Pembrokeshire Herald – Ministers face questions over US military use of Cardiff Airport during Iran war
Public records confirm US Air Force transport aircraft visited the Welsh Government-owned airport after hostilities began, but authorities have not revealed whether any movements were connected with military operations against Iran
US MILITARY aircraft were using Cardiff Airport after the outbreak of the war with Iran, publicly available aviation records show, as pressure mounts on the UK and Welsh governments to explain exactly what role the publicly owned airport has been playing. Military
Plaid Cymru MS Kiera Marshall has now written to Defence Secretary Wes Streeting demanding answers over whether US Air Force aircraft involved in military operations against Iran have passed through Cardiff.
Her intervention follows weeks of questions over military use of the airport, which is wholly owned by the Welsh Government through its holding company.
But an examination by The Herald of publicly available aviation material confirms something significant: US Air Force aircraft were indeed being handled at Cardiff during the period in which the United States was at war with Iran.
What remains unanswered is what those aircraft were doing.
There is currently no public evidence demonstrating that any aircraft passing through Cardiff carried weapons, personnel or equipment destined for operations against Iran, or that any particular Cardiff movement formed part of the US war effort.
However, the confirmed presence of American military aircraft during the conflict has intensified demands for the release of flight records, contracts and authorisation arrangements.
Public records confirm US Air Force transport aircraft visited the Welsh Government-owned airport after hostilities began, but authorities have not revealed whether any movements were connected with military operations against Iran
US MILITARY aircraft were using Cardiff Airport after the outbreak of the war with Iran, publicly available aviation records show, as pressure mounts on the UK and Welsh governments to explain exactly what role the publicly owned airport has been playing. Military
Plaid Cymru MS Kiera Marshall has now written to Defence Secretary Wes Streeting demanding answers over whether US Air Force aircraft involved in military operations against Iran have passed through Cardiff.
Her intervention follows weeks of questions over military use of the airport, which is wholly owned by the Welsh Government through its holding company.
But an examination by The Herald of publicly available aviation material confirms something significant: US Air Force aircraft were indeed being handled at Cardiff during the period in which the United States was at war with Iran.
What remains unanswered is what those aircraft were doing.
There is currently no public evidence demonstrating that any aircraft passing through Cardiff carried weapons, personnel or equipment destined for operations against Iran, or that any particular Cardiff movement formed part of the US war effort.
However, the confirmed presence of American military aircraft during the conflict has intensified demands for the release of flight records, contracts and authorisation arrangements. Military
USAF aircraft confirmed at Cardiff
On April 2, Global Trek Aviation’s Cardiff operation published photographs of two recent Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules aircraft which it identified as being operated by the US Air Force.
The company indicated that its Cardiff team had supported the aircraft during the previous week.
Public records confirm US Air Force transport aircraft visited the Welsh Government-owned airport after hostilities began, but authorities have not revealed whether any movements were connected with military operations against Iran
US MILITARY aircraft were using Cardiff Airport after the outbreak of the war with Iran, publicly available aviation records show, as pressure mounts on the UK and Welsh governments to explain exactly what role the publicly owned airport has been playing. Military
Plaid Cymru MS Kiera Marshall has now written to Defence Secretary Wes Streeting demanding answers over whether US Air Force aircraft involved in military operations against Iran have passed through Cardiff.
Her intervention follows weeks of questions over military use of the airport, which is wholly owned by the Welsh Government through its holding company.
But an examination by The Herald of publicly available aviation material confirms something significant: US Air Force aircraft were indeed being handled at Cardiff during the period in which the United States was at war with Iran.
What remains unanswered is what those aircraft were doing.
There is currently no public evidence demonstrating that any aircraft passing through Cardiff carried weapons, personnel or equipment destined for operations against Iran, or that any particular Cardiff movement formed part of the US war effort.
However, the confirmed presence of American military aircraft during the conflict has intensified demands for the release of flight records, contracts and authorisation arrangements. Military
USAF aircraft confirmed at Cardiff
On April 2, Global Trek Aviation’s Cardiff operation published photographs of two recent Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules aircraft which it identified as being operated by the US Air Force. Autos& Vehicles
The company indicated that its Cardiff team had supported the aircraft during the previous week.
That would place the movements in late March, several weeks after the United States and Israel began their new war against Iran on February 28.
The C-130 Hercules is a military transport aircraft capable of carrying personnel, equipment and cargo. Its presence at an airport does not in itself reveal the nature of a mission.
Further US military movements through Cardiff are documented later in the conflict.
