一起疑似由伊朗策划的袭击美国B-1轰炸机计划，暴露了英国防御体系的一个致命弱点：其空军基地根本无法有效防范无人机攻击。在美国官员称掌握到伊朗企图利用无人机及其他装置袭击这些轰炸机的情报后，12架B-1轰炸机被紧急撤离费尔福德空军基地。上个月，五名男子因涉嫌在费尔福德附近的树林中策划恐怖袭击而被捕，这一消息进一步引发了人们的担忧。
A suspected Iranian plot to attack prized U.S. B-1 bombers housed at Britain’s RAF Fairford exposed an Achilles’ heel in U.K. defenses: its air bases are far from drone-proof.A dozen B-1 bombers were abruptly flown out of Fairford after U.S. officials said they had intelligence that Iran was plotting to target them with drones and other devices. Fears spiked after five men were arrested in the woods next to Fairford last month on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack.“We had an idea that there might be a threat, so why would I leave them there?”President Trump told reporters earlier this week, after the aircraft had left Fairford.
本周早些时候，这些轰炸机已撤离费尔福德，特朗普总统对记者说道：“我们预感到可能存在威胁，因此自然不会让它们留在那里。”目前尚不清楚伊朗是否具备实施此类袭击的能力，但这一事件凸显出技术进步与战争形态的变化正如何改变传统的作战策略。由于英国现行法律限制军队在公共区域击落无人机，加之无人机技术不断升级，那些原本被认为被铁丝网严密保护、远离战区的飞机如今却极易遭到突袭。
Whether Iran had the ability to pull off such an attack isn’t clear, but the debacle shows how advances in technology and shifting shape of war are changing age-old tactics. A combination of archaic British laws that prevent the military from downing drones in public spaces and drone upgrades mean that aircraft that were once considered safely stored behind barbed-wire fences, thousands of miles from the conflict zone, are now vulnerable to opportunistic attack.
英国并非唯一面临此类风险的国家。全球范围内，军事基地正逐渐成为易被攻击的薄弱环节。伊朗对巴林美军海军基地的袭击，以及针对该地区至少20个美国军事及外交设施的无人机与导弹攻击，促使五角大楼重新评估其在中东的军事部署。位于卡塔尔的美国中东空中作战指挥中心也几乎被彻底摧毁。此外，美国设在德国、意大利和西班牙的军事基地同样存在安全隐患，这令五角大楼希望将欧洲作为向其他地区实施军事干预的“力量投射平台”的计划面临威胁。对无人机入侵的担忧如今也已蔓延至美国本土。
The U.K. isn’t alone. Across the globe, military bases are being targeted as a soft underbelly. The Pentagon is re-evaluating its entire footprint in the Middle East after Iranian attacks against America’s naval base in Bahrain—along with drone and missile hits to at least 20 U.S. sites across the region, including military and diplomatic facilities. The U.S.’s main air-war command center for the Middle East, located in Qatar, was largely destroyed. The U.S. also uses bases in Germany, Italy and Spain that could be vulnerable, risking the Pentagon’s hope of using Europe as a “power projection” platform for military interventions elsewhere. Fears of drone incursions also extend to the U.S. homeland.
今年3月，小型无人机飞越路易斯安那州的巴克斯代尔空军基地。该基地驻扎着大量B-52轰炸机，同时也是负责指挥美国轰炸机部队及洲际弹道导弹的全球打击司令部所在地。由于这些不明身份的无人机入侵，基地一度发布了就地避难指令，不过并未发生任何袭击事件。
In March, small drones flew over Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, home to many B-52 bombers as well as the Global Strike Command, which oversees America’s bomber fleet and its intercontinental-ballistic missiles. A brief shelter in place order was given because of the mysterious incursions, but no attacks were carried out.
鉴于国内外相关风险日益凸显，美国空军近日宣布将投入资金研发新型反无人机系统，并培训专门的操作人员。美国空军参谋长肯尼斯·威尔斯巴赫将军本月早些时候指出，此类防御措施如今已成为“空天力量的一项核心职能”。
Recognizing the growing risks at home and abroad, the U.S. Air Force recently said it was investing in new counterdrone systems and would train specialists to operate them. Such defensive efforts are now “a core function of air and space power,” U.S. Air Force chief of staff Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach said earlier this month.
