THE government was urged today to end its “wall of secrecy” over drone sightings at three air bases in East Anglia amid escalating tensions with Russia.
The US Air Force has confirmed “unmanned aerial devices” were spotted over RAF Lakenheath, which is set to house US nuclear weapons, RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk between November 20 and 22.
Unconfirmed reports claim F-15E Strike Eagles were scrambled to chase the drones, which affected the flight operations at the bases.
The USAF, which has fighter jets on standby at the bases, declined to comment on those claims but said it retains “the right to protect” installations.
On Thursday, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said military facilities in Britain and the US could become valid targets for the Kremlin’s forces as a direct response to Ukraine’s firing of US and British missiles at targets on Russian territory.
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) general secretary Sophie Bolt said that it appeared the drones were a co-ordinated launch within Britain.
She said: “The fact they happened in three bases means it was co-ordinated. Other than that we just don’t have any more information.
“People will be understandably very worried, therefore there needs to be responsibility around what information is shared.
“There’s a complete lack of transparency within the British government, who still completely refuse to acknowledge they have given permission for Storm Shadow missiles to be used by Ukraine.
“It’s invariably the case in terms of the military and specially around military bases and around defence generally to have a wall of secrecy.
“This is completely unacceptable because people have a right to know what’s going on.”
She added: “What happened at the US air base — I just feel we have to be really careful and take responsibility for where the news narrative is going — there’s a possibility that this is being weaponised into a worse kind of confrontation [with Russia].
“They have definitely been launched in the local area … and I think we just have to be very careful about what’s going on, because there’s a particularly escalatory climate.
“More broadly, armed drones need to be banned.
“The US, the UK and Israel are well known for using these terrible weapons.”
