AS709

AS709 is a dormant legacy autonomous system registered under RIPE NCC as UHEY-NET-AS that announces zero IPv4 and zero IPv6 prefixes in current global routing tables, and no identifiable organization currently operates it.

The RIPE record was created 2002-08-21 (RDAP top-level registration event) and last changed 2017-11-15. It reached RIPE via the Early Registration Transfer (ERX) process, which moved legacy ARIN-region resources into RIPE's database; ARIN's own WHOIS for AS709 is now just a stub pointing to RIPE, carrying separate transfer-bookkeeping dates of 2002-10-15 (registered) and 2003-04-25 (updated).

The aut-num's only descriptive text is "Royal Air Force Base Upper Heyford GB" — a facility name, not a company. RAF Upper Heyford, a joint RAF/USAFE installation in Oxfordshire, closed in 1994, eight years before this AS record was created, and the site is now redeveloped as the civilian "Heyford Park." No legal entity currently answers for the resource; the admin/tech contact handle traces to a MITRE Corporation (Bedford, MA) contact, but no MITRE page references AS709.

Routing data is unanimous: RIPEstat shows 0 announced prefixes and 0 RIS peers, and CAIDA AS Rank places it at 79,459 with a singleton customer cone (0 prefixes, 0 addresses) and zero provider/peer/customer degree. There is no PeeringDB record and no RPKI posture to assess, since nothing is announced to validate.

Operator

Unknown — no identifiable legal operator; RIPE aut-num descr names only the historical facility "Royal Air Force Base Upper Heyford GB" [Confirmed] — rdap.db.ripe.net/autnum/709

Country / RIR

RIPE NCC (