U.S. B-1 Bombers Moved From U.K.

“The U.S. removed all of its B-1 bombers from the U.K.'s RAF Fairford air base, a decision made because of security concerns over suspected plots to attack the facility, American officials said Sunday.

 

The decision represents a shift for the U.S. which has used the military base, northwest of London, as a hub for launching bomber strikes in Iran.

 

Until their recent departure, a dozen B-1s had been stationed at the base.

 

"While operational security precluded us from confirming the movement of our assets and forces in real-time, we can acknowledge now that all U.S. bombers that were deployed to RAF Fairford have redeployed to their home stations in the United States," the Pentagon said, adding that the U.S. bombers remain ready to carry out attacks from the U.S. The U.K. Ministry of Defense declined to comment.

 

The decision follows the arrest of six suspects in connection with a suspected attack on the base that U.S. and British official said was foiled on Sept. 27.

 

U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there were "strong indications" that Iran played a role in the incident, which was shrouded in mystery after the U.K. released the suspects on bail but continued to investigate the situation.

 

U.S. officials were aware of an Iran-linked plot to attack the bomber aircraft and kill personnel at the base, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

 

A branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had recruited U.K. nationals to carry out the plot, which involved multiple steps including a diversion in the neighborhood nearby, a senior U.S. official said.

 

In the U.K., authorities are still trying to piece together what happened, and some U.K. officials question the level of sophistication of the planned attack.

 

President Trump has previously said the arrested men intended to do serious damage to the base and had been under investigation. He questioned the U.K.'s decision to release the suspects on bail, saying, "I would not have released them."

 

Five of the men traveled to Fairford on Sept. 27 in three white vans, which British police said contained no explosives but did hold quantities of fuel. The men were arrested after one in the group called the police to alert them to the plot. A sixth man, a dual U.K.-Iranian citizen, was arrested days later on suspicion of plotting a terrorist act but was also released on bail.

 

With its long runway, the Fairford base was used extensively by the U.S. to launch B-1 and B-52 attacks against Iran. The base was important for U.S. air operations as it shrunk the distance U.S. bombers would need to fly compared with flights from the continental U.S.

 

As the war dragged on, the B-52s left and some B-1s returned to the U.S., but a dozen B-1s still remained.

 

The U.S. presence at Fairford is politically controversial in the U.K. The U.K. government initially refused to let the Trump administration launch sorties from the base against Iran, but later relented on the stipulation that it would be used for "defensive" missions after Iranian attacks on British allies and interests in the Gulf.

 

After the suspected foiled attack, U.K. defense officials have said more should be done to upgrade the protection around its military bases, in particular from drone attacks. The U.S. also stations F-35 and F-15E fighters at RAF Lakenheath, in eastern England and security-alert levels have been raised at that base. The U.S. also stationed refueling tankers at RAF Mildenhall, which is near the Lakenheath base.

 

Flight trackers observed B-1 bombers leaving from the RAF Fairford base this weekend.

 

Iran has denied it was behind a plot to attack RAF Fairford. The IRGC warned in July that any British bases the U.S. used to attack Iran would be a "legitimate target for our forces."” [1]

 

1. U.S. B-1 Bombers Moved From U.K. Holliday, Shelby; Gordon, Michael R; Colchester, Max.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 05 Oct 2026: A1.