This is a slightly edited version of an article that originally appeared in The Telegraph on 11 November 2026.
Under normal circumstances, news that the Americans have moved nine air-to-air refuelling tankers from RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk to Germany would not be a huge cause for alarm.
These aircraft are classified as High-Value Aviation Assets (HVVAs) and are at their most vulnerable when stationed on the ground. The safest place for them is 35,000ft up in the air. So the routine moving of aircraft around for their protection is entirely normal. But unfortunately, as we all know, these are far from normal times.
The US has already removed its B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford after five British men were arrested outside the base in Gloucestershire in September. Meanwhile, Iran has said UK bases used by the US in strikes against the regime were “legitimate targets”.
If our closest ally really does feel compelled to disperse its assets because it cannot be confident that British territory is secure from Iranian-backed disruption or attack we should be extremely concerned indeed. Our military bases are not simply facilities for foreign forces to come and go. They are strategically important sites on British soil, and their security must be treated as a matter of the highest national priority.
For Defence Secretary Wes Streeting, who along with Andy Burnham still seems to regard defence as a luxury rather than a necessity, this news should serve as a massive wake-up call. Britain simply cannot afford to be complacent about the growing threats posed by hostile states. No such complacency exists in Washington, I can assure you. Having spent a year working in the Pentagon I have witnessed first-hand the lengths the US military will go to protect their assets.
To give you an idea of how seriously they take the security of RAF Mildenhall, you only need to look back to an incident in 2017 when one of the gate guards there opened fire on a vehicle that had crossed into the wrong lane while entering. That’s all it took. The US military doesn’t muck around. Losing important pieces of hardware means losing face on the world stage, and that’s not a look any president wants.
When Taliban insurgents breached the airfield at Camp Bastion in Helmand back in 2012, they destroyed eight United States Marine Corps Harrier jets on the ground – the worst loss of US airpower in a single incident since the Vietnam War. The incident led to the sacking of three US marine generals, the head of marine aviation and the head of security. In the US military, there is a heavy cost for the loss of high-value aviation assets.
But should events at RAF Mildenhall be taken as evidence the US no longer considers us a credible ally? Without access to higher levels of information it remains too early to say. At the moment, we are simply relying heavily on what has been reported in the press and we could be looking at no more than the routine shifting around of airframes for fleet management.
If the reports turn out to be correct that our most trusted partner, our primary ally and the strongest force in Nato, now doesn’t feel safe keeping high-value aviation assets in the UK, then that would really be a terrible indictment of our national security.
Under normal circumstances, news that the Americans have moved nine air-to-air refuelling tankers from RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk to Germany would not be a huge cause for alarm.
These aircraft are classified as High-Value Aviation Assets (HVVAs) and are at their most vulnerable when stationed on the ground. The safest place for them is 35,000ft up in the air. So the routine moving of aircraft around for their protection is entirely normal. But unfortunately, as we all know, these are far from normal times.
The US has already removed its B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford after five British men were arrested outside the base in Gloucestershire in September. Meanwhile, Iran has said UK bases used by the US in strikes against the regime were “legitimate targets”.
If our closest ally really does feel compelled to disperse its assets because it cannot be confident that British territory is secure from Iranian-backed disruption or attack we should be extremely concerned indeed. Our military bases are not simply facilities for foreign forces to come and go. They are strategically important sites on British soil, and their security must be treated as a matter of the highest national priority.
For Defence Secretary Wes Streeting, who along with Andy Burnham still seems to regard defence as a luxury rather than a necessity, this news should serve as a massive wake-up call. Britain simply cannot afford to be complacent about the growing threats posed by hostile states. No such complacency exists in Washington, I can assure you. Having spent a year working in the Pentagon I have witnessed first-hand the lengths the US military will go to protect their assets.
To give you an idea of how seriously they take the security of RAF Mildenhall, you only need to look back to an incident in 2017 when one of the gate guards there opened fire on a vehicle that had crossed into the wrong lane while entering. That’s all it took. The US military doesn’t muck around. Losing important pieces of hardware means losing face on the world stage, and that’s not a look any president wants.
When Taliban insurgents breached the airfield at Camp Bastion in Helmand back in 2012, they destroyed eight United States Marine Corps Harrier jets on the ground – the worst loss of US airpower in a single incident since the Vietnam War. The incident led to the sacking of three US marine generals, the head of marine aviation and the head of security. In the US military, there is a heavy cost for the loss of high-value aviation assets.
But should events at RAF Mildenhall be taken as evidence the US no longer considers us a credible ally? Without access to higher levels of information it remains too early to say. At the moment, we are simply relying heavily on what has been reported in the press and we could be looking at no more than the routine shifting around of airframes for fleet management.
If the reports turn out to be correct that our most trusted partner, our primary ally and the strongest force in Nato, now doesn’t feel safe keeping high-value aviation assets in the UK, then that would really be a terrible indictment of our national security.
