The US military has withdrawn all of its B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, with a Pentagon official confirming Sunday that roughly a dozen heavy bombers have returned to their home stations in America.
The US did not publicly state why it removed the aircraft. The withdrawal follows a September 27 incident when police were alerted to three suspicious vehicles near the airbase. Five men aged 23 to 25, all UK nationals from London, were arrested on suspicion of explosives offences and later on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act. A sixth man, a UK-Iranian national aged 25, was arrested in London four days later on the same charge. All six were subsequently released on bail in what counter terror police described as an "investigative decision" that was "grounded in experience and strategy."
Whitehall sources have not disputed that Washington's decision to remove the bombers was in response to the September incident, according to the BBC. The decision was made at an operational military level and communicated from US military officials to their British counterparts rather than at a political level, sources told the BBC. The UK Ministry of Defence has not commented.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said days after the incident that there were "strong indications" that Iran played a part but did not elaborate. Tehran has denied involvement. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Fox News the incident "clearly involve[d] the hands of a foreign actor" but declined to provide details, citing operational restrictions on what he could discuss publicly. President Donald Trump said he was "surprised" the five men had been released on bail, stating "we would not have released them."
RAF Fairford has served as a forward operating location for the US Air Force for decades. In recent months, the base hosted B-1 and B-52 bombers conducting missions to the Middle East after the UK approved US requests to use it for defensive strikes on Iran. Many B-1 bombers carried precision-guided "bunker busting" bombs and air-to-surface missiles.
The Pentagon said its bombing aircraft remain capable of conducting missions "anywhere, anytime," including through operations launched and recovered from the continental United States.