After more than a week of drones being spotted over four of its facilities in England, Air Force officials are still trying to find out who is flying them, why they are being flown, and the relationship between incidents at different installations. One thing is clear, however. They are not being operated by your average drone enthusiasts.
Two U.S. officials told The War Zone that these drones “do not appear to be the work of hobbyists.” Witnesses say they are quadcopters and octocopters and are more sophisticated than consumer off-the-shelf models.
The incidents at RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall, and RAF Fitwell “appear to be connected,” one of those officials added. The relationship to drones seen over RAF Fairford is less clear. The War Zone was first to report the drone incursions. They began to appear on Nov. 20 and continue to this day.
“Small unmanned aerial systems continue to be spotted in the vicinity of and over Royal Air Force Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall, RAF Feltwell and RAF Fairford since Nov. 20,” Air Force Capt. Ryan Walsh, spokesman for the 48th Fighter Wing at Lakenheath, told us in a statement today. “To date, installation leaders have determined that none of the incursions impacted base residents, facilities or assets. The Air Force is taking all appropriate measures to safeguard the aforementioned installations and their residents.”
The number of systems “has fluctuated, and they have ranged in sizes and configurations,” he added. “Our units continue to monitor the airspace and are working with host-nation authorities and mission partners to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities and assets. To safeguard operational security, we do not discuss specific force protection measures, however we retain the right to protect our installations. We request individuals in the area to contact either local police or Security Forces if they see anything suspicious, to include sUAS’s or drone activity.”
U.K Defense Minister Maria Eagle said the government was “taking steps” to deal with the incursions, the BBC reported.
“Protection of our personnel and bases is of course our highest priority,” said Eagle, speaking during a debate on UK air and missile defenses at Westminster Hall. “For security reasons I won’t go into specifics. But we are taking steps and we are aware of what’s going on and doing our best to deal with it.”
“We will be making sure that anybody we manage to catch for engaging in this behaviour will be shown the full force of the law for their illegal activities,” she added.
Aircraft spotters outside Lakenheath claim they have seen F-15E Strike Eagles sent aloft in response to the incursions. Flight tracking software has also shown interesting aerial operations around the base as the sightings have progressed. F-15E’s targeting pods would be especially useful in finding, identifying and tracking the low-flying drones. However, Air Force officials have not confirmed that they are using the fighters in an attempt to track the drones. Surely multiple aerial assets have been deployed to help ascertain what exactly is going on and at whose command. UK assets, including police helicopters and intelligence-gathering turboprops are likely to have been used in the hunt.
The 48th Fighter Wing, with its F-35A Joint Strike Fighters and aforementioned F-15E Strike Eagles is the base tenant unit at Lakenheath. The 100th Air Refueling Wing, which flies KC-135s, is the main unit at Mildenhall. The 352nd Special Operations Wing with its MC-130s and CV-22s is also among the base tenants.
There have also been signs that Lakenheath is at least being prepared to re-host U.S. nuclear bombs after those weapons were removed from the country in 2008. Feltwell also houses personnel from the 48th Fighter Wing and serves as an additional logistical node for American forces in the country.
Ironically, Lakenheath was home to fighter wings that defended Israel against Iranian drones as well as missiles during Tehran’s massive barrage in April. Several airmen at Lakenheath received medals for heroics during that operation. You can read more about that here.
On Tuesday, officials from USAFE added RAF Fairford to the list of bases experiencing drone incursions. Unlike the other three facilities which are in close proximity, Fairford is about 100 miles to the southwest.
Fairford is the main bomber forward operating location in Europe for the U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command. Bomber Task Force-Europesees B-1s, B-52s, and B-2s rotate into the theater fairly regularly for operations with NATO and other allies and to ‘deter’ Russia. It is also home to small contingents of U-2 spy planes.
There are four B-52 Stratofortress bombers currently at the base and flying missions around Europe.
On Nov. 25, two B-52H Stratofortress bombers assigned to the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron conducted a simulated weapons drop training mission as part of Bomber Task Force 25-1 in Finland, according to USAFE.
“During the mission bombers integrated with Finnish F/A-18C Hornets and Swedish Air Force Saab JAS 39 Gripens.”
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