Public records confirm US Air Force transport aircraft visited the Welsh Government-owned airport after hostilities began, but authorities have not revealed whether any movements were connected with military operations against Iran
US MILITARY aircraft were using Cardiff Airport after the outbreak of the war with Iran, publicly available aviation records show, as pressure mounts on the UK and Welsh governments to explain exactly what role the publicly owned airport has been playing. Military
Plaid Cymru MS Kiera Marshall has now written to Defence Secretary Wes Streeting demanding answers over whether US Air Force aircraft involved in military operations against Iran have passed through Cardiff.
Her intervention follows weeks of questions over military use of the airport, which is wholly owned by the Welsh Government through its holding company.
But an examination by The Herald of publicly available aviation material confirms something significant: US Air Force aircraft were indeed being handled at Cardiff during the period in which the United States was at war with Iran.
What remains unanswered is what those aircraft were doing.
There is currently no public evidence demonstrating that any aircraft passing through Cardiff carried weapons, personnel or equipment destined for operations against Iran, or that any particular Cardiff movement formed part of the US war effort.
However, the confirmed presence of American military aircraft during the conflict has intensified demands for the release of flight records, contracts and authorisation arrangements. Military
USAF aircraft confirmed at Cardiff
On April 2, Global Trek Aviation’s Cardiff operation published photographs of two recent Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules aircraft which it identified as being operated by the US Air Force. Autos& Vehicles
The company indicated that its Cardiff team had supported the aircraft during the previous week.
That would place the movements in late March, several weeks after the United States and Israel began their new war against Iran on February 28.
The C-130 Hercules is a military transport aircraft capable of carrying personnel, equipment and cargo. Its presence at an airport does not in itself reveal the nature of a mission.
Further US military movements through Cardiff are documented later in the conflict.
On Sunday, June 7, the South Wales Aviation Group, which maintains detailed enthusiast records of aircraft movements at Cardiff and St Athan, recorded two US Air Force C-130Hs arriving at Cardiff from St John’s in Newfoundland, Canada.
They were identified as aircraft 91-1232 and 90-1796, associated with the Missouri Air National Guard.
The first arrived at 3.19am and the second at 3.47am.
Aircraft 91-1232 subsequently departed Cardiff that evening for Ramstein in Germany, one of the principal US military aviation and logistics hubs in Europe.
Dated photographs taken at Cardiff that day also show the American aircraft on the ground.
Three days later, aircraft 90-1796 attracted national attention after declaring an in-flight emergency and returning to Cardiff while attempting to cross the Atlantic.
Taken together, the records leave little doubt that Cardiff was being used by US military transport aircraft during the Iran conflict.
What they do not reveal is their purpose.
That distinction is now at the heart of the political row.
Plaid MS demands answers from Defence Secretary
Ms Marshall, who represents Caerdydd Penarth and entered the Senedd following May’s election, has written directly to newly appointed Defence Secretary Wes Streeting.
She is asking the Ministry of Defence to establish whether US Air Force aircraft connected to operations in Iran have passed through Cardiff.
She also wants ministers to disclose how many US military aircraft have used the airport between 2024 and 2026.
Among the other questions are whether a standing agreement exists allowing American military aircraft to use Cardiff, whether permission is required for individual flights, whether other foreign armed forces have similar access and what contractual or other arrangements govern US military use of the airport.
Crucially, she has also asked whether Welsh Ministers themselves have any authority to withdraw permission.
Ms Marshall said the people of Wales were entitled to know whether a publicly owned Welsh airport had played any part in the conflict.
Her intervention is politically significant because Plaid Cymru now leads the Welsh Government.
It means a backbench member of the governing party is pressing Westminster for information after the Welsh Government itself declined to give a direct answer.
Welsh Government would not say whether US military used airport
The controversy initially intensified when Nation.Cymru asked the Welsh Government whether American military aircraft had been using Cardiff.
Rather than answering yes or no, a Welsh Government spokesperson said foreign military activity in the UK was a matter reserved to the Ministry of Defence.
When pressed further, officials pointed to the extensive legal powers available to the UK Government to intervene in the operation of airports during a crisis for reasons including national security.
The Welsh Government subsequently declined to comment further.
That answer, however, does not resolve all the questions now being raised.
Defence, foreign affairs and much of aviation policy are reserved to Westminster.
Cardiff Airport itself, however, belongs to the Welsh Government.
The airport was bought by the then Welsh Government for £52m in 2013 and is owned through WGC HoldCo Ltd. Cardiff International Airport Ltd operates commercially at arm’s length from ministers.
In 2025 the Welsh Government also announced an investment package worth up to £206m over ten years aimed at developing the airport and surrounding area.
The result is an unusual constitutional position: Westminster controls defence and foreign policy, while the physical airport through which foreign military aircraft may be passing is owned by the Welsh state.
Who is actually making the decision?
One of the biggest unanswered questions is whether US military use of Cardiff results from a UK Government decision at all.
