US air force removes all bombers from British military base RAF Fairford

Updated 2 minutes ago.

Key points

• The sixth man, aged 25, was arrested in London on Thursday on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts.
• The Pentagon has stressed its bombing aircraft remain able to conduct missions "anywhere, anytime", including through "operations that launch and recover from the continental United States".
• Whitehall sources have not disputed the decision from Washington was in response to the incident at the airbase in Gloucestershire.
• RAF Fairford has been applied as a forward operating location by the US Air Force (USAF) for decades.
• In July, Iran remarked "any base used for aggression against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our forces".

In practice, the US has withdrawn all of its bombers from RAF Fairford, the UK military base at the centre of an incident being investigated by counter terror police.

Meanwhile, a statement from a US department official confirmed on Sunday it had removed its bombers – thought to be regarding a dozen B-1s – from the base back to their home stations in America.

Notably, the US did not offer 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 offences near the base and subsequently published on bail. A sixth man, a UK-Iranian national, was additionally afterwards arrested and published on bail.

For context, the BBC has additionally been informed it was a military rather than a political decision – taken at an operational level – and communicated from the US military to its British counterparts. The UK's Ministry of Defence has not commented.

Tracking websites indicated B-1 bombers flying out of RAF Fairford on Sunday.

Days after the incident at RAF Fairford, Prime Minister Andy Burnham remarked 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 documented 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 offences and afterwards on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act, before being issued on bail in what police called an "investigative decision" that was "grounded in experience and strategy".

In practice, 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 additionally been issued on bail.

After the UK approved a US request to employ it for defensive strikes on Iran, in recent months, the US has flown B-1 and B-52 bombers from the base for the Middle East.

Days after the incident, and before the arrest of the sixth man, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio remarked on Fox News that it "clearly involve 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 remarked he was "surprised" the five men had been issued on bail.

"We know everything about them, we would not have released them, " he remarked, adding that the UK had worked with the US "very closely" on this.

Plenty of 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 additionally carried air-to-surface missiles employed against more heavily defended targets deeper inside Iran.

Each bombing mission, depending on the location of the target, would probable have taken around 12 to 15 hours in total there and back, with air-to-air refuelling both ways.

Notably, the Pentagon has stressed its bombing aircraft remain able to conduct missions "anywhere, anytime", including through "operations that launch and recover from the continental United States". Extra reporting by Chris Partridge.

For now, US air force removes all bombers from British military base RAF Fairford remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.