英国则面临着一些特殊难题。根据英国法律，只有警察和狱警才有权在公共区域干扰或击落无人机。因此，在无人机尚未进入军事基地范围内时，军方人员无权采取任何行动。与此同时，如今的无人机还能借助手机网络或光纤电缆来规避警方常用的无线电频率干扰手段。
专门监测全球无人机威胁的DroneSec公司首席执行官迈克·蒙尼克表示：“俄罗斯人，很可能还有伊朗人，已经察觉到了这一明显的防御漏洞。”
Britain has some unique challenges. U.K. law allows only police and prison officers to jam or bring down a drone in a public space. So until a drone has entered the confines of a military base, military personnel alone can’t halt it. Meanwhile, drones can now be built to use cellphone networks or fiber optic cables to evade the traditional jamming of radio frequencies used by police.“The Russians, and highly likely the Iranians, have identified that as a potent gap,” says Mike Monnik, the chief executive of DroneSec, a company that tracks global drone threats.
停驻在费尔福德皇家空军基地的那些机身长度达146英尺的B-1轰炸机，自然成了极具吸引力的攻击目标。目前美国仅拥有约45架此类轰炸机，每架造价高达数亿美元。直到最近，仍有12架B-1轰炸机露天停放在伦敦西北部的该空军基地内。与喷气式战斗机不同，这些轰炸机体积庞大，难以被妥善安置在机库或加固型掩体内。
The 146-feet long B-1 bombers parked at RAF Fairford made a uniquely attractive target. The U.S. only has about 45 of them. The bombers cost several hundred million dollars each and until recently, a dozen were sitting in the open at the air base, just northwest of London. Unlike jet fighters, they are too big to be easily stored in a hangar or hardened shelter.
英国政府坚称本国军事基地安全无虞，目前正着手修订相关法律，以便负责基地安保的军方人员能够远程追踪、干扰甚至击落无人机。
The U.K. government says its bases are safe and it is currently in the process of changing the law so that military personnel guarding bases can track, jam and shoot down drones from afar.
英国政府还宣布将投入约4.7亿英镑，即大约6.2亿美元，用于加强军事基地的安保措施。费尔福德基地事件堪称非对称战争的典型案例——交战双方军事实力悬殊。五名头戴面罩的男子试图袭击该基地，他们带着三辆面包车及数桶燃料在基地附近的树林中被捕。此次看似笨拙的袭击行动最终导致美国将轰炸机部署位置向伊朗前线后撤数千英里。
The U.K. government has also announced some £470 million, or about $620 million, of investment in extra security for military bases. Fairford has become the latest example of asymmetric warfare, where two sides square off with mismatched military power. A seemingly ham-handed attempt by five balaclava-wearing men—arrested in the woods near the base with three vans and some barrels of fuel—resulted in the U.S. pulling its bombers several thousand miles further back from the front line in Iran.
如果此次事件确系伊朗策划，对德黑兰而言不失为一次低成本的战略胜利。对英国而言，这同样是一次声誉上的打击：自二战以来，美国一直从费尔福德基地出动重型轰炸机执行任务。目前这五名被捕男子尚未被起诉，正处于保释状态；不过英国首相安迪·伯纳姆表示，有迹象显示伊朗与此事有关。
That could be seen as an inexpensive win for Tehran if it was behind the incident. It is also a blow for the U.K.’s reputation: The U.S. has been launching heavy bombers from Fairford since World War II. The five arrested men haven’t been charged with a crime and are on bail, but U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said there are indications Iran was involved.“When we used to defend airfields, either you got bombed from a great distance or it was an insurgency coming through the wire,” says Greg Bagwell, president of the U.K. Air & Space Power Association.
“过去我们防御机场时，要么面临远距离轰炸，要么遭遇武装分子突破防线，”英国空天力量协会会长格雷格·巴格韦尔说道，“如今我们面临的是介于两者之间的新型威胁。”乌克兰方面宣称，其使用单价仅约2000美元的无人机，成功摧毁了俄罗斯四个空军基地内的41架战机，这些战机的总价值高达70亿美元。此次代号为“蜘蛛网”的行动中，乌克兰将无人机偷运至俄罗斯境内，随后远程操控其袭击位于俄境内的空军基地。这一行动不仅令俄罗斯蒙受军事耻辱，也为乌克兰赢得了巨大的舆论优势。
“Now we have something in between the two.”Ukraine claimed it damaged 41 Russian warplanes—valued at $7 billion—at four bases using drones that cost about $2,000 each. That operation, called “Spiderweb,” saw Ukraine smuggle drones into Russia and launch them remotely at air bases deep in Russia territory. The resulting damage was both a military humiliation for Russia and a huge PR coup for Ukraine.
