US Air Force says it dealt with ‘unauthorized drone activity’ over UK airbase

Unauthorized drone activity prompted a security response at an American base in Britain, but the situation has been “resolved,” US and UK defense officials said Friday.

Security forces at Royal Air Force Base Lakenheath in eastern England responded to suspected unauthorized drone activity, but no personnel, aircraft or infrastructure were affected, the US Air Force in Europe said in a statement.

“We continue to work closely with our host nation counterparts to ensure the safety and security of our US service members, US and host nation civilians, contractors, and all of our families,” the statement said.

A spokesperson for the British Ministry of Defense said the incident has been “resolved.” US Air Force security personnel had responded to the reports, and the UK ministry was working closely with the Americans to determine what happened, according to the spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters.

The drone incident means that three US bases in the United Kingdom have been affected by threats in recent weeks. Friday’s security response at RAF Lakenheath comes just days after the US moved more than a dozen aircraft from a different base just miles away in eastern England — RAF Mildenhall — because of a threat.

During the plane exodus, RAF Mildenhall also raised its alert level to FPCON Charlie — the second-highest level, which is used when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating that some form of terrorist action targeting personnel or facilities is likely.

A US official said at the time that the decision to move the aircraft was proactive rather than reactive.

Several weeks ago, a group of men was detained after three suspicious vans were spotted traveling toward RAF Fairford, roughly 150 miles (240 kilometers) west of Mildenhall and Lakenheath. British authorities linked the plot to Iran, and the US withdrew its bombers that had been stationed there.

The UK-owned base has been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East, including the Iran war. Other arrests followed, and at least three men alleged to be Iranian operatives have been charged by the US with plotting to attack RAF Fairford.

The trio allegedly helped plan and direct the September incident at the base, which came to light when police were called after a local farmer reported seeing a group of men with several white vans engaged in “suspicious” activity.

A US charging document stated that a man identified as Mohammad Ali al-Hassani directed unnamed individuals to drive to the base in the vans, some of which contained barrels of fuel, and that he earlier paid the group to buy metallic objects that could be used as shrapnel.

UK police last month charged two British men with national security offenses related to the RAF Fairford incident. One was charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, believed to be in Iran, and another with entering a prohibited place for a purpose “prejudicial” to the UK.

Britain’s domestic spy ‌chief said in October that Iran had stepped up attempts to hit ​harder targets such as military sites in Britain.

In an interview broadcast Wednesday, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei threatened to strike US bases beyond the Middle East, including in Europe, if they are used for attacks against the Islamic Republic.

Iranian officials have previously threatened to expand the geographic scope of the conflict should the US attack again.

In late September, an adviser to Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei publicly mused that the war could “expand even further, reaching the Indian Ocean and perhaps beyond.”