A major incident has been declared near RAF Fairford after several men were arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act, with residents evacuated and an Army explosive ordnance disposal team examining a number of vehicles.
Gloucestershire Constabulary said a number of properties in the Whelford area were being evacuated following the declaration of the major incident.
“A number of properties are currently being evacuated in the Whelford area following the declaration of a major incident.
“It follows the arrest of several men on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act.
“The Army’s specialist explosive ordnance disposal team are currently examining a number of vehicles.
“The local residents are being evacuated to a nearby leisure centre.
“A cordon is currently in place but we’d like to reassure people that we believe this incident is contained.
“We are working closely with our partners and are enacting the well-rehearsed plans we have in place.”
Images and local reporting from the area showed officers carrying out door-to-door evacuations around Horcott Road and nearby streets close to RAF Fairford.
RAF Fairford is a US Air Force-operated base in Gloucestershire used by the 501st Combat Support Wing and frequently supports deployments of American military aircraft to the UK. The incident comes against a background of heightened public interest in security at the base, although there is currently no official statement linking the arrests to RAF Fairford itself.
Separate social media reports published before the police announcement claimed force protection measures at Fairford had been increased, including claims that the base had moved to Force Protection Condition Delta.
A US Air Force spokesperson, responding to reporting about security at Fairford, said: “We are aware of the current reporting. For operational security reasons we will not discuss specific force protection measures.”
Force Protection Conditions are used by the US military to set security measures according to the assessed threat. Delta is the highest level and is normally associated with a terrorist attack having occurred or intelligence indicating an imminent threat at a specific location, but the US Air Force has not confirmed that Fairford is operating at that level.
UPDATE: from @Glos_Police regarding the RAF Fairford situation@MATA_osint https://t.co/njwpOiHRLl pic.twitter.com/uNd0BrUjiQ
— DefenceGeek 🇬🇧 (@DefenceGeek) September 27, 2026
Police have so far described the arrests only as being on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act. The Army bomb disposal team remains involved in examining the vehicles while the cordon and evacuations continue.
Russia and Pootin our greatest threat says Streeting pity he has forgotten the enemy within!
Often the enemy within is linked directly or indirectly to ‘Pootin’ or other State or quasi state actors. Naive to think they all simply work independently surely. Even the far right are being backed and/or encouraged by foreign ‘characters’ who have active or semi active supportive roles with(in) the US Govt and friends. Indeed do it openly in many cases.
Sounds very trumpish the enemy within, paranoia anyone.
Or realism take your pick!
Absolutely! The results of the investigation will be very interesting -If ,of course, we ever get to see them.
Like the Muslims in Luton years ago, demonstrating and openly calling for British soldiers to be killed.
Streets of all Muslim populations with signs saying Muslim Area, Brits stay away, or words to that effect.
Just two examples tolerated. Not fine examples of integration.
I love the denial from some.
But I agree with Chris London, this is probably islamists of left wingers linked to Palestine, who could also be seen as an enemy within considering they go around sabotaging the armed forces of their country.
Similar over here today mate 35 oldish orange men want to parade down HM highway peacefully and legally but the Nats have illegally blocked the road spurred on by our First minister to break the law😡what are the PSNI doing apart from surrendering the Garvaghy Rd to mob rule! nothing🤬
Chip shoulder sizzle.
And we respond softly softly to not “inflame community tensions.”
Might have merit in some cases but to me it just looks weak? Is that a Nats area they want to march through, is that why they’re pissed?
That, from my uninformed layman’s view seems to be a regular sticking point?
Long story but yes that road is a Nats area,however this would have been a one off and taken 15 mins tops to complete the walk! Funny how community intergration doesn’t work both ways!now we have a stand off with unionists at both ends of the road so stand by for the hotheads on both sides to kick off after dark!
Take care mate.👍
35 dinosaur headbangers contrive transparently provocative march which is approved by a NI parades commission which has divested itself of the humanity and common sense it was born with…..there you are….fixed that for you.
