A recent swarm of drones that intruded on an Air Force nuclear bomber base in Louisiana remains under investigation, the Air Force Global Strike Command said.
On March 9, Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, was put on temporary lockdown after “several unauthorized drone incursions that varied in duration and number of drones” disrupted operations, the command said Tuesday in a statement.
The action is believed to be criminal activity. But with the Iran conflict underway and threats of Tehran using low-cost Shahed strike drones, fears of an attack were heightened.
Barksdale is home to as many as 40 B-52s and also houses AGM-86B Air-Launched Cruise Missiles, armed with W80 nuclear warheads.
“Out of an abundance of caution in response to the initial event, Barksdale base leadership issued a Shelter in Place order for the morning of March 9 that was lifted that same morning,” the statement said, seeking to clarify what it said was unspecified misreporting. “Operations from Barksdale AFB continue unabated and the incident remains under an active federal investigation.”
The command said drone incursions are being countered as an “evolving threat,” with the Pentagon mobilizing a coordinated, multi-organization effort.
The strike command is playing a key role in a national effort to prevent drones from intruding over strategic facilities, including what the statement said are “small Unmanned Aircraft System threats to our ICBM fields, Weapons Storage Areas, Weapons Generation Facilities, and growing bomber mission.”
The command is also deploying additional counter-drone capabilities, with the details and locations remaining secret to protect operational security.
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen Dave Deptula said while there was no disruption at Barksdale due to the drone incursion, the activity is a security problem
“Unauthorized drone activity around sensitive military installations is still a serious security concern, for all the reasons one might imagine,” Gen. Deptula told NPR.
The drones may have been observing the base, and that could be turned into lethal attacks similar to the Ukrainian operation in launching strike drones from trucks inside Russia that destroyed several long-range bombers.
“So that, quite frankly, is the area of concern,” Gen. Deptula said.
