B-1 bombers housed at Britain’s RAF Fairford exposed an Achilles’ heel in U.K. defenses: its air bases are far from drone-proof. A suspected Iranian plot to attack prized U.S.
Fairford has become the latest example of asymmetric warfare, where two sides square off with mismatched military power. A seemingly ham-handed attempt by five balaclava-wearing men—arrested in the woods near the base with three vans and some barrels of fuel—resulted in the U.S. pulling its bombers several thousand miles further back from the front line in Iran. That could be seen as an inexpensive win for Tehran if it was behind the incident. It is also a blow for the U.K.’s reputation: The U.S. has been launching heavy bombers from Fairford since World War II. The five arrested men haven’t been charged with a crime and are on bail, but U.K.
The U.K. government has also announced some £470 million, or about $620 million, of investment in extra security for military bases. The U.K. government says its bases are safe and it is currently in the process of changing the law so that military personnel guarding bases can track, jam and shoot down drones from afar.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said there are indications Iran was involved.
Britain has some unique challenges. U.K. law allows only police and prison officers to jam or bring down a drone in a public space. So until a drone has entered the confines of a military base, military personnel alone can’t halt it. Meanwhile, drones can now be built to use cellphone networks or fiber optic cables to evade the traditional jamming of radio frequencies used by police. The bombers cost several hundred million dollars each and until recently, a dozen were sitting in the open at the air base, just northwest of London. Unlike jet fighters, they are too big to be easily stored in a hangar or hardened shelter.
The 146-feet long B-1 bombers parked at RAF Fairford made a uniquely attractive target. The U.S. only has about 45 of them.
“The Russians, and highly likely the Iranians, have identified that as a potent gap,” says Mike Monnik, the chief executive of DroneSec, a company that tracks global drone threats.
Investigators said the drones could have been launched remotely. Air & Space Power Association. “Now we have something in between the two. The resulting damage was both a military humiliation for Russia and a huge PR coup for Ukraine. RAF Lakenheath houses the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-generation and fifth-generation jet fighters. RAF Mildenhall is the base for the U.S. Air Force’s 100th Air Refueling Wing. The sightings were treated as suspicious by the U.K. military, which deployed teams with drone-jamming equipment to the bases, including the Orcus antidrone system, which can remotely take control of an enemy drone. A report by International Institute for Strategic Studies concluded the drones were likely flown from ships in the north sea by Russia. Previous concerns over drone safety in Europe largely focused on suspected Russian missions to fly drones over military bases, either to spy on them or disrupt flight paths. However tension escalated this summer after Germany accused Russia of being behind a plot to send explosive drones to an airport in Leipzig. German investigators found three custom-made drones involved in the failed attack: Two in a field and one in the perimeter of the airport near Ukrainian-owned cargo planes. At the moment, most of the weight is on intelligence services intercepting an attacker before they spring into action. Aircraft could be stored in hangers with doors that shut. For big bombers, where inside storage might not be feasible, they could be based somewhere harder to get to. Greenland, for instance, could be an option. Write to Max Colchester at [email protected]
Ukraine claimed it damaged 41 Russian warplanes—valued at $7 billion—at four bases using drones that cost about $2,000 each. There were more than 250 drone incidents near U.K military sites in 2025, double the number in 2024, according to the Ministry of Defense. In 2024, unexplained drones were spotted flying in the U.K. near bases used by the U.S. military at RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Fairford. The drones flew in groups of up to 20 and some flew low over runway approaches.
“When we used to defend airfields, either you got bombed from a great distance or it was an insurgency coming through the wire,” says Greg Bagwell, president of the U.K. That operation, called “Spiderweb ,” saw Ukraine smuggle drones into Russia and launch them remotely at air bases deep in Russia territory. Security officials are skeptical that Iran could execute a plan akin to “Spiderweb,” given its terror track record in the U.K. consists mostly of hiring local criminals to attack dissidents or set fire to Jewish targets. However earlier this month, Luke Pollard, a minister in the defense department, told a conference panel that not enough investment had gone into protecting British military bases from drones. The U.K. could deploy better drone jamming technology, says Monnik, but ultimately more effective low-tech solutions are also available.
A dozen B-1 bombers were abruptly flown out of Fairford after U.S. officials said they had intelligence that Iran was plotting to target them with drones and other devices. The Pentagon is re-evaluating its entire footprint in the Middle East after Iranian attacks against America’s naval base in Bahrain—along with drone and missile hits to at least 20 U.S. sites across the region, including military and diplomatic facilities. In March, small drones flew over Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, home to many B-52 bombers as well as the Global Strike Command, which oversees America’s bomber fleet and its intercontinental-ballistic missiles.
Because of the mysterious incursions, but no attacks were carried out, a brief shelter in place order was given. Fears spiked after five men were arrested in the woods next to Fairford last month on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack. “We had an idea that there might be a threat, so why would I leave them there? Whether Iran had the ability to pull off such an attack isn’t clear, but the debacle shows how advances in technology and shifting shape of war are changing age-old tactics. A combination of archaic British laws that prevent the military from downing drones in public spaces and drone upgrades mean that aircraft that were once considered safely stored behind barbed-wire fences, thousands of miles from the conflict zone, are now vulnerable to opportunistic attack. The U.K. isn’t alone. Across the globe, military bases are being targeted as a soft underbelly. The U.S.’s main air-war command center for the Middle East, located in Qatar, was largely destroyed. Fears of drone incursions also extend to the U.S. homeland. Recognizing the growing risks at home and abroad, the U.S. Air Force chief of staff Gen.
President Trump told reporters earlier this week, after the aircraft had left Fairford. The U.S. also uses bases in Germany, Italy and Spain that could be vulnerable, risking the Pentagon’s hope of using Europe as a “power projection” platform for military interventions elsewhere. Air Force recently said it was investing in new counterdrone systems and would train specialists to operate them. Such defensive efforts are now “a core function of air and space power,” U.S. Kenneth Wilsbach said earlier this month.
