Tag: Iran

Stop the bombing: Protest at Fairford US base: Saturday 11 April (1pm – 2.30pm)

Peter Burt

Demonstration and die-in at Fairford US bomber base

Organised by Fairford Action

Wed 8th April Update: We may have a fragile ceasefire but need to continue to say loud and clear ‘No More War! Hands off Iran! Send the Bombers Home!

The protest will go ahead as planned.

As the US and Israel’s murderous attacks on Iran enter their sixth week, join us at Fairford air base to call for an immediate end to the war.

Trump’s Iran war defies international law on every level, as an act of aggression breaking the principles of international law and launched without the approval of the US Congress.  Although the number of civilian dead is not known, it is clear that it has already entered the thousands, with attacks hitting cities, homes, and schools.  Trump is already planning further war crimes, threatening to attack power stations and civilian energy infrastructure in Iran. 

Fairford Action protest at Fairford US base, 7 March 2026

The UK has allowed the US Air Force to use Fairford air base to launch attacks on Iran.  Twice a day giant B-1 and B-52 heavy bombers fly from Gloucestershire to the Middle East to rain death on Iran.  Nobody has been fooled by the UK government’s implausible claim that strikes from Fairford will be ‘defensive’ only – a claim the UK has no way of monitoring or enforcing. See detailed briefing here.

Join us to face down this unlawful aggression and demand an immediate end to the war with Iran.

Demo and die-in at Fairford base on Saturday 11 April: 1.00pm – 2.30 pm:

Come for as long or short a time as you can manage.

    Bring banners, placards, food and friends!

    Dress appropriately for the weather.

    Check back here in case of last minute changes before heading to the demo.

PLEASE NOTE: It is not currently practicable to park near the main gate of Fairford air base.  Please park in either Whelford Road or Fairford village and walk to the gate.  Parking anywhere else will be at your own risk.

Demonstration will be by the main gate  at corner of Horcott Road /Maine Street.
Postcode for Sat Nav: GL7 4DL

Briefing Paper: The use of Fairford air base for US military strikes against Iran

Briefing Paper: The use of Fairford air base for US military strikes against Iran

Peter Burt

The use of Fairford air base in Gloucestershire by United States military forces to conduct strikes against targets in Iran has highlighted important issues surrounding the UK’s role in the current conflict in the Middle East.

Since 2024, Drone Wars UK has been investigating and challenging the use of Fairford – an ‘RAF’ base in name only – for USAF drone operations and has joined with CND and Oxfordshire Peace Campaign to oppose the use of the base for the illegal military action against Iran.

Today we are publishing a short briefing paper analysing the governments position in allowing the US to undertake ‘defensive strikes’ on Iran from UK-controlled bases.

Click to open

It discusses command and control structures governing US strikes on Iran and the significant challenges the UK faces in ensuring that its involvement remains within the legal and policy boundaries of “defensive” operations.  It concludes with a number of questions which policy makers and journalists should be asking the government about US bombing missions from UK bases.

If you are concerned about the US war on Iran and the UK’s role in supporting it, you may like to write to your local MP using some of the questions at the end of the briefing.
Naming the dead of Shajareh Tayyebeh School – Fairford 21 March 2026

On Saturday 21st March Fairford Action, supported by Drone Wars UK, CND and Oxfordshire Peace Campaign, held a short protest at the gates of Fairford to remember and name some of those killed in the US/Israeli war on Iran. By far the most shocking attack to date in this shocking war is the US cruise missile attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab on 28 February, which killed 175 children, the vast majority of whom were school children.

Proliferation of armed drones continues apace resulting in numerous civilian casualties

Chris Cole

New data from Drone Wars UK shows that more than forty states now operate large ‘Predator-type’ armed drones, with twenty-two countries having acquired these armed drones since the beginning of 2021, more than doubling the previous number of operators.

A full list of countries that possess MALE armed drones together with details of the types of drones they operate, which countries are likely to become operators in the near future and a short narrative report on each country is available on our ‘Who Has Armed Drones?’ page.

For the first time our data shows that more countries have used these armed drones to undertake strikes within their own borders (15) than for strikes against targets within other states (12).  A number of new users including Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Mali have caused significant civilian casualties in drone strikes over the past 12 months.

While the use of smaller ‘suicide’ or one-way attack drones has come to the fore in 2023, particularly for their use in Ukraine and the Red Sea, the larger re-usable systems, known as medium altitude, long endurance (MALE) drones and typified by the US Reaper and Turkish Bayraktar TB2, continues to spread.  Turkey is now the main exporter of such systems with fifteen countries gaining armed drone capability for the first time from Turkey since the beginning of 2021. A  further dozen countries are likely to gain the capability in the near future.

