Mysterious drones were spotted last week near three military bases in England that are used by American forces, Pentagon officials said Sunday, the latest in a string of troubling incidents involving unidentified craft flying around sensitive U.S. military sites.
U.S. Air Forces Europe said the drones were seen last week near the bases RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Feltwell. U.S. Air Force personnel operate out of each location and the American detachments there are a key piece of U.S. combat capabilities in Europe.
The revelations come just days after the Defense Department revealed in a major report that strange drones were seen flying over U.S. nuclear infrastructure, weapons and launch sites at least 18 times between May 2023 and June 1 of this year. Earlier this year, an unexplained drone swarm also flew over Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.
Pentagon officials offered little detail on the nature of the drones seen in England last week. The U.S. military monitored the objects after they were spotted, officials said, though they offered no explanation of who may have been behind the incursions or what their intentions were.
“To protect operational security, we do not discuss our specific force protection measures but retain the right to protect the installation,” the Air Force said in its statement. “We continue to monitor our airspace and are working with host-nation authorities and mission partners to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities and assets.”
The British Ministry of Defense said in a statement that it takes “threats seriously” and has robust security procedures at military installations. “This includes counter-drone security capabilities. We won’t comment further on security procedures,” it said.
Such incidents have fueled fear that U.S. adversaries, perhaps China or Russia, are routinely flying drones over American military facilities as part of an intelligence-gathering operation.
The number of mysterious craft reported by U.S. military pilots and commercial aviators has exploded recently. In its recent report, the Pentagon said it received more than 700 reports of UFOs from May 2023 through June 1 of this year, including at least three instances in which the strange craft shadowed U.S. military aircraft.
The sightings have also sparked speculation in some quarters that the objects might be extraterrestrial in nature, though the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, said there is no evidence of that.
“It is important to underscore that, to date, AARO has discovered no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology,” the AARO report reads in part.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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