Article published in The Daily Telegraph, 10 November 2026. © Richard Kemp

The UK has been a secure base for American combat planes for more than a century, most extensively during the Second World War. It seems the security of US airbases here is now in question. This week several military planes, including air-to-air refuelling tankers, were moved from RAF Mildenhall – a major American airbase in Suffolk – to other locations including Germany. That was reportedly because of a threat from Iran.

This follows the withdrawal to the US of B-1 bombers after another suspected Iranian plot to attack their base at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire in October. And last year Palestine Action – a designated terrorist organisation – broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and expensively damaged two RAF Voyager aircraft.

All of this is about the war against Iran and its jihadist proxies by Israel and America. The UK’s involvement has been marginal, including allowing US planes to operate above the Middle East from British bases and our forces assisting allies in the region with air defence. The RAF also flew reconnaissance missions over Gaza during the height of the conflict there to locate Israeli hostages held by Hamas terrorists.

The vulnerabilities that the Mildenhall, Fairford and Brize Norton events suggest raise two issues. First, physical security. There was an obvious failure at Brize Norton and the Government has since tightened things up. But how seriously the security of other bases is taken must be in question given America’s reaction to the Iranian threats. The US does not seem to have such concerns about its airbases in Turkey or Qatar – or indeed Ramstein in Germany, where some of the Mildenhall planes were re-located.

All of this is about the war against Iran and its jihadist proxies by Israel and America. The UK’s involvement has been marginal, including allowing US planes to operate above the Middle East from (more…)