Mystery drone ‘came within 250m’ of Navy’s £3bn ship as cops open criminal probe after fear Russia is targeting UK bases

A MYSTERY drone was spotted 'within 250metres' of a £3billion Royal Navy ship.

Cops person launched a probe aft the sighting adjacent the HMS Queen Elizabeth amid fears Russia could beryllium targeting UK bases.

A curate confirmed a transgression probe is nether mode into the flying of unmanned aerial vehicles implicit US subject bases successful England.

Lord Coaker warned those responsible for the caller amerciable drones flying implicit RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall successful Suffolk, and RAF Feltwell successful Norfolk could beryllium jailed for up to 14 years nether nationalist information laws.

The Labour frontbencher confirmed the the Ministry of Defence Police is starring the probe.

They are collaborating with the United States Air Force (USAF), and the civilian authorities.

A USAF spokesperson said the drones had not been identified arsenic hostile.

But, they were seen amid heightened tensions with Russia implicit its penetration of Ukraine, during which determination has been dense drone warfare.

The enigma drone besides sparked fears wrong Parliament implicit the information of Britain’s captious infrastructure, including powerfulness stations.

The contented was raised astatine Westminster by Labour adjacent Viscount Stansgate, who besides highlighted an unidentified drone had been detected shadowing HMS Queen Elizabeth arsenic it entered the larboard of Hamburg past Friday.

Lord Stansgate said: “It whitethorn beryllium that these flights are not a coincidence.

“Does the curate hold that these matters are of perchance superior interest fixed that drones are present ubiquitous and we cognize what their relation is successful warfare?

"The House volition retrieve that Gatwick Airport was wholly closed a fewer years agone by unidentified drones.”

Referring to the craft carrier, Lord Coaker said: “A civilian drone was observed successful the vicinity connected November 22, it got nary person than 250 metres from HMS Queen Elizabeth.”

He added: “Can I reassure him that we instrumentality each of this earnestly and we enactment intimately to guarantee the information of each of our sites.”

On the amerciable fly-bys implicit American airbases, the curate told peers: “The Ministry of Defence is alert of these reports and moving intimately with the US visiting forces, Home Office constabulary forces and different partners to respond to caller events.

“We volition enactment with civilian authorities to prosecute those responsible.

“We instrumentality immoderate information contented earnestly and support robust measures astatine Ministry of Defence sites. This includes counter-drone capabilities.

“This remains a unrecorded transgression investigation.”

Former subject main Lord Stirrup, who led the equipped forces betwixt 2006 and 2010, added: “This is not conscionable a question of defence sites but of overmuch wider nationalist resilience.

"We person seen the extended usage of drones successful Ukraine against non-military targets.

“Can the curate reassure the House that the Government volition look astatine this occupation successful that overmuch wider context, due to the fact that rather intelligibly we can’t equine aerial defence systems astir each azygous portion of our captious nationalist infrastructure.

“We person to guarantee we person immoderate different method of protecting them against this caller threat.”

In reply, Lord Coaker said determination were different ways of protecting sites.

The curate told Parliament: “It is amerciable for drones to beryllium flown oregon wrong the vicinity of these subject sites and radical should beryllium alert of that.”

He added: “All agencies of the authorities and each parts of the authorities volition enactment to guarantee that we place and bash what we tin with those who are conducting these acts.”

It comes just days aft a fleet of "unmanned aerial devices" were identified flying adjacent RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, successful Suffolk, and RAF Feltwell, successful Norfolk, a US Air Force spokesperson confirmed. .

The Sun understands the RAF deployed their ORCUS antagonistic drone weapons which tin jam the awesome to hostile drones and fto affable forces instrumentality implicit controls

The RAF says the ORCUS strategy – which tin acceptable successful the backmost of a Chinook heliopter – tin "detect, track, place and, if necessary, decision hostile drones".

All airbases are continuing to beryllium monitored aft the drones were seen yesterday.

The archetypal batch of incidents occurred betwixt November 20 and 22.

The US Air Force, which has combatant jets connected standby astatine the locations, said astatine the clip it was unclear whether the drones were considered hostile.

A spokesperson for US Air Forces, successful Europe, past week said: "We tin corroborate that tiny unmanned aerial systems (UASs) were spotted successful the vicinity of and implicit RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall, and RAF Feltwell betwixt November 20 and 22.

"The fig of UASs fluctuated and they ranged successful size [and] configuration.

"The UASs were actively monitored and installation leaders determined that nary of the incursions impacted basal residents oregon captious infrastructure"

The spokesperson added: "To support operational security, we bash not sermon our circumstantial unit extortion measures but clasp the close to support the installation."

Just days earlier, a antithetic enigma drone flew over HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy's flagship craft carrier, connected a sojourn to Hamburg.

The drone sightings connected Wednesday came hours aft Ukraine fired US ATAMCS missiles astatine an ammunition dump in Russia's Bryansk.