Ah do you live here or are you commenting from afar? You say dinosaurs how about the IRA man convicted of bombing the British Legion in Portadown leading the garvaghy road ‘association’ or Gerry Adam’s turning up to stir the pot are they dinos living in the past? In the spirit of community cohesion what would it have taken to let the dinos down the road and get it over with after all it was only going to be the one time!8 in the morning most of the residents would still have been in bed and just ignored it! But no our FM and the mad bat from down south the leader of SF couldn’t let it go either now we have a FM who only last month blasted protesters as thugs now appearing at an illegal protest and mouthing off to all and sundry🙄what does that do to her authority in the assembly?this will be chucked back in her face constantly that’s if the assembly isn’t actually bought down over this!
So yes Dinosaurs all round but don’t make the mistake off it all being the nasty Unionists that’s always to blame a bit of give and take on all sides and this would have been done and dusted in 30 mins tops.
Has that “fixed “ that for you.
Had a culturaly Irish girl friend there. Agree dinosaurs can come in several flavours but my observation is that the Orange order ones have the thickest skins. The nationalist ones are more like elephants with long memories – a bit more playful.
Who do you think is creating the enemy within.. Russia , Iran and China as they now work as a collective.
As an aside, part of Russias grey warfare again the UK is to create an enemy within, but not in the way you think. It infact to spread the idea that Russia is not a threat to the UK government and it’s the UK government that is promoting that for its own “control of it’s citizens and is the threat” this is the greatest enemy within..
Any amplifying the message that “Russia is not an enemy of the UK, is supporting and promoting Russia grey warfare attacks on the UK.
Now the reality is terrorists are a threat but they are not existential.. minorities of minorities are never a true existential threat.. look at how long the IRA played up.. throughout history if the majority in power decide a minority is a threat they are universally slaughtered or driven out.. no civil war or threat to that society if the pressure builds to much if your lucky you get a set of progroms, if your less lucky you get an ethic cleansing or mass slaughter.
But a true existential threat is if a powerful external state actor manages to sway a reasonable percentage of the population of a nation that it’s not worth fighting for or the attacking state is not their enemy..just as it attacks that nation.
The French third republic is a great example:
Right-wing defeatism: Many conservative elites and military officers deeply distrusted the democratic Third Republic and privately preferred authoritarian stability akin to fascist models over a war they felt unequipped to win.
Communist confusion: Following the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the French Communist Party was banned and disoriented by Moscow’s line, leading to localized defeatism rather than active pro-Nazi collaboration.
Institutional decay: The primary driver of defeat was structural—poor French military doctrine, weak radio communication, and a failure to counter the rapid German Blitzkrieg
Russia grey warfare is aiming of very similar in the UK
A far right that supports the authoritarian Christian Russian view and tries to amplify the message that Russia is only defending itself and we should be friends. At the same time promoting the fact that we have an internationalist Zionist controlled government..
A left wing anti Zionist movement that has been convinced we have a internationalist Zionist government..
Although both are being controlled to hate and mistrust the government they are also being guided to hate and mistrust anyone that is not them…
Essentially as patriots that are concerned with the defence of our nation, we all need to take care about following and amplifying dialogue that could “weakening HMG” .. but at the same time freely discuss what is best for our nation..
“Following the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the French Communist Party was banned and disoriented by Moscow’s line, leading to localized defeatism rather than active pro-Nazi collaboration.”
False, is that some sort of AI text?
French Communjst unions sabotaged engine factories and aircraft final assembly by just missing small components.
Even in UK, at the time less permeable to Communism, there was industrial sabotage by Communists of British war effort against the Nazis.
