Sir Keir Starmer approved a top-secret role for the RAF in the recent US airstrikes on Yemen – just weeks before a Royal Navy aircraft carrier is due in the region. In yet more evidence that the US will continue to need its European allies to further its foreign policy aims, Pentagon officials called on the UK for assistance after President Donald Trump ordered the attacks on Houthi rebels which continue to threaten ​commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

F-35s and F-18 Super Hornets aboard the US carrier Harry S Truman on the Red Sea took part in a rolling series of airstrikes last weekend on 30 different Houthi targets on Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital Sana’a and Saada, a reported Houthi stronghold. The strikes killed 51 people and injured 101 others.

In order to extend their range, jets based on the 97-000-tonne nuclear carrier need to use a “buddy-buddy” system for mid-air refuelling, meaning that for every jet that is deployed to attack a target, another must be tasked to give it enough fuel to reach its destination and return.

Britain provided Airbus A330 Voyager tanker planes​, which are usually based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus​.

They offered mid-air refuelling over the port of Jeddah off Yemen’s coastline, which meant that more US jets could be tasked for the attacks.

The gesture also allowed more remaining US jets to mount a defensive picket around the carrier.

President Trump has indicated he may end joint US-Nato exercises in Europe as he pivots his attention towards the Indo-Pacific and China.

An RAF source said: “This US operation would not have gone ahead without UK support

“The RAF and US Air Force enjoy a particularly high level of interoperability. But if President Trump decides to drop his European colleagues, this sort of action will not be supported and there is no question that this will be a blow to the Pentagon.”

His views echo those of Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost, head of the US Eighth Air Force.

Speaking recently from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, where four B-52B Stratofortresses from the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron are currently based, Gen Armagost said that maintaining a US presence in Europe was essential not only for European security but also for the US’ non-Nato​ priorities in the Middle East and Africa.

“From a military perspective, there’s incredible value in having proximity and persistence in a location that is closer to whatever operation you’re conducting,” he said.

“One of the things we say about the Pacific is the ‘tyranny of distance’,

“From Europe, you don’t have to fly six hours to get somewhere – we can fly to Africa, we can fly to the Middle East. And that has been done just in the last few weeks.

“This is of incredible value and cannot be broken.”

President Trump has vowed to “completely annihilate” the terrorist organisation which also uses missiles to attack Israel, and more strikes are expected in the near future.

“What we’ve seen from Trump is a clear statement that he will be conducting a campaign of strikes. Something that is sustained. There’s no definite beginning or end,” said regional expert Megan Sutcliffe from Sibylline strategic risk group.

Britain’s 81,000-tonne aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, is due to transit through the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea as the warship embarks on a deployment to the Far East next month..

Royal Navy sources have confirmed it will not avoid the Red Sea en route to war games with three US aircraft carriers in the Pacific, as well as numerous NATO warships in what will be the biggest projection of Western military power for almost ten years.