Quakers oppose US military drones in UK
Quakers participated in a CND protest last month
Quakers took part in a protest led by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Drone Wars at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire last month. The witness outside the main gates was to oppose plans to fly US Reaper and Global Hawk drones from the base.
The campaigners said the protest on 25 January was partly timed to coincide with the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president, who ‘once again repeated his plan to “Make America Great” articulating a “peace through strength” foreign policy’, they said.
‘The US plans to operate the huge RQ-4 Global Hawk drones from RAF Fairford as part of Nato’s Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept, which argues that key military aircraft should be able to operate from different bases in order to make it harder for adversaries to conduct pre-emptive strikes,’ said Drone Wars. The campaigners added that, according to documents submitted to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), ‘the “working assumption” is that, when the drones are at the base, they will fly two to three times per week. However, a trial flight of the giant drone into the base in August 2024 seriously disrupted UK passenger flights arriving into Birmingham airport’.
Sophie Bolt, CND general secretary, said that, for decades, the Global Hawk has been part of the US spying apparatus. ‘Whether it’s US nuclear weapons stationed at RAF Lakenheath or drone flights from RAF Fairford, these British bases are critical hubs for the US war-fighting machine. With Donald Trump back in power this is even more alarming.’
Instead of ‘hiding behind bogus arguments of national security’, the British government should be ‘held accountable’ for actions perpetrated from these bases, she added.
