Mystery surrounds swarms of mysterious drones spotted over RAF Feltwell
When news emerged over the weekend that mysterious swarms of drones had been spotted over US airbases in East Anglia, it thrust one small West Norfolk village into the spotlight.
While the American bases at Mildenhall and Lakenheath, in Suffolk, are prominent and well known sites, the smaller one at Feltwell is rather less so.
But that did not protect it from the attention of whoever has been operating the mystery drones.
The unidentified aircraft buzzed all three bases over a number of days last week - while there have also been reports of them in the vicinity today.
The US and British military have been tight-lipped over the incidents and whether Vladimir Putin or pranksters might be behind them - and the uncertainty has been felt in Feltwell.
The village is home to RAF Feltwell, which is operated by the US military. It is no longer home to aircraft but houses personnel and intelligence facilities, as well as the US Space Force.
Tom Ryves, a West Norfolk Council member for Methwold, which neighbours Feltwell, said: “It makes you wonder what the Royal Air Force and Americans have available to prevent drones from flying and entering their airspace.
“That’s more the issue – how are these guys able to get away with doing this?”
Pallavi Devulapalli is a borough councillor for the Airfeld Ward, which borders Feltwell and is home to RAF Marham – where a squadron of F-35B Lightning jets are stationed.
She has called for better communication with residents following events such as this.
She said: “When tensions are high around the world and there is growing anxiety, we need reassurances and communication about where they have come from.”
Following the incident, the Ministry of Defence said it takes threats “seriously” and that it maintains “robust measures at defence sites.”
This includes counter-drone security capabilities.
“We won’t comment further on security procedures,” a spokesman said.
It is unclear whether the drones and those operating them have harmful intentions.
Norfolk and Suffolk offer an important base for the USAF forces.
RAF Feltwell, the smallest of the three airbases, is predominantly focused on intelligence operations and logistics, and it is recognisable through its three large ‘golf ball’ domes.
These installations are called radomes, which are radar systems covered in a spherical protective cover.
It was built in the 1930s and during the Second World War was home to heavy bombers. In 1989, it became home to a USAF space surveillance squadron.
Today, it is predominantly used for housing - but a US Space Force squadron is still based there.
A similar site in Yorkshire has become the focus of a campaign, with worried residents calling on more transparency about the secretive operations that are conducted there due to it being a “significant military target”.
Controversy has also surrounded RAF Lakenheath – the largest US airbase in Britain – after the Pentagon revealed it is set to store nuclear weaponry three times stronger than the Hiroshima bomb in response to the increased threat from Russia.
This has been met with protests from anti-nuclear campaigners.
Nuclear missiles were previously stationed at RAF Lakenheath until 2008 when the threat of a Cold War from Moscow ended.