US tankers leave Mildenhall; separately, US soldier held under security act
More than a dozen US Air Force aircraft have left RAF Mildenhall since Monday, BBC Verify confirmed, including ten KC-135 Stratotankers flown to Germany, Spain and Prestwick and three Ospreys moved to Lakenheath, with the base at the second-highest force-protection level; a US official spoke of “credible threats against bases in the UK”. In an unrelated case, counter-terror police arrested a senior US Army soldier, 41, near Gloucester under the National Security Act over alleged links to Russia.
The tanker exodus began with two aircraft on Monday morning and continued on Tuesday afternoon; flight trackers counted 13 aircraft, four of them bound for Morón in southern Spain. The US Air Force said aircraft “rotate between installations and operating locations for a variety of reasons” and would say no more “due to operations security”; a US official called the move “proactive rather than reactive” and said the planes “may return”. Downing Street said protecting bases “is a top priority”; UK officials believe Iran lacks the means to attack a British base, though five KC-135s were hit on the ground in Saudi Arabia in March. Lord Ricketts suspected “an abundance of caution”; eight men have been arrested or charged over RAF Fairford. The Gloucester arrest is a different matter: the soldier is held on suspicion of obtaining or disclosing protected information and assisting a foreign intelligence service, two Gloucestershire addresses were searched, and the FBI’s Kash Patel called it “allegations of espionage … of the utmost concern”. Watch whether the tankers return before the weekend.