A B-1B Lancer prepares to land at RAF Fairford, England, Oct. 27, 2023, for a hot-pit refueling. (Emma Anderson/U.S. Air Force)
The United States has begun using British military bases to support its airstrikes on Iran, the U.K.’s Defense Ministry said Saturday.
The ministry said in a post on X that the “defensive operations” were aimed at preventing Iran from firing more missiles across the region.
So far, the United Kingdom is the first, and only, European country to openly allow the United States to use its bases in the bombing campaign against Iran that the U.S. and Israel began Feb. 28. Tehran has responded by firing missiles and drones at countries and U.S. military installations in the Middle East.
The decision gives U.S. forces a staging point in Europe for long-range bomber operations against Iranian missile sites.
The ministry did not specify which British bases the United States was operating from. However, British media, including the BBC, reported Saturday that the U.S. was using RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire for strikes and had moved at least four B-1B Lancer bombers to the base.
Reuters on Friday published a photo of a U.S. Air Force B-1 bomber preparing to land there that evening.
RAF Fairford hosts a small permanent U.S. Air Force support presence led by the 420th Air Base Squadron, part of the 501st Combat Support Wing, and is frequently used to support U.S. strategic bomber deployments.
The United States has already been using its B-1 bombers based elsewhere to strike Iran.
In a post on X on March 2, U.S. Central Command said the bombers struck deep inside the country “to degrade Iranian ballistic missile capabilities.”
“We’re going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground,” the post said.
The 146-foot B-1B Lancer is a long-range U.S. Air Force bomber designed to deliver large quantities of conventional weapons at high speed over long distances.
Introduced in the 1980s, the aircraft can fly faster than the speed of sound and carry up to about 75,000 pounds of ordnance, one of the largest payloads of any U.S. bomber, according to the U.S. Air Force.
“Moving aircraft like the B-1 to RAF Fairford provides the option to scale up the air campaign rapidly should the U.S. administration decide to do so,” Christoph Bergs, an airpower researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, told Stars and Stripes in an email Saturday.
However, because Britain has limited the use of its bases to defensive operations, the number of sorties flown from the U.K. may remain modest unless that policy changes, Bergs said. For now, they will likely focus on Iranian long-range missile forces, he added.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions about the use of British bases when contacted Saturday. The 501st Combat Support Wing said RAF Fairford is routinely used to host transient U.S. military aircraft and personnel, but directed all questions to U.S. Central Command.
Confirmation by the U.K. that the United States has begun using British bases to strike Iran follows a March 1 statement by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that said his government would allow American forces to use its bases for defensive airstrikes against the country after a request from Washington.
The BBC initially reported that Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, located on British territory but operated by the U.S. military, could also be used in the strikes.
Starmer said the United Kingdom had no intention of joining the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
“But we will continue with our defensive actions in the region,” he said.
The Defense Ministry post on Saturday also said RAF Typhoon and F-35 jets have continued air operations over Jordan, Qatar and Cyprus and the wider region in defense of national interests and allied forces.
A British Merlin helicopter was also on its way to the region to provide additional airborne surveillance, according to the post.
Meanwhile, dozens of demonstrators opposed to the move gathered outside RAF Fairford on Saturday afternoon holding signs that read “Stop illegal bombing” and “Not in our name, no to war.”