Latest news with #LangleyAirForceBase
BBC News
4 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
RAF lakenheath welcomes back US fighter jets after Iran operation
US Air Force fighter jets have returned to a UK base from the Middle East following the bombing operation in F-22A Raptors from the 1st Fighter Wing have arrived at RAF Lakenheath in of the local plane spotting community took pictures of the aircraft as they landed on Thursday.A spokesman for the US military said: "Due to operational security, we cannot provide details about the deployment of aircraft, personnel, or capabilities." While it is not known whether the planes at Lakenheath were airborne over Iran during the bombing of Iran nuclear sites, Donald Trump has already said that F-22s were part of the information shows that the jets in Lakenheath arrived there from the Al Udeid air base in Qatar. Photographer Gavin Mills said he spotted two groups of five aircraft, which were supported by three KC-46 aerial tankers. Suffolk-based aviation analyst Roger Smith, who works in the industry, said the F-22As would most likely have been used to deploy countermeasures in the operation, targeting the Iranian air defence radar "to render those threats useless" The FF tail marking on the F-22As indicates they belong to the 1st Fighter Wing, based at Langley Air Force Base in arrival in the UK followed the recent bombing raid on the Iranian nuclear enrichment plant at Fordo on images have revealed damage to access routes and tunnels at the underground facility.A leaked US intelligence assessment suggested the US strikes did not destroy Iran's nuclear programme. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Fox News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Drone incursions on US bases come under intense scrutiny as devices prove lethality overseas
FIRST ON FOX: A group of House Republicans is demanding details on how government agencies are addressing the growing threat of unauthorized drone incursions on U.S. military installations. In letters sent Thursday, the Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs requested a trove of documents and communications from the Departments of Defense (DoD), Transportation (DOT), and Justice (DOJ). The letters note that in 2024 alone, there were 350 drone incursions at over 100 U.S. military bases. Lawmakers believe many of the responses to the illegal incursions, including an instance where a group of drones traipsed over Langley Air Force Base for over two weeks in December 2023, have been insufficient and fragmented. Under current rules, base commanders must establish "hostile intent" before taking action — a threshold the lawmakers say is ill-suited to fast-moving and ambiguous drone threats. Coordination between military installations, the DOJ, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and local law enforcement is often "improvised and bureaucratically delayed," the letter states, leaving gaps that adversaries could exploit. To assess the issue, Republicans are asking the agencies to turn over documents by July 10, including: all interagency policies and agreements on drone detection and mitigation; a list of all facilities protected under Title 10 Section 130(i); communications involving DoD, DOJ, FAA, and others about drone threats and authority gaps; all incident reports related to drone incursions since January 2022; any internal reviews assessing current legal frameworks and recommending reforms; plans for a joint federal-state-local task force on counter-drone coordination. Fox News Digital has reached out to DoD, DOJ, and DOT for comment. The lawmakers frame their demands as part of a broader push for legislative reform and operational clarity in the face of escalating drone threats to national security. "This is a rapidly evolving threat that requires a unified and proactive response," the letter states, emphasizing the need for better data sharing and resource allocation between agencies. The threat comes at a time when the lethal capabilities of modern drone warfare have been proven on the ground in Ukraine and in the Middle East. From the early days of Russia's 2022 invasion, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have been deployed with devastating effect by both Russian and Ukrainian forces, transforming how battles are fought and how intelligence is gathered. What began as surveillance and artillery-spotting platforms has evolved into a full-scale integration of explosive-laden loitering munitions, or "kamikaze drones," capable of precision strikes deep behind enemy lines. One of the most notorious platforms is the Iranian-made Shahed-136, a low-cost, GPS-guided drone that Russia has used in swarms to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses and strike civilian infrastructure, including power stations and residential areas. These drones, launched in waves, have been used to sow terror and inflict strategic damage while costing a fraction of conventional missiles. Ukraine, for its part, has responded with creative adaptations, converting consumer camera drones into improvised bombers and launching strikes on Russian trenches, vehicles, and even naval assets in the Black Sea. Israel used drones alongside warplanes to assault top generals and key military and nuclear facilities in Operation Rising Lion this month. Iran fired back its own onslaught of drones toward Israel. Military analysts have said Ukraine represents the first major war where drones are central to strategy, not just supporting tools. Their widespread deployment has forced a tactical rethink, prompted innovations in electronic warfare and counter-UAS systems, and prompted debate about how quickly drones may outpace manned aircraft in aerial combat.
Fox News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
US military would be unleashed on enemy drones on the homeland if bipartisan bill passes
FIRST ON FOX: Dozens of drones that traipsed over Langley Air Force base in late 2023 revealed an astonishing oversight: Military officials did not believe they had the authority to shoot down the unmanned vehicles over the U.S. homeland. A new bipartisan bill, known as the COUNTER Act, seeks to rectify that, offering more bases the opportunity to become a "covered facility," or one that has the authority to shoot down drones that encroach on their airspace. The new bill has broad bipartisan and bicameral support, giving it a greater chance of becoming law. It's led by Armed Services Committee members Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., in the Senate, and companion legislation is being introduced by August Pfluger, R-Texas, and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., in the House. Currently, only half of the 360 domestic U.S. bases are considered "covered facilities" that are allowed to engage with unidentified drones. The legislation expands the narrow definition of a covered facility under current statute to allow all military facilities that have a well-defined perimeter to apply for approval that allows them to engage with drones. The legislation also stipulates that the secretary of defense delegate authority to combatant commanders to engage drone attacks, cutting down on time to get approval through the chain of command in emergency situations. "Leaving American military facilities vulnerable to drone incursions puts our service members, the general public and our national security at risk," Cotton said. For more than two weeks in December 2023, a swarm of mystery drones flew into restricted airspace over Langley, home to key national security facilities and the F-22 Raptor stealth fighters. Lack of a standard protocol for such incursions left Langley officials unsure of what to do, other than allow the 20-foot-long drones to hover near their classified facilities. To this day, the Pentagon has said little about the incidents, other than to confirm that they occurred. Whether it knows where the drones came from or what they were doing is unclear. "As commercial drones become more commonplace, we must ensure that they are not being used to share sensitive information with our adversaries, to conduct attacks against our service members, or otherwise pose a threat to our national security," Gillibrand said. As defense-minded lawmakers sought more answers, Langley officials referred them to the FBI, who referred them to Northern Command, who referred them to local law enforcement, a congressional source told Fox News Digital last year. Gen. Gregory Guillot, chief of Northern Command (NORCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), said in February that there were over 350 unauthorized drone detections over military bases last year. "The primary threat I see for them in the way they've been operating is detection and perhaps surveillance of sensitive capabilities on our installations," he said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. "There were 350 detections reported last year on military installations, and that was 350 over a total of 100 different installations of all types and levels of security." A surge in mysterious drone activity over New Jersey late last year and early this year prompted mass confusion. Guillot said that regulations on UAV countermeasures created "significant vulnerabilities that have been exploited by known and unknown actors." He advocated for what the new legislation would do: expand Section 130i of Title 10, which pertains to the protection of "certain facilities and assets from unmanned aircraft." "I would propose and advocate for expansion of 130i [authorities] to include all military installations, not just covered installations," Guillot said during the hearing. "I'd also like to see the range expanded to slightly beyond the installation, so they don't have to wait for the threat to get over the installation before they can address it, because many of these systems can use side looking or slant range, and so they could … surveil the base from outside the perimeter. And under the current authorities, we can't address that."
