Sonic booms reported as RAF tests UK defences

Sonic booms were reported in Herefordshire overnight as the RAF announced a new two-week training exercise to tests its ongoing ability to defend the UK.

People described their homes and the ground shaking at about 03:00 GMT on Thursday after hearing four to five loud "muffled explosions".

One person told the BBC that first they thought air was trapped in their heating pipes before they heard helicopters overhead.

The RAF said on Wednesday that its "long-planned" Agile Warrior exercise would "rigorously" tests its defences had began across multiple bases.

It added that the two-week activity was "a critical step to ensuring the RAF remains ready to 'fight tonight' in defence of the nation".

One resident said: "I woke up at 3:20 as our house was shaking.

"I didn't realise the noise was sonic booms, so my first thought was that there could be air trapped in our heating pipes.

"We're used to military aircraft in Herefordshire - it's common to see and hear helicopters in the air.

"Herefordshire and the borders is a military area, we all have friends and family serving in the forces."

The exercise comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, as the US and Israel's war with Iran enters a sixth day.

The RAF has been flying defence operations to combat Iranian-backed drone attacks on bases in the wider region.

As part of the latest exercise in the UK, air and ground units across multiple RAF stations are training under "contested, degraded and operationally limited conditions", simulating the effects of cyber-attacks, long-range precision strike threats, and attempts to disrupt UK air operations.

Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth, highlighted the importance of strengthening homeland defence readiness.

He said: "Here at home, we are seeing regular incursions into our sovereign waters and air space by hostile agents that don't play by our rules.

"We see regular examples of espionage and sabotage that seek to affect our economy, undermine our democracy, and disrupt our very way of life.

"It's through this lens, protecting our homeland, that we prepare for Exercise Agile Warrior... what we do, and how we do it, really matters."

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