It’s a bit debated mate, there was a very big push to explain and overblow the fall of France by active terrorism from Nazi and communist sympathisers… but in the end it was more essentially related to the far right and far left creating an apathy about actually defending the nation.. divide, create questions and watch the nation implode.. is easier than creating an active group who will undertake physical attacks. Most modern historians tend to now go with it being propaganda from the right and left essentially sucking the will out of the third republic… rather than a massive fifth column.
It’s something we really much note.. as that ability to create mass apathy is huge in social media.. I’m seeing lots of left and right wing agitator’s are essentially selling the idea that the county and government is not worth defending and it’s our own aggression.. supporting Ukraine, Isreal, us etc that leads us to be attacked… so just sit back let the nation fall and it will all be better..
It is not far right propaganda, it is documented.
Even in US artists linked to Communist Party USA actively worked to prevent US support to UK. Pete Seeger and the Almanacs released Songs for John Doe album in May 1941 and rushed take it out of stores and buy those that were sold in June 41.
From the memories of Sir Charles Goodeve of Hedgehog fame.
‘When work on the gun (Oerlikon 20mm *) began at Ruislip, Russia was still an ally of Germany, and Communist agents lost no time in stirring up trouble in the factory. With Ruislip’s not getting under way until the end of 1940, the Oerlikon management could not pick and choose their workers; they had to take on a very mixed bag, among them a number of undesirables already dismissed from other factories. Here was fertile ground for Communist propaganda.
“‘Agents were infiltrated into key positions and for some time the shop stewards were able to discover in advance the gist of many decisions taken by the management. This tactic won the Communists much support as champions of their workmates. . . . The spirit in the factory worried Goodeve. With the country fighting for survival, here were British workmen doing their level best to sabotage the war effort”
* not in original text. My note.
Hi mate you miss understand , the MAIN impact on the French ability to fight of the far right and left propaganda was the creation of apathy towards the state and a loss of will to fight for the third republic..
So France fell not because of massive levels of activate sabotage, but because of massive levels of what was essentially apathy. That does not mean some fifth columnist did not exist, but their impact was its now felt to have been overblown at the time.. because it suited wartime messages ( the Germans wanted to promote the idea that lots of the wider populations across Europe supported them, the French government wanted and excuse for being beaten and the British wanted a rallying point).
What I find scary is I see that messaging now in the UK.
The far right, such as Tommy Robinson are actively going out and saying Russia is not our enemy, the UK government is as its controlled by the world wide Zionist movement and we should not fight for our country, for a corrupt government against fellow white Christian Russians.
And on the far left they say especially the government is run on behalf of Israel and Zionists ( again ) and we should not fight for it as it’s morally corrupt.
Essentially the same messaging that caused the fall of France. So they are not calling for sabotage, because there would be a backlash.. but instead sowing doubt and division. Essentially the classic grey warfare… I’m not the traitor my government is and I’m not fighting for them messaging, that turns a nation into the slave of an aggressor.
I was not implying that it was the sole reason or even the main reason.
The French defeat has many fathers, but the biggest one was Gamelin sending the most mobile units to Belgium, Netherlands basically getting no viable reserves to face any German penetration.
There were several severe structural issues but apathy from population for a 2 week defeat was not one of them. For a 2 week defeat the main reasons are military. In what ifs, i always questioned if Georges would not have been hurt in the assassination of Alexander of Yugoslavia he would have been the GHQ and History would have been different.
For me the French defeat in 2 weeks was not a done deal.
Sadly, I’m not too surprised that something like this has occurred.
Russia isn’t going to be afraid of our current state of vacillation and weakness.
Air wise – I’m not too concerned as RuAF is pretty useless.
Navy wise – I am concerned at the lack of SSN activity and the perishing of skills. I’m also very concerned about the lack of frigates and the now terribly delayed replacement program.
Land – we know the Russian army is rubbish in quality: comms; and leadership. However, they have mass and don’t care about casualties.
My biggest concern is the continued asymmetric probing which is ratcheting up. Putin asking, “how far can I go before I get called out never mina response?”
