Drone activity over US air bases blamed on Russian agents
February 27, 2025
A number of unidentified drones were detected operating over US airbases in Britain on multiple occasions in November 2023. These drones forced the UK MoD and the USAF to react, spending hundreds of thousands of pounds or dollars, disrupting routine flight training and operations and sowing tensions between US Air Forces Europe and the UK MoD.
The drone operation demonstrated Russia’s ability to operate freely within a NATO country, sending a powerful message in the process.
US Air Forces Europe said that: “We can confirm that small unmanned aerial systems were spotted in the vicinity of and over RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall, and RAF Feltwell between November 20 and 22. The number of UASs fluctuated and they ranged in size/configuration. The UASs were actively monitored and installation leaders determined that none of the incursions impacted base residents or critical infrastructure. To protect operational security, we do not discuss our specific force protection measures but retain the right to protect the installation. 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.”
An investigation by ‘The i’ newspaper has revealed that Russian intelligence agents were found to have been in close proximity to RAF Lakenheath RAF Mildenhall, and RAF Feltwell when these drones were sighted. The newspaper used a database of open-source location data, provided to it by what was described as “a former intelligence official who monitors hostile state cyber threat movements.”
The newspaper reported that the three individuals involved had been linked to the Russian Embassy in Berlin, a GRU facility in Moscow and Russian military formations in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, two of them flying into the UK in May 2023, the other in August.
The GRU agent is linked to a unit that has been associated with foreign assassinations and destabilisation operations across Europe, while the Russian Embassy in Berlin has been a hub of Russian espionage and ‘grey zone’, sub threshold operations.
Dr Julian Lewis, the former Conservative Chair of the Defence Select Committee said that there is: “credible evidence here of the possible presence of GRU-linked operatives near Lakenheath and Mildenhall.”
Two of the agents were suspected of having posed as seasonal fruit pickers, many of whom are Russian speakers who come from Central Asia. UK agriculture relies on seasonal fruit pickers who come to Britain under seasonal worker visas, due to domestic labour shortages. The government issued more than 45,000 of these visas last year.
The location database used by the newspaper showed that the agents spent days and weeks moving through fields in a way that indicated that they were working as fruit pickers during working hours, and then visiting fields close to the airbase perimeters at night and during the weekends.
The agent linked to the Berlin Embassy was found to have been metres from the perimeter of RAF Mildenhall on a day when drones were sighted, while the Tajikistan-linked agent was found to have visited remote areas around RAF Mildenhall on several occasions, and stayed in a caravan park for fruit pickers near the bases. The suspected GRU agent visited areas around RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall during September and October, and also visited caravan sites used by seasonal fruit pickers.
There has been speculation that the Russians may not have operated the drones themselves, but rather would have supervised locally-recruited low-level criminals motivated by money, (or perhaps ideology) or under coercion.
MI5’s Ken McCallum, the Director General of M(I)5 said that Russia was on a “sustained mission” to create “mayhem” using “criminals as proxies – from international drug traffickers to low-level crooks” to undertake espionage, sabotage, and even murders in the UK. He said that: “Russian state actors [have been] turning to proxies for their dirty work, including private intelligence operatives and criminals from both the UK and third countries.”
Former security minister Tom Tugendhat described the case as representing “the tip of the iceberg” and said that: “Russian intelligence are trying to recruit criminals to carry out sabotage attacks across Europe. This strongly suggests emboldened Kremlin activity here in our country.”
Similar drone activity has been reported in Denmark, Germany and the USA.
