Break in at Brize Norton two jets damaged

You can make it a lot harder than it appeared to at Brize though.

If you get the chance (which I know most people won't) it's worth comparing the fencing/razor wire that surrounds the entirety of somewhere like Heathrow verses the "not a lot" around most RAF bases...Heathrow also has a significant visible police presence..

However Heathrow charges using airlines an arm and a leg in things like takeoff and landing fees, ramp charges to pay for security cover, amingst other things.....anything the RAF does has to be paid for by the treasury -> tax payer.

Exactly. The pp talking about terrorism got it right.

Palestine Action is to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation after its activists damaged two RAF planes at an air base.

The organisation will be added to the list of banned groups alongside Hamas, al-Qaeda and Islamic State after its activists broke into RAF Brize Norton and sprayed red paint into the engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft.

The move means that it will be illegal to be a member of the group, to invite support for it or to wear clothing or carry flags or placards backing it. Anyone caught doing so will face up to 14 years in jail.

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All airports and airbases are massive with miles of perimeter fences, unless you want spotlights and guard towers, people are going to get in , just think back to Greenham Common invasions in the 80s on National Television

@Alltheprettyseahorses
I agree. It blatantly states its purpose on their website ’to bring down Israel’
I wish they would fuck off to Israel and do it then. Total knob jockeys, the lot of them.

The state is terrified? How ridiculous.

It's an act of terrorism against the state.

There is no genocide in Gaza ffs, I don't want to derail the thread any further but the way people assert it when it literally is not happening is really irritating. It's the boy who cried wolf. It's Gaza losing the war it started, no one whines about the tens of thousands of missiles Palestine is bombarding Israel with, luckily Israel spent money on protection. There, I've said it like more people should, I'm not interested in quibbling any more.

Sounds good to me. Better than shooting straving people including children?

Who has it terrified or terrorised? If the planes are for Israel to bomb more children in Gaza, it’s preventing genocide, which is legal.

No. Starmer does plenty of inflaming situations, unless it's something that can be illogically described as 'left-wing'. It was an act of treasonous terrorism not vandalism and for the actual PM to downplay it like that with his record of attacking other groups is beyond belief.

To render a military aircraft not airworthy is not vandalism, it’s sabotage.

Direct quote from a serving RAF buddy of mine. Not at Brize.

I don't think it's fair to single out one Group Captain or one base for that matter...but this rough explanation will take a minute or two..

Once upon a time a very high percentage of jobs on an RAF station,.aircraft maintenance, cooking, bottle washing, medical centre tasks etc etc were done by enlisted personnel...on paper those individuals were available for use 24/7, so e.g. after a shift at work fixing aircraft or serving up food they could and were on a routine basis rostered for extra duties such as guarding the station gate or standing by to respond to security alerts...the Officers would also be rostered for an Duty overnight..

Come the back end of the 80s it became fashionable to contracterise (civilianise) lots of engineering and domestic functions so the number of enlisted personnel reduced....and since the civilians couldn't be rostered for stuff like guarding the enlisted bods who remained got screwed for more extra duties (did wonders for retention) and it became accepted that there simply weren't the personnel to maintain guarding levels...the increased number of overseas deployments also brought personnel
issues.

End result, there had to be fewer bases (Brize now does the job once done by three stations) and less personnel to do the proper military stuff such as guard the assets...the UK got away with it (not at war etc ).and the public didn't notice, until today.

Brize has it's vulnerabilities due to it's role and the aircraft based there are so large they mostly can't be locked away and sheltered overnight, but I suspect similar to what happened last night could have happened at quite a few RAF stations...so I.hope we don't simply see OC Brize getting all the blame for this.

A terrorist sympathising organisation acting like terrorists. Who’d have thought?

As can be seen on another frothy thread, "terrorism" is a bit of a movable feast here. Best to assume it means whatever the government of the day says it does, and may change without warning.

The definition of terrorist seems to have broadened somewhat. Are you quite sure that a spray paint job is the equivalent of a bomb? You might wish to have a rethink

Of course this could be a genius move on the part of the government to avoid being dragooned into helping the US (and/or Israel) without having to be honest.

"We'd love to help but our planes are in the workshop"

With the added advantage that if the world wants to believe the UK is so incompetent as to let this happen then .... well so much the better. Certainly fooled this thread 😀

Sorry, you think the military should shoot its own citizens? Really? Are you mad?

Unbelievable any one can just walk into a so called secure base and straight back out on scooters, RAF Brize Norton's Group Captain Louise Henton has some serious questions to answer.

She should be sacked if this is how she runs an air base.

Yes exactly and agree with @FigcherryI’d expect a statement from a PM to reflect that.

@EasternStandard

Not sure how much this damage is worth but not taking the potential for more damage seriously is a failure.

Absolutely agree...basically the protesters walked/scooted onto the UKs only military transport airfield, home to pretty much all of the UKs airlift and tanker assets, did a spray paint job plus a bit more, then scooted out again...

It's the what they or others could have done that is rightly causing outrage..and TBF people have been warning about the risks for years/decades...but supposedly no money for a fix.

No. Let's be direct.
These people are terrorists,I would say the same if they were pro Israeli.
Downplaying this will cause more trouble imo.

No-one, whatever their cause, should be illegally entering military bases in a democratic country.

Or an inside job...

It'll be more than a quick repaint, that's for sure..and then there are (unconfirmed) reports that a crowbar was used to inflict further damage...

It's interesting to see some posters seem quite relaxed about it being vandalism but it's a bit more serious than that..It's possible there would be options to prosecute those involved under one of the Aviation Security Acts,.which could lead to pretty draconian penalties, but somehow I can't see our beloved leader being keen on that...