomber force remained able to carry out operations launching from and returning to the continental United States.¹

The aircraft at Fairford were reported to be about 12 B-1B Lancers. The Pentagon’s reference to B-1s, B-2s and B-52s described the wider US bomber force; it did not establish that all three types had been stationed at Fairford.²

The security investigation began on 27 September, after a report about three suspicious vehicles apparently travelling towards the base. Five men were arrested. Police said searches found no improvised explosive devices, though officers recovered petrol from the vehicles.⁴

On 1 October, police arrested a 25-year-old dual UK-Iranian national in Westminster on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts. He was released on bail on 3 October. Police said the investigation continued and that they were considering multiple lines of inquiry, including possible foreign-state involvement.⁵

The timing of the arrests and the bombers’ departure does not, on its own, establish why the aircraft were moved. A US official told Axios that Fairford faced a threat of attack by Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had provided the UK with intelligence about a possible Iranian attack. The reported intelligence details have not been made public, and the Pentagon did not explicitly link the redeployment to the arrests.³

US returns all bombers from RAF Fairford to America

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