The largest American airbase on British soil was buzzed by drones this week, the US Air Force has confirmed, amid unconfirmed reports that fighter planes were dispatched to intercept the encroaching aircraft.
The incident occurred on Wednesday above RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, which has been earmarked as a storage facility for US nuclear warheads three times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.
While US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) played down the incursion, it will do little to dampen the prevailing mood of unease following warnings from Vladimir Putin that Ukraine’s use of British and American long-range weaponry could see military facilities in those countries targeted.
‘The number of UASs [unmanned aircraft systems] fluctuated,’ a US Air Forces in Europe spokesperson told The War Zone, a defence news and analysis website. ‘They ranged in size [and] configuration.
‘The UASs were actively monitored and installation leaders determined that none of the incursions impacted base residents or critical infrastructure.’
USAFE declined to comment on either claims that flight operations were affected or the reported deployment of F-15E Strike Eagles.
‘To protect operational security, we do not discuss our specific force protection measures, but retain the right to protect the installation,’ the spokesperson added.
‘We continue to monitor our airspace and are working with host-nation authorities and mission partners to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities, and assets.’
RAF Lakenheath, which appears poised to house US nuclear weapons for the first time in 15 years, is home to the 48th Fighter Wing and a site of major strategic significance as the US moves to bolster its European presence in the face of Russian expansionism.
Earlier this year, unredacted documents from the US Department of Defence’s procurement database showed that the Pentagon has ordered equipment, including ballistic shields, for the airbase.
The construction of facilities to house US soldiers at Lakenheath, where the drone incursion follows similar activity above the US Army’s Picatinny Arsenal in northern New Jersey two days earlier.
The American army has revealed that it is developing special ammunition to shoot down spy drones, with helicopters and tanks to be equipped with medium-calibre rounds capable of hitting small, high-speed targets.
‘There’s not enough air defence assets out there,’ Major General John T Reim, the Picatinny Arsenal’s commanding general, told military website Task and Purpose last month.
‘We want all our formations to have the capability against small unmanned aerial vehicles, and also make them more lethal from increasing threats that we’re seeing from our adversaries.’
The developments follow warnings from Russian officials that British support for Ukraine, which this week fired UK-supplied Storm shadow missiles into Russian territory for the first time, could ‘lead to a collision between nuclear powers’.
Fears over the prospect of war have prompted the mega-rich, led by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, to start building nuclear bunkers beneath their homes.
‘It got really busy, and it seems like the phone hasn’t stopped ringing,’ Ron Hubbard, CEO of Texas-based Atlas Survival Shelters said earlier this year. ‘World War III seems like it’s coming.’