Proliferation leads to civilian casualties

Of the 22 countries that have acquired MALE armed drones since the beginning of 2021, 12 are involved in ongoing internal or external armed conflicts, while a further 7 are states which have simmering tensions with neighbouring states or are repressive regimes.  At least six of the states that have acquired armed drones since 2021 have already used them to launch strikes with a number of these causing civilian casualties.  While Le Monde called Africa ‘the new playground for drone exporters’ with Turkish companies winning multi-million dollar contracts, civilians on the ground continue to pay a high price. Read more →

Ukraine drones may grab all the headlines, but armed drones are enabling lethal force around the globe

Chris Cole

President Zelensky stand with a ‘suicide drone’ in Kyiv, Oct 2022

As we reach the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, you could be forgiven for thinking that the on-going conflict in eastern Europe has become the epicentre of the use of drones.

However, while the use of UAVs by Ukrainian and Russian forces has been very significant, it is important to be aware that there are real and important differences between the use of mainly small drone systems by parties in that conflict, and the use of large armed drones by other states such as the US, UK, Israel and Turkey even since the beginning of 2023.

Drones use in the Ukraine war

Over the past year, hardly a report on the war has failed to mention Ukraine’s use of surveillance drones to zero in Ukrainian artillery and rocket attacks on Russian forces or more recently, Russia’s use of Iranian  so called ‘suicide drones’ to attack Ukrainian targets.

Early on in the conflict, Ukraine deployed a number of larger armed Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones.  Media reports at the time lauded the use of these as a game-changer and some even went so far as to suggest that use of armed drones would be strategically significant in the conflict.  However it quickly became apparent that the Bayraktar drones were very vulnerable to air-to-ground missiles as many were shot-down or crashed (see our crash database) and they quickly disappeared from the battlefield.  Some suggest that a few Bayraktars remain hidden and are being used covertly or kept for future operations but it is impossible to verify such claims.

Russia has at least one type of the larger armed medium altitude, long endurance (MALE) drone in its inventory – the Inokhodets or Orion (not to be confused with the much smaller and ubiquitous surveillance drone, the Orlan).  However, like the Bayraktar, the armed drone seems to have disappeared from the skies after one was shot down in April 2022.

Both sides have also occasionally used very old, soviet-era unmanned aircraft such as the Tupolev Strizh or Reys as missiles.

More recently, Russia has also used systems acquired from Iran. These have mainly been the Shahed 131/136 which are  technically loitering munitions that can only be used once, and have gained the moniker of ‘suicide drones’ in the press.  Alongside Russia is known to have acquired Iranian Mohajer-6 armed drones (one was filmed being fished out of the Black Sea after it was shot down/crashed) and, according to US sources, the Shahed 191 /129 armed UAVS, but these have not been seen in use.

Alongside the use of loitering munitions, both sides have primarily used small, short range drones for reconnaissance and  surveillance as well as targeting of artillery and rocket systems. While the use of drones in this way has been very significant – indeed perhaps the most significant use of drones for this purpose in any conflict until now – it is very different to how some states are using armed drones elsewhere.

Armed drone attacks outside of Ukraine virtually ignored

Even since the beginning of 2023, let alone the start of the Ukraine war, there has been significant use of armed drones by the states including the US, Israel and Turkey to conduct unlawful attacks.  These strikes, however, only get a fraction of the amount of media attention that drone use in Ukraine has, and are virtually ignored by the international community.  Read more →

Military drones continue to tumble to earth

Chris Cole

Bayraktar drone downed in Libya 30 March 2020

The Drone Wars drone crash database has been updated with a further nineteen crashes of large (Class II and III) military drones; thirteen since the beginning of 2020 and six from 2018/19 only recently revealed. While there have been many claims and counter-claims of drones shot down in Syria, Yemen and Libya, we continue to include only crashes/downings that have been verified by photographs or video. Recording the crash of large military drones is an important means of monitoring the proliferation of these systems as well as documenting their inherent risk – see our report Accidents will happen – for more details. Read more →

FoI reveals UK flying Reaper drone missions outside of operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria

Chris Cole

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed in response to an FoI request from Drone Wars UK that British Reaper drones are undertaking missions outside of Operation Shader, the UK’s military operation against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The MoD has refused to say how many ‘non-Shader’ sorties there have been, or where they are taking place.

There has been no suggestion until now that British drones are undertaking operations elsewhere.  Answers to previous parliamentary questions and FoI’s requests about the use of RAF Reapers have all indicated that since late 2014, they have only been used as part of Operation Shader. The one exception was the mission that undertook the targeted killing of Reyaad Khan in August 2015, which the MoD subsequently insisted was not part of Operation Shader. Read more →