Three US air bases in the UK on alert after unidentified drones flew over them several times.
In the United Kingdom, three American air bases are on alert. According to a statement from the US Air Force (USAF), “a number of unidentified drones” were spotted over bases at RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk County and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk. These bases are around a hundred kilometers from London.
The facts which have just been revealed by the BCC occurred between Wednesday and Friday. These American bases belong to the United Kingdom. They are strategic. Mildenhall is home to the USAF 100th Air Refueling Wing, Lakenheath is home to the USAF F-35A and F-15E. Nicknamed Liberty Wings, it also served as a storage base for American B-61 nuclear missiles. The takeoff of these aircraft would have been suspended due to these overflights.
RAF Feltwell is equally important. It is on this logistics site that American soldiers are housed.
“The right to protect”
“We continue to monitor our airspace and work with host nation authorities to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities and assets,” a USAF Europe spokesperson told the BBC.
At this time, the USAF and the Royal Air Force do not know the purpose of these overflights. Did they have hostile intentions, intelligence aims or just a provocation? Both the American and British air forces remain cautious. They have not specified whether these devices have been neutralized, but warn that they reserve “the right to protect” these infrastructures.
“The drones were actively monitored and installation officials determined that none of the incursions impacted base residents or critical infrastructure,” the USAF said.
How many drones have flown over these bases and what types of machines are they? On these points, the USAF remains vague.
“The number of drones fluctuated and their size and configuration varied.”
For its part, the British Ministry of Defense claims to take things very seriously without saying more about the measures that have been taken. Concern is high after Putin's thinly veiled threats against Westerners and the use of a transcontinental missile to strike Ukraine.
On Thursday, Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow now reserves the right to strike Western countries which authorize the use of their weapons against Russian soil. According to him, “the conflict provoked by the West in Ukraine has taken on the elements of a (conflict) of a global nature.”