A police helicopter was compelled to execute an emergency dive during a frightening confrontation with unexplained high-speed 'drones' above a US air base in England last year, in an episode that authorities subsequently attributed to a passing fighter jet.
New Evidence Contradicts Official Explanation
Freshly disclosed video footage and incident reports from the November 22, 2024 occurrence now present a markedly different - and considerably more disturbing - narrative, as the Daily Mail can exclusively disclose. Witnesses even characterised one of the unidentified aerial objects as resembling a 'tic-tac' - the same elongated shape documented by Navy pilots during the now notorious 2004 encounter.
The documentation includes images captured from a National Police Air Service (NPAS) EC135 helicopter showing one of the mysterious craft, which reportedly 'targeted' and nearly collided with the police aircraft mid-air in the vicinity of RAF Lakenheath, an American military installation situated in Suffolk, England.
Multiple Drone Incursions Over Military Bases
This incident unfolded amid weeks of accounts concerning drones and unidentified objects breaching airspace above US military facilities in New Jersey, across the broader northeast region, and at overseas locations.
Although a report issued by the UK Airprox Board attributed the helicopter's near-miss to pilots mistakenly identifying an American F-15 fighter jet operating in the area, British police logs released under the Freedom of Information Act depict multiple sophisticated drones 'targeting' and apparently pursuing the law enforcement helicopter at high velocities.
An incident log from Suffolk Police, recounting a debriefing of the helicopter pilots, stated: 'They were forced to take emergency evasive action in relation to a drone which came within a dangerously close proximity to them.'
The log continued: 'They had to perform an emergency dive and described that they were pursued in the dive by two drones who matched their speed approximately 165 knots and then pursued them for several minutes out of the area. They feel that drones have targeted them and chased them off at approximately 140 knots.'
Footage Reveals Impossible Manoeuvres
A UK military source who has reviewed the complete 30-minute video recorded by the helicopter's infrared camera asserted there was more to the incident than a close encounter with a fighter jet.
'In the 30-minute video with pilot audio, nobody mentions F-15s,' the source revealed. 'They only talk about the drones. How they're basically mirroring the helicopter's movements. How fast the drones are going. That they're basically forcing them out of the area.'
The source added that the footage captures one object pursuing the aircraft performing manoeuvres impossible for a fighter jet. 'A fixed-wing craft is caught on the video, where you can see a corkscrew move,' the insider disclosed. 'An F-15 cannot make a small corkscrew turn like that.'
The Daily Mail obtained a brief segment from the helicopter video displaying a small object, appearing merely as a blob on the infrared camera, slowly moving across the screen.
Police incident logs from November 20-22, 2024 document numerous drone sightings across three US Air Force bases in Suffolk and Norfolk: RAF Feltwell, RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall.
A Suffolk Police log from November 21 noted: 'Over past 2 nights there have been approximately 20 drones flying over RAF's Mildenhall, Feltwell and Lakenheath. This has been between 1800-0000 hrs.'
The log added that due to the drones' size, the operators could be 'miles and miles' away, suggesting these weren't conventional hobbyist drones.
One police report from Lakenheath indicated an officer using night vision goggles observed '5-6 drones near the A1065 highway returning over the airfield'. An informant described witnessing 'multiple drones' that were 'very large and they make a lot of noise'.
The witness in the November 22 logs described objects around the airbase as 'large stationary things - tictacs - they are not birds'. Another log from the same date stated: 'The drones are well lit - they are not trying to hide themselves and they are flying very low now.'
A crime report from November 21 summarising the incidents confirmed there were '10-15 drones flying around bases and potentially into the base airspace', adding this was the 'third occurrence this week according to MOD police and US base have stated they have had to ground aircraft due to going across flightpaths'.
Questions Remain Over Investigation Transparency
The investigation was transferred to the UK Ministry of Defence Police, which hasn't published its findings. The police logs were acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request by researcher Rowland Hume, who shared the material with the Daily Mail.
Mike Morgan, a retired senior police detective who has also been examining the incident, expressed disappointment regarding authorities' lack of transparency. 'There is a whole series of question marks about what went on in November 2024,' Morgan stated.
'I have run into repeated efforts by the authorities to avoid answering even the most basic questions, such as, how many people have been detained or how many drones seized. What is so secret about this investigation?'
The incident was largely dismissed when the UK Airprox Board published its report concluding the 'drones' observed by the NPAS crew were actually lights from a US Air Force F-15 Eagle jet. Radar data cited in the report indicated the helicopter and jet came within 1,700 feet of each other, with no other unknown objects detected on radar.
However, Stuart Onyeche, a trained British meteorologist working for a defence company who has researched the incident, told the Daily Mail he believes both the fighter jet and police helicopter were pursuing advanced drones.
'I'm inclined to trust the initial detail and assessment of the experienced helicopter pilots that we see noted in these logs, which was that they were forced to take evasive action due to the close proximity of some kind of unmanned drone,' Onyeche commented.
'It's unarguable that an F-15 was also in the vicinity as reported in the airprox, but an unanswered question is what was the F-15 being tasked to do or look for? Were the helicopter and F-15 in fact both converging on the unidentified 'drones'?'
Craft encroaching on airspace at US bases both domestically and abroad have demonstrated signs of employing advanced technology capable of thwarting anti-drone measures used by authorities.
A joint report by the FBI, US Department of Defense and NASA obtained by the Daily Mail last year cautioned that their detection and signal jamming equipment had 'failed' to prevent incursions by sophisticated drones, including at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, which experienced weeks of drone swarms in December 2023, creating security concerns that remained confidential until revealed by defence publication The Warzone in March 2024.
