RAF nuclear jet base protected by 5ft fence

Telegraph

8 hours ago

Britain's new nuclear-capable fighter jets will be protected by a 5ft-high fence that could be scaled by saboteurs, The Telegraph can reveal.
Following an investigation, The Telegraph found that a number of the Royal Air Force's most important bases are susceptible to potential attacks by determined activists and foreign agents.
Among them are a mooted future home of Britain's F35 fighters and two bases that were named as targets by soon-to-be proscribed Palestine Action last week.
At points, the 'vulnerable' airstrips are protected by hedges, wooden fences or nothing at all – which insiders admitted was 'not perfect'.
The potential security weaknesses are publicly available using Street View software, which experts said Palestine Action and hostile foreign powers would already have been able to use to assess their weaknesses.
A dossier of findings has been shared with the Ministry of Defence. The Telegraph has also chosen not to name the bases visited or to detail precisely where weaknesses are along their perimeters.
Palestine Action has pledged to raid air bases across the country after demonstrators made their way in and out of RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, last month without being detected.
But the RAF appears to have made few attempts to strengthen the physical perimeters of its bases since the incursion, in which two military planes were vandalised.
At bases visited by The Telegraph, patrols were infrequently observed, barbed wire was absent for large distances, and CCTV did not appear to cover their entire perimeters.
Mark Francois, the Conservative shadow defence minister, said the RAF needed to rapidly review base security following the 'serious revelations'.
He said: 'The MoD has announced a review of security at all military installations, which must be thorough but also conducted at pace. These serious revelations underline just how crucial that security review now is.'
At one site, the RAF's main intelligence and surveillance base, a 700-metre section of perimeter near its runway is made up of hedges and metal and wooden fences that only reach 6ft high.
The area is devoid of barbed wire and offers would-be infiltrators a quick getaway onto the A15.
Nearby, another base is protected only by a 6ft-high, garden-style wooden fence for almost 1.5 miles along its north and eastern perimeter.
The major base is home to RAF Typhoon fighter squadrons.
Reporters also visited another site, which will house the latest generation F35 fighter jets.
It is also under consideration to house new nuclear-capable F35s bought last month. But for one 200-metre stretch of its perimeter, all that stands in the way of would-be infiltrators is a 5ft chain-link fence with no barbed wire.
Perimeters are also vulnerable at two RAF bases named as targets by Palestine Action in a meeting last week that was accessed by the Telegraph.
One of these was the RAF's officer training school. The base's perimeter is relaxed, with one four-mile section consisting of drystone walls, broken wooden fences, hedges or nothing at all.
The base also has a series of weakly defended emergency access points – two of which are left completely open and one protected by movable metal barricades and a sign that reads: 'Keep off'.
The perimeter of another site named by Palestine Action – much of which is hedgerows – contains three unmanned gate barriers, which are not wide enough to cover their respective gaps in the fence.
New, 10ft-high black metal fences appear to have recently been installed to replace three other such gate barriers, however.
Palestine Action has claimed these two bases have links to Elbit Systems UK, a military manufacturer that it has repeatedly targeted before.
It is understood that the two bases are used for cadet and basic flying training.
Ed Arnold, a former British Army officer who was previously in charge of security at a UK base, said the RAF had left itself 'vulnerable' to infiltration by activists and foreign agents.
Mr Arnold, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said: 'Palestine Action has shown just how vulnerable the bases are.
'If more dangerous actors followed their example, it could be a hand grenade thrown into a plane's engine – not just red paint.
'Russia and Iran will be watching closely and thinking that they could sabotage these bases too. Palestine Action has revealed how easy it would be and it is certainly a threat we should worry about.'
Failure of leadership
Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, said the RAF was guilty of a 'clear failure of leadership'.
He said: 'Our bases need to be made fully secure.'
It is understood that enhanced measures are in place following the infiltration at Brize Norton and that security at all bases is under review.
Further 'layered' security measures are also in place inside the bases and other non-visible security measures being used include electronic motion sensors.
Sources also said there were air safety limits on the height of fences that can be erected immediately next to runways.
The majority of the five bases' perimeters consist of barbed wire-topped metal fencing and main gates are guarded by uniformed personnel.
Frequent patrols are conducted by the RAF, police and dog units,and signs warn people to keep out.
The MoD said: 'We take security extremely seriously and operate a multi-layered approach to protect our sites, including fencing, patrols and CCTV monitoring.
'Following the security incident at RAF Brize Norton, we are urgently reviewing security procedures across the Defence estate and have immediately implemented a series of enhanced security measures at all sites.
'After years of hollowing out and underfunding of the Armed Forces, the Strategic Defence Review concluded that we need to invest more in this area, backed by the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War.'