Global Trek Aviation operates a fixed-base operation at Cardiff, providing handling and refuelling services.
The company openly offers support for military aviation alongside private, corporate, air ambulance and other specialist flights.
Historical US federal procurement records also show Global Trek Aviation appearing in a Defense Logistics Agency procurement process relating to “into-plane” aviation fuel for US European Command locations, including locations in the UK.
In 2020 the company lodged a bid protest connected with that procurement.
That is not evidence of a current Pentagon contract at Cardiff and should not be treated as such.
It does, however, show that the company’s involvement with US military aviation and American defence fuel procurement is not merely speculative.
That leads to a different set of questions.
If an American military aircraft lands at Cardiff and purchases handling or refuelling from a commercial aviation company, who ultimately grants permission?
Is Cardiff Airport itself the contracting party?
Is Global Trek contracting directly with the US authorities?
Does the Ministry of Defence authorise individual movements?
Does a pre-existing agreement cover them?
And does the Welsh Government, as ultimate owner of the airport, receive information about foreign military movements taking place on its property?
None of those questions has yet received a comprehensive public answer.
Scottish precedent complicates argument
The issue has already produced similar controversy in Scotland.
Glasgow Prestwick Airport, which is also publicly owned, has long handled foreign military flights.
Following controversy over an Israeli military aircraft which visited Prestwick in November 2023, the airport subsequently took an independent commercial decision not to conduct further business with the Israeli Air Force.
The Scottish Government stressed that the airport operated commercially at arm’s length and that ministers had not made that decision.
More recently, however, Scottish ministers have argued that they do not possess the legal powers required to ban US military flights outright because defence, national security and aviation powers are reserved to Westminster.
The distinction could prove important in Wales.
A devolved government might not possess the statutory powers necessary to exclude a foreign military from UK airspace, but that does not necessarily answer the separate question of what discretion exists within a publicly owned commercial airport over whom it does business with.
Exactly where that dividing line lies is one of the issues Ms Marshall now wants clarified.
Pembrokeshire Against Radar Campaign, which is opposing the proposed 27-dish Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability development at Cawdor Barracks, Brawdy, is among organisations backing an open letter calling for an end to US military use of Cardiff Airport.
Around 100 campaigners, trade unionists and representatives of peace organisations have supported the call.
Other groups include Cardiff Stop the War Coalition, CND Cymru, Peace Action Wales, Wales Green Party, Welsh Women 4 Gaza and Palestine solidarity organisations.
The involvement of PARC is particularly significant following the continuing controversy surrounding DARC.
The radar proposal forms part of the AUKUS defence partnership between Britain, the United States and Australia.
Earlier this year, then First Minister Eluned Morgan called for the DARC programme to be paused, arguing that the United States under President Donald Trump was no longer the partner it once was.
Last month the new Plaid Cymru-led Welsh Government went further in planning terms by formally calling in the Brawdy application, taking the final decision away from Pembrokeshire County Council.
The Cardiff Airport dispute therefore forms part of a much wider debate about the extent to which Welsh territory and publicly controlled infrastructure should be used in support of international defence arrangements.
Human cost of Iran conflict
Ms Marshall has also placed the question in the context of the scale of the conflict.
The war began on February 28 and has continued, despite periods of ceasefire and attempts at negotiation, for more than five months.
Figures compiled by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency in April recorded 3,636 deaths in Iran, including 1,701 civilians and at least 254 children.
The conflict has also caused deaths and injuries elsewhere in the Middle East, disrupted energy supplies and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and prompted repeated fears of a wider regional war.
US military strikes have continued during the conflict, although Washington recently paused another round of attacks while negotiations continued.
That makes the question of whether Welsh infrastructure has played any logistical role more than an historical matter.
The central question remains unanswered
There are ultimately two facts which should not be confused.
The first can now be established: US military aircraft have used Cardiff Airport during the period of the Iran war.
The second cannot currently be established: whether any of those aircraft were supporting, directly or indirectly, US military operations against Iran.
That is precisely why disclosure is now being demanded.
Flight dates and aircraft identities should be capable of establishing the number of US military movements.
Origins and destinations could reveal the routes being used.
Contracts and invoices could show who paid for handling and fuel.
Authorisation records could establish whether Cardiff Airport, the Ministry of Defence, another UK authority or a private contractor approved individual movements.
And details of any standing agreement could reveal whether the United States enjoys routine access to the Welsh Government-owned airport.
Until those questions are answered, the possibility that Welsh publicly owned infrastructure has been used to support an overseas war will remain unresolved.
For a government which owns Cardiff Airport, a UK Ministry of Defence responsible for foreign military activity, and an airport demonstrably used by US military aircraft during the conflict, “reserved matters” may no longer be enough of an answer.