RAF Molesworth is a Royal Air Force station near the village of Molesworth in Cambridgeshire that is owned by the UK Ministry of Defence and operated by the United States Air Force. It is a non-flying base: its runway was closed and demolished in 1973, and no aircraft are based there. Instead, Molesworth is one of the most important US and NATO intelligence sites in Europe, home to the American military intelligence analysis centre for Europe and to the NATO Intelligence Fusion Centre.

The base is in the news again in November 2026. On Sunday 8 November, the United States abruptly moved its B-52 and B-1 bombers out of RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire after suspicious vehicles were seen near that base. A month earlier, on Thursday 8 October, two Latvian men aged 32 and 36 were arrested inside RAF Molesworth after the base’s perimeter fence was damaged. Counter-terrorism police have said that, so far, nothing suggests the Molesworth incident is linked to the events at RAF Fairford.

Where is RAF Molesworth and who runs it?

RAF Molesworth sits about 100 kilometres north of London, near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, at 52 degrees 22 minutes north and 0 degrees 24 minutes west. The site covers 272 hectares, about 670 acres. It is owned by the Ministry of Defence, operated by the US Air Force, and controlled by US Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa. The garrison unit is the 423rd Air Base Group, which is headquartered at nearby RAF Alconbury under the 501st Combat Support Wing.

That arrangement, a British-owned station run day to day by American forces, is normal for the US Visiting Forces in the UK. RAF Alconbury, a few miles away, is run on the same basis, and the two stations, along with the now-closed RAF Upwood, were long known as the Tri-Base Area because of how closely they worked together. Molesworth is one of only two RAF stations in Cambridgeshire currently used by the United States Air Forces in Europe.

What actually happens at RAF Molesworth?

Molesworth is home to three major intelligence organisations. The largest is the Joint Intelligence Operations Center Europe Analytic Center, known as the JAC, which is run for United States European Command and processes and analyses military information from a wide range of sources for the benefit of the United States and NATO. The second is the Molesworth detachment of United States Africa Command’s intelligence directorate, known as J2-M. The third is the NATO Intelligence Fusion Centre, which produces operational and strategic intelligence for NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, with the United States as framework nation and the United Kingdom as host nation.

In plain terms, the base is where intelligence about Europe and Africa is collected, checked and turned into assessments that commanders can act on. Because that work is classified, very little of it is ever described in public. What is public is the scale: hundreds of American, British and allied military personnel and civilians work at the site, and a new Joint Intelligence Analysis Complex is being built to bring together intelligence functions that are currently spread across some twenty separate buildings.

A short history of RAF Molesworth

The site’s military history goes back to the First World War, when the Royal Flying Corps selected land near the village of Old Weston for an airfield. The first flying unit, 75 Squadron, flew reconnaissance aircraft from there for training until September 1917. The airfield as it is known today was built between 1940 and 1941, at the start of the Second World War.

The first flying unit of the new station was Royal Australian Air Force 460 Squadron, which formed at Molesworth on 15 November 1941 flying Vickers Wellington bombers. Within weeks the station had passed to the United States Army Air Forces, which gave it the designation Station 107. On 4 July 1942, crews from Molesworth flew the first USAAF Eighth Air Force mission over German-occupied Europe, a low-level attack on Luftwaffe airfields in the Netherlands.

From September 1942, Molesworth was home to the 303rd Bombardment Group, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress unit nicknamed the Hell’s Angels, which flew from the station until June 1945. The group became one of the most famous units of the Eighth Air Force, taking part in the first penetration of Germany by heavy bombers and in the bombing campaign against German industry, and it received a Distinguished Unit Citation for an attack on an aircraft assembly plant at Oschersleben on 11 January 1944. A monument to the 303rd stands inside the main entrance to the base and is accessible to the public.

After the war, Molesworth reverted to RAF control and was put under care and maintenance, before returning to American control in the early 1950s. Flying stopped in the early 1970s, and the station effectively closed for a decade before re-emerging in the 1980s as the home of ground-launched cruise missiles. The missiles made the station a focus for anti-nuclear protests through the 1980s, and they were removed in 1988 following the treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union.

In January 2015, the Ministry of Defence announced that American activities at Molesworth and Alconbury would be consolidated at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire, and the base was expected to close. That decision was reversed in February 2019, when the Ministry announced that Molesworth would be retained in its present role. The base is now being rebuilt rather than closed.

The new intelligence complex

In July 2023, the Defence Infrastructure Organisation awarded a 219 million pound contract to Skanska and Black & Veatch to redevelop RAF Molesworth. The project delivers a new two-storey military facility, supporting infrastructure and a warehouse for the US Air Force European Infrastructure Consolidation programme. Construction of the Joint Intelligence Analysis Complex broke ground on 12 April 2024, and the whole project is expected to be completed by the summer of 2028.

The new complex is designed to replace around twenty dispersed buildings with a single modern campus, bringing together the intelligence analysis work that is currently scattered across the site. It is the clearest sign of the base’s long-term future: after a decade in which closure was planned and then cancelled, Molesworth is being rebuilt as a permanent intelligence hub.

Why RAF Molesworth is in the news in November 2026

The immediate reason is security at Britain’s American airbases. On 27 September 2026, a major incident was declared at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, which hosts United States warplanes. Seven people have since been arrested in connection with that incident, including a 22-year-old British national arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. Two men were charged under the National Security Act on 27 October. On Sunday 8 November, the United States moved its B-52 and B-1 bombers out of Fairford after three suspicious vehicles were seen near the base, and President Donald Trump has said the B-1 bombers were withdrawn because of some threats.

Separately, on Thursday 8 October 2026, two Latvian men aged 32 and 36 were arrested inside RAF Molesworth after security officers found damage to the base’s perimeter fence. The men were later released on bail. Counter-terrorism police said at the time that nothing so far suggested the incident was linked to the events surrounding RAF Fairford. The two bases are different in kind: Fairford is a flying station that hosts bombers, while Molesworth is a non-flying intelligence site. What connects them in the news is the heightened concern about security at British bases used by the United States, and the fact that both incidents are being investigated by counter-terrorism police.

Frequently asked questions

Is RAF Molesworth an American base or a British base? Both. It is a Royal Air Force station owned by the UK Ministry of Defence, and it is operated by the United States Air Force as part of the US Visiting Forces in the UK.

Are there planes at RAF Molesworth? No. The runway was closed and demolished in 1973, and no aircraft are based there. It is an intelligence and analysis site, not an airfield.

What is the NATO Intelligence Fusion Centre? It is the NATO intelligence hub based at Molesworth. It produces operational and strategic intelligence for the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, with the United States as framework nation and the United Kingdom as host.

Can the public visit RAF Molesworth? The base itself is a secure military site and is not open to the public. The monument to the 303rd Bombardment Group stands inside the main entrance and is accessible to the public.

Is RAF Molesworth closing? No. A 2015 plan to close the base and consolidate its work at RAF Croughton was reversed in 2019, and a 219 million pound redevelopment, including a new Joint Intelligence Analysis Complex due in 2028, is now under way.

Sources: Wikipedia, RAF Molesworth; Al Jazeera, Two Latvian men arrested inside UK military base after breach; The Trent Online, Two Latvians arrested at UK base used by US military; PBC Today, Skanska secure 219 million pound contract at RAF Molesworth.