LONDON — The United States has made the abrupt decision to withdraw all its bombers from Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) base Fairford, which is at the center of an incident being investigated by counter terrorism police.Media reports emerged on Sunday that an urgent redeployment was under way, with B-1 bombers leaving RAF Fairford for the US.Roughly a dozen such aircraft had been based at RAF Fairford prior to the sudden departure.A statement from a US department official confirmed on Sunday it had removed its bombers from the base back to their home stations in America.The US did not give a reason for the withdrawal, but it follows a major incident on 27 September when police were alerted to three “suspicious vehicles” near the airbase.Five men were initially arrested on suspicion of terror offenses near the base and subsequently released on bail. A sixth man, a UK-Iranian national, was also later arrested and released on bail.Whitehall sources have not disputed the decision from Washington was in response to the incident at the airbase in Gloucestershire.The military decision, taken at an operational level, was communicated from the US military to its British counterparts.“While operational security precluded us from confirming the movement of our assets and forces in real-time, we can acknowledge now that all US bombers that were deployed to RAF Fairford have re-deployed to their home stations in the United States,” a Pentagon spokesperson told Al Jazeera.“The Airmen that operate America’s bomber force, including B-1s, B-2s, and B-52s, remain ready to deliver precision global strike capabilities – including through operations that launch and recover from the continental United States – anywhere, anytime,” the official added.Tracking websites showed B-1 bombers flying out of RAF Fairford on Sunday.Days after the incident at RAF Fairford, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there were “strong indications” that Iran had played a part in the incident but did not provide further details. Tehran has strongly denied any involvement.Initially, five men aged between 23 and 25 were arrested in the early hours of the morning after vehicles were reported to be travelling towards the base operated by the US Air Force (USAF). All five were UK nationals from London.They were arrested on suspicion of explosives offenses and later on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act, before being released on bail in what police called an “investigative decision” that was “grounded in experience and strategy”.The sixth man, aged 25, was arrested in London on Thursday on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. Counter terror police confirmed on Saturday he had also been released on bail.RAF Fairford has been used as a forward operating location by the US Air Force (USAF) for decades.In recent months, the US has flown B-1 and B-52 bombers from the base for the Middle East, after the UK approved a US request to use it for defensive strikes on Iran.In July, Iran said “any base used for aggression against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our forces”.Days after the incident, and before the arrest of the sixth man, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Fox News that it “clearly involve[d] the hands of a foreign actor”.Rubio did not provide further details – saying at the time he was limited on what he could say on air.US President Donald Trump separately said he was “surprised” the five men had been released on bail.”We know everything about them, we would not have released them,” he said, adding that the UK had worked with the US “very closely” on this.Many B-1 bombers flown from the UK were armed with precision-guided “bunker busting” bombs, with thicker casings to penetrate hardened or buried targets such as weapons stores.They also carried air-to-surface missiles used against more heavily defended targets deeper inside Iran.The US has a long history of stationing forces at RAF Fairford during its wars in the Middle East, stretching back to the Gulf War in the 1990s.RAF Fairford has been the site of antiwar protests in the past. During one instance, in 2003, five protesters broke into the airbase in an attempt to destroy military equipment slated to be used in the US invasion of Iraq.The UK has largely declined to participate in the ongoing war on Iran, despite pressure from the Trump administration.Still, while the UK government was initially hesitant to let the US use its bases for the war, it granted the US “defensive” access to bases, including Fairford and RAF Diego Garcia, in March.
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