MI5 Chief Warns: Terrorists Plotting AI Drone Attacks – Iran Targets British Bases

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Three Vans, One Base – And the MI5 Chief's Words

It is a concrete moment that sharpens the warning from Britain's domestic intelligence service MI5: On September 27, in the early morning hours, police discovered three suspicious vans at the RAF Fairford airbase. The anti-terror police have since been investigating whether Iran is behind the suspected attack plan – Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard having orchestrated the plan "beyond reasonable doubt." A good two weeks later, MI5 Chief Sir Ken McCallum followed up in his annual speech at the London headquarters Thames House – and the finding is clear: "Fairford is not an isolated case in Great Britain."

AI Drones as Terrorists' New Weapon

McCallum struck two chords simultaneously in his speech. The first: terrorists using AI to refine their methods. He said verbatim that his service had "tracked down terrorists who wanted to use AI to improve their reconnaissance and attack methods, with AI-powered drones adding a new dimension." The technology gives the "contest between attackers and defenders" a "massive boost." Specifically, he fears that actors with "relatively low technical know-how" will become significantly more capable in the AI age – and that terrorists and hostile states could in future even deploy "biological or radiological weapons." To this threat, he said, he attaches "the greatest weight." In response, he announced a new center at MI5 for assessing AI threats, which will draw on the expertise of the other British services.

Iran in the Crosshairs: 50 Arrests in Twelve Months

The second strand concerns Iran directly. McCallum spoke of a "significant change" in Iranian ambitions – Tehran is targeting British "military sites." Britain and 28 other countries have already accused the Islamic Republic of "planning lethal attacks, arson, sabotage, cyberattacks, and other hybrid activities." The figure the intelligence chief cited is concrete: MI5 operations linked to Iran have led to more than 50 arrests in Britain over the past twelve months. McCallum did not want to comment further on the ongoing Fairford case, but hinted that Iran had also hatched schemes against other British military bases.

More Resources Than During the Cold War

The speech on the banks of the Thames sketched a threat picture that extends far beyond Iran. McCallum labeled Russia "aggressor number one" – with hybrid warfare ranging from sabotage to cyberattacks to a foiled murder plot in the USA. "It may surprise you that MI5 in 2026 is deploying more resources to counter state threats than during the Cold War," he said. The number of cases linked to hostile states has quadrupled over the past decade. Britain has also experienced "a devastating cyberattack on a power generator" – an incident that The Telegraph revealed in August.

Right-Wing Terrorism Drives the Alert Level Up

The authorities had recently raised the terror alert level to "severe" – meaning an attack is considered highly likely. This change is attributable "to a considerable extent" to right-wing extremism, which is linked to resentments against immigrants and Muslims. McCallum revealed that MI5 officers had thwarted a potentially lethal attack abroad just a few months ago – the investigation targeted a 13-year-old who had been radicalized in Britain through right-wing terrorism.

What the Warning Means for You

McCallum stressed he did not want to sound alarmist. At the same time, he classified AI as a historic watershed: "Human history has given us no experience whatsoever in dealing with an actor that is more intelligent than us." His appeal to the British public: more "societal resilience," because "the cohesion and confidence of our communities have become a frontline of national security." For Western Europe, this means: the next stage of counterterrorism will be technological – and it is beginning before the first AI-powered attack has even taken place.

Read the full report at the Frankfurter Rundschau.