👍 Like Trump things are getting increasingly desperate for these two megalomaniacs and I fear one or both knowing their fate for failure will take risks that could transform the World as we know it. Hoping I’m wrong but at best it’s going to be a damn close run thing, especially with the impact of ai as it escapes lab control and inevitably exploited by all manner of dangerous actors who might just think otherwise delusional and dangerous decisions have some logic. Most worryingly they may deem the window of opportunity to carry out such decisions are limited and that’s where desperation truly can cause havoc.
I doubt it is Putin. He might probe a UK site but not a US one. This will be either Islamists or pro- Palestinian left wingers
Putrid wouldn’t care – it is probing to him and he might well be the one pulling the strings in the background.
I’m inclined to agree. Will be interesting if the true facts come out.
Putin is only interested in probing and creating internal divisions..
In the end you have to think of Iran and Russia as a part of a wider anti western movement. Either or could have and would organise this.. yes it could be a lone wolf Islamist type event.. but I would lay money on Russian Iranian probing… if they could pin it on Islamists all the better as that creates internal tensions..
Always think multiple whys… it may be simple it may be not always drive they whys down to the very end.
My point to Robert is that 13 was irreducible minimum that even Treasury allowed to be ordered.
And thats exactly the kind of story these state actor’s want to push. We are rubbish and weak. You don’t know our capabilities. Basing everything on how many Frigates we have as an example is very short sighted.
Ummm well RN; MoD and Treasury (through gritted teeth) do think we need 13 frigates which have been ordered including 8 superbly optimised ASW ones.
So they ordered them for a very good reason. Fact is they are sadly delayed and T23 have fallen apart. Nothing g speculative there.
I’m very aware of P8 and Merlin’s capabilities as well as a few others.
In reality the RN and MOD thought we needed 20 frigates.. that gradually got cut due to 1) sand wars 2) austerity.
The cuts were never about actual risk led assessment.
They were likely members of the British caliphate established by Labour and Conservative politicians over the last 50 years—something the far-left loves. Islamofascism.
Right…
Far more likely to be Iranian-inspired surely, an extension of their striking back at US bases, particularly USAF ones? If so, likely using ‘useful idiots’ and yobs doing it for the money. We will see.
A bit premature for Micki to jump into a weary muslim-bashing, anti-‘uniparty’ routine.
It’s likely to be Iran/russia backed ( same shit different hat), but it’s alway possible it’s just some radicalised nutters.
Easy to speculate until more facts are known.
In the end it’s only going to be 1 or more of three things ( it may be a bit of all three for fun)
1) Russia
2) Iran
3) radicalised UK citizens ( and I will give you the enemy within for this one).
My personal favourite will be a joint Russian/ Iranian attack using either home grown or imported nutters.
Not sure why the narrative is still about projecting power in the UK – we need to deal with the threat within, which seems to be lost on our illustrious Politicians.
Very large sums of money are spent on our security services and cyber. This is why, and why a potentially serious attack has been stopped. We have lots of capabilities that aren’t just about tanks and soldiers with big guns. The unseen capabilities are protecting us every single day.
Spot on.
Good point Robert and a more balanced view than mine I suspect.
Probably just the frustration that I have at the moment with all these undocumented migrants landing on our shores at considerable cost to the tax payers of this country and I suspect the security, which adds to the workload of our security services.
In reality the threat within is not going to throw hundreds of cruise missiles drones and ballistic missiles at you.. Russia will, but part of Russian grey warfare is to reduce it as a threat and focus blame on the UK government.. it’s the basic destruction of a nation playbook.. get the population to mistrust itself and hate its government.. then you apply a bit of military pressure and the nation folds like a card pyramid.
If you want to find people that hates UK you just need to visit most your education system. Specially humanities.
It should be noted that in USA political violence is accepted by the higher educated above the poorly educated, i suspect the same in UK.
It is also my opinion you would not have won WW2 if you had todays British journalism.
Actually if USSR was not attacked by the Nazis i very much doubt many would have anything positive to say about WW2.
WW2 only have positive outlook because both countries of British people were attacked by the Nazis. That means UK itself and the USSR.
Totally agree
In the the end you can follow a few logical counter history streams that are all logical if you look honestly at the capabilities.
1) UK not fighting Germany or simply going fuck it.. Germany was never going to be able to actually invade the UK it was physically impossible.. the RN was simply to overwhelming compared to the Kriegsmarine it could never have created a sea control gap long enough to successfully invaded and create a viable bridgehead.. it was alway pure fantasy. But if the UK just went.. not our problem, Germany would have plowed into Russia with no need to look behind it, it would have had full access to world markets and oil ( the UK was slowly throttling the third Reich while it was at war with it) Russia would not have had the 13,000 tanks and planes and untold tons of raw materials.. its very likely that on its own Russia would have fallen.. and Germany would have been the incontestable world superpower for probably ever.. a pan Europe Asian superpower would have essentially been unstoppable… the British empire and U.S. would have slowly become secondary satellite powers. The interesting one here would be the pacific campaign.. what if Japan is not distracted in the western indopacific by 1.5 million British empire troops.. what if it just focused on pushing east… what If the German navy in a neutral state with the UK entered the pacific campaign or started attacking the U.S. trade in the Atlantic seaboard with the RN off the table…
2) Britain fights but Germany never attacks Russia.. in the end this would likely simplify fade to a stalemate.. even if Japan attacks the US and Germany declares war on the U.S.. there is no real chance of the US and UK ever being able to liberate Europe.. Japan gets it because essentially that’s an unchanged state.. but the allies never have enough power to liberate Europe
In the end russia not being attacked is off the table of possibilities as it was always hitlers plan to ethically cleanse the Slavic peoples from history.. ( he was after all a certified nutter and evil cunt and he hated the Slavic peoples only a little less than the Jews) France was just removing a threat ( they were white Europeans, not Germanic so ok but needing to know their place ) but the real choice was the UKs, Hitler never wanted a war with the British empire, in his warped world view the British were Germanic people and so peers ( essentially part of the master race) , in reality he would have been very happy to leave the wider none Germanic/ European world for the British empire to keep in line.
” what if Japan is not distracted in the western indopacific by 1.5 million British empire troops.. what if it just focused on pushing east…”
Not possible, natural resources sorely necessary for Japan were in Dutch and British East Indias.
What was possible is that Japan do not attack USA. I do not think USA would fully support UK and Dutch if Japan would not have attacked PH and the Philippines.
I’m not sure I think the Japanese saw the US as the major economic aggressor and knew it would interfere if it tried major expansion in the Pacific.
But in the end as you say it’s big need was the Dutch East Indies, a huge territory full of everything it needed.
The attack on the British empire was more an attack of opportunity while it was at war, to knock out its offensive capabilities so it could not interfere on the Japanese attack on the Dutch East Indies.
Essentially if Britain had declared neutrality and showed no intention of interfering in Indonesia I think the Japanese would have been content with Indonesia as their main aim and objective was the subjugation of China…. Which is what they needed the resources from Indonesia for…
The fact was Japan was never going to subjugate China with conquest even with all the oil and rubber from Indonesia. It simply did not have the manpower.. as for beating the US never a hope, unless it was the US fighting Japan and axis Europe on its own.
In the end the world was just lucky that one island nation has a bizarre and sometimes self destructive fixation about European superpowers and has always thrown itself at them and both Germany and Japan were so hyper aggressive they kept bitting of more than they can chew.
Northern Borneo and Burma under UK had significant oil resources too.
Yes, US was a thorn but a military mobilization against Japan without an attack would be quite difficult politically.
There was also the war in Europe with cousins facing difficulties forcing an Atlantic reinforcement.