Five men were arrested at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act, prompting the evacuation of around 85 homes and a 400-metre cordon around the nearby town of Whelford. Police received a call at around 12.45am regarding three suspicious vehicles travelling towards the base, and armed officers subsequently detained the men in the Whelford area. Army bomb squads were deployed to examine the vehicles, and a nearby leisure centre was opened for those unable to stay with friends and family.
What is RAF Fairford?
RAF Fairford is one of 33 active RAF bases in the UK and one of 12 where American personnel operate as part of the United States Visiting Force (USVF). The USVF operates under the Visiting Forces Act 1952, passed eight years after Fairford was established in 1944 to aid D-Day planning and deployment. The base is primarily home to the 501st Combat Support Wing Headquarters and the 420th Air Base Squadron of the US Air Force (USAF), and serves as the preferred bomber forward operating location in Europe for USAF's Global Strike Command.
Recent military use and history
The base has been used by the Trump administration to launch bombing raids on Iran since March, following early jostling about permissions when the operation started in February. Both B-1 and B-52 bombers have been fielded from the base during the conflict. Outside military operations, the site hosts up to 170,000 people every July during the Royal International Air Tattoo, the world's largest military air show.
RAF Fairford has been used by the US and UK since troops trained for D-Day in 1944. Control was transferred to the USAF in 1951, briefly returned to the UK in 1964, and resumed by the USAF in 1979. Between 1969 and 1977, it served as a testing centre for the Concorde, developed by the British Aircraft Corporation (now BAE Systems). The site has also served as a landing site for NASA's space shuttle. In 1991, USAF used Fairford as a staging base for B-52 bombers in the First Gulf War; in 1999, for NATO bombing of Yugoslavia; in 2003, for B-52s in the Iraq war; and in March 2026, for bombers during Operation Epic Fury.
Police and local response
Assistant Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Police Richard Ocone said the service is in "constant contact" with local and international partners. He said: "At around 12.45am today police received a call relating to three suspicious vehicles travelling towards RAF Fairford. Armed officers responded and subsequently arrested five men in the Whelford area on suspicion of committing offences under the Explosives Act. The men were taken into custody where they remain. Counter Terrorism Policing are now leading the investigation."
He added: "A 400m cordon has been put in place around the vehicles while the Army's Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit examine them. As a precaution, around 85 households have been advised to evacuate while these examinations take place. A nearby leisure centre has been opened for those unable to stay with friends and family. The emergency services have well-rehearsed plans for dealing with major incidents. Work to establish the full nature of this incident is ongoing and we are in constant communication with our partners locally and nationally."
One evacuated woman said: "We were evacuated at 7am this morning. There was banging on the door and I answered in my nightie. An officer said a major incident was taking place near the airbase and we had to leave immediately. We've been here for hours and are just waiting for the police to update us, we were told it would be 1pm but we haven't heard anything yet." Cotswold District Council Councillor Paul Hodgkinson said: "I'm at the leisure centre here in Cirencester where we've got a number of people evacuated. We think it's something around 50 people who have had to leave their homes today. I've spoken to quite a few of them and they're in pretty good spirits, but they just want to go home. We've had the airbase in the Cotswolds for years, it's been there in the village for many, many years. But with the conflict going on in the Middle East, we're certainly living with that now."
