The U.S. Air Force has removed all of its bombers from RAF Fairford in England following a suspected terror plot targeting the base, the Pentagon confirmed on Sunday.
The bombers stationed at the Gloucestershire airfield — B-1, B-2 and B-52 aircraft, including roughly a dozen B-1 Lancers — have all returned to their home stations in the United States. Aircraft trackers observed B-1s departing on Sunday, some of which had only recently arrived as part of a routine rotation.
The Pentagon said the bomber force remains able to strike targets "anywhere, anytime" from the continental United States, but declined to discuss the movement in detail in real time.
The move comes days after British counterterror police arrested six people — five British nationals and a 25-year-old dual British-Iranian citizen — over a suspected plot against the base. Officers acted after suspicious vans were spotted near the facility on September 27; petrol was recovered, though no explosives were found. All six have been bailed. British officials say there are "strong indications" of Iranian involvement, a claim Tehran denies.
RAF Fairford has served as a key staging point for U.S. bomber operations, including strikes on Iran during the war, making it a symbolic and strategic target.
