US military personnel fired shots as they stopped a man who tried to force his way into a military base in central England used by the US air force on Monday, police said.

The Mildenhall Royal Air Force base said security staff locked down the base, used by the United States to refuel US and NATO aircraft in Europe, at about 2pm following reports of a disturbance. A car reportedly rammed the gate.

The US Air Force said the incident had been contained and that the suspect had been apprehended. 

The 1,162-acre base, which houses about 3,100 U.S. military and an additional 3,000 family members, is set for closure after the US said it was going to move is operations from the base to Germany.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.