The US Air Force carried out an emergency withdrawal of all American B-1 bombers stationed in Britain last night. An entire squadron of 12 strategic bombers fled the country within hours, returning to the United States. But both Britain and the White House are keeping their cards close.
According to reports, a concrete security threat may have been identified in connection with RAF Fairford and the bombers based there. Just last week, an attempted attack was carried out against the base and the bomber squadron, but Britain released all those involved and suspected on bail, a move that drew the fury of President Trump.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio provided the first statement from the White House on the matter, but refused to offer broad answers: "The Pentagon regularly redeploys forces based on independent considerations; I wouldn't attach special significance to it."
Although similar language came from British officials, the redeployment of 12 bombers (an entire squadron in a single evening) is hardly a routine event.
Last night, in the evening hours, a rushed withdrawal of the bombers back to the United States began, and overnight the Pentagon issued formal confirmation that all the aircraft had been evacuated. According to reports, the evacuation was so hurried that the tanker aircraft meant to support the bombers' flight to the US had not yet taken off when the scramble began.