鉴于伊朗在英国的恐怖活动记录多为雇佣当地罪犯袭击异见人士或纵火焚烧犹太人目标，安全官员们对伊朗能否实施类似“蜘蛛网”这样的复杂计划持怀疑态度。
Security officials are skeptical that Iran could execute a plan akin to “Spiderweb,” given its terror track record in the U.K. consists mostly of hiring local criminals to attack dissidents or set fire to Jewish targets.
不过，本月早些时候，英国国防部大臣卢克·波拉德在一个会议小组上指出，目前用于保护英国军事基地免受无人机威胁的投入仍显不足。据英国国防部统计，2025年英国境内军事设施附近共发生250多起无人机事件，这一数字较2024年翻了一番。2024年，英国境内多个美军基地附近也曾出现来历不明的无人机，这些基地包括拉肯希思空军基地、米尔登霍尔空军基地以及费尔福德空军基地。
However earlier this month, Luke Pollard, a minister in the defense department, told a conference panel that not enough investment had gone into protecting British military bases from drones. There were more than 250 drone incidents near U.K military sites in 2025, double the number in 2024, according to the Ministry of Defense. In 2024, unexplained drones were spotted flying in the U.K. near bases used by the U.S. military at RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Fairford.
当时这些无人机往往成群出现，数量最多可达20架，部分甚至低空飞越跑道入口区域。拉肯希思空军基地驻扎着美国空军的第四代及第五代战斗机；米尔登霍尔空军基地则是美国空军第100空中加油联队的驻地。英国军方将这些现象视为可疑情况，随即派遣配备反无人机设备的小组前往各基地，其中包括能够远程控制敌方无人机的“奥库斯”反无人机系统。国际战略研究所的一份报告推断，这些无人机很可能是由俄罗斯从北海的舰船上发射的。
The drones flew in groups of up to 20 and some flew low over runway approaches. RAF Lakenheath houses the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-generation and fifth-generation jet fighters. RAF Mildenhall is the base for the U.S. Air Force’s 100th Air Refueling Wing. The sightings were treated as suspicious by the U.K. military, which deployed teams with drone-jamming equipment to the bases, including the Orcus antidrone system, which can remotely take control of an enemy drone. A report by International Institute for Strategic Studies concluded the drones were likely flown from ships in the north sea by Russia.
此前，欧洲各国对无人机安全问题的担忧主要集中在俄罗斯可能利用无人机对军事基地实施侦察或干扰飞行路线。然而今年夏季局势进一步升级：德国指控俄罗斯策划了向莱比锡机场发射装有爆炸物的无人机的阴谋。德国调查人员最终发现了三架用于此次未遂袭击的特制无人机——两架被遗弃在田野中，另一架则出现在机场周边区域，靠近乌克兰拥有的货运飞机。
Previous concerns over drone safety in Europe largely focused on suspected Russian missions to fly drones over military bases, either to spy on them or disrupt flight paths. However tension escalated this summer after Germany accused Russia of being behind a plot to send explosive drones to an airport in Leipzig. German investigators found three custom-made drones involved in the failed attack: Two in a field and one in the perimeter of the airport near Ukrainian-owned cargo planes.
调查人员指出，这些无人机完全有可能通过远程方式操控。目前，各国情报部门的主要任务仍是设法在袭击发生前及时拦截攻击者。蒙尼克认为，英国可以引进更先进的反无人机技术，但实际上一些低成本且更为有效的解决方案同样可行，比如建造带有可封闭式大门的机库来存放飞机。
Investigators said the drones could have been launched remotely. At the moment, most of the weight is on intelligence services intercepting an attacker before they spring into action. The U.K. could deploy better drone jamming technology, says Monnik, but ultimately more effective low-tech solutions are also available. Aircraft could be stored in hangers with doors that shut.
对于大型轰炸机而言，由于机内难以容纳大量弹药，它们或许需要部署在不易被触及的地点。比如，格陵兰岛就是一个可选之地。
For big bombers, where inside storage might not be feasible, they could be based somewhere harder to get to. Greenland, for instance, could be an option.
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Write to Max Colchester at Max. Colchester@wsj.com