Inside the Suffolk village next to a US airbase with nuclear weapons

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Ken Blackwell, 84, lives in Lakenheath - home to a US air base that recently raised its security level (Photo: James Linsell Clark/SWNS) For a village in the crosshairs of a…

For a village in the crosshairs of a terrorist threat arising from Donald Trump’s war with Iran, Lakenheath’s inhabitants were surprisingly unperturbed this week.

This west Suffolk community sits cheek by jowl with RAF Lakenheath, the airbase home to some 7,000 American military personnel and state-of-the-art weaponry including F-35 fighter jets. It is also widely thought to host tactical nuclear weapons.

So when the Pentagon this weekend evacuated more than a dozen aircraft, including air-to-air refuelling tankers, from the nearby RAF Mildenhall base – a 10-minute drive away – and increased the security status of both installations to its second highest level, residents may have been forgiven for feeling a sense of alarm.

US intelligence sources let it be known that the reason for the alert was the existence of a renewed “credible threat” of terrorist activity against American airbases in the UK in the wake of an alleged plot by Iranian operatives in September to target another US installation, RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.

At the same time, US Air Force commanders at Lakenheath on Monday issued a Facebook plea for locals to keep their eyes peeled for suspicious drone activity and to “attempt to locate and identify operators” found lurking in the Suffolk countryside.

“Our strongest security asset is an observant community,” the post added.

RAF Lakenheath is home to the USAF’s 48th Fighter Wing, which has been actively involved in the Iran war. F-15 and F-35 jets from the Suffolk base have been deployed to US installations in the Middle East to carry out missions over Iran.

In a clear display of defensive force, two hefty US military armoured vehicles were posted by the main entrance to RAF Lakenheath amid intensified searches and security checks.

But when The i Paper this week visited Lakenheath, residents were less bothered by the prospect of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps operatives crawling through the undergrowth – and more by the problem of keeping the lights…

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