UK Royal Air Force (RAF) bases have been broken into on eight separate occasions so far in 2025, an increase from each of the past three years, with the country’s numerous airbases apparently the most vulnerable to trespass.
According to a late-November 2025, UK parliamentary written response to a query regarding trespass on UK miliary sites since 2022, Al Carns, Minister of State for the Armed Forces, revealed RAF airbases had recorded 22 instances of trespass or an intruder on the site with some evidence of unauthorised forced entry.
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This compares to 13 instances for British Army bases in the same period, and just one for Royal Navy sites. Put another way, the total number of illegal incursions into RAF bases over the past four years is more than 33% greater the other two services combined.
Earlier this year, activists from the now proscribed group Palestine Action broke into RAF Brize Norton, a key RAF logistics and transportation hub, causing damage to A330 Voyager transport and air-to-air refuelling aircraft.
“The safety and security of the defence estate continues to be a priority key for defence, and we are taking decisive action to strengthen security across our estate, reversing years of under-investment and focusing our resources on our highest priority sites,” Carns said.
The current UK Labour government came to power in mid-2024, which recorded the second highest number of illegal trespasses on RAF sites during the recording period.
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By contrast, 2024 the number of incursions onto British Army bases drop to zero from five in each of the preceding two years.
It is possible that geography is a factor in determining the ease of which incursions on UK military sites can take place, with Royal Navy bases the most secure.
Origin of intruders remains classified
A number of UK military sites are being used to house illegal migrants and asylum seekers, with previously released data showing that Napier and Weatherfield barracks are currently used for such purposes, with additional plans to utilize Crowborough and Cameron barracks as well.
The timeline for break-ins also aligns with Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, with the UK one of the leading supporters of Kyiv’s defence of its territory. As a result, Russia has been exploring, indeed performing, deniable grey-zone operations on UK infrastructure.
When contacted by Airforce Technology, the UK Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the figures and whether there was any correlation between illegal migrants or non-state actors arrested on UK military sites.
The UK Home Office similarly declined to comment regarding the origin of any intruders arrested on UK military sites.
It was not disclosed at which sites forced entry was detected, nor whether there had been multiple instances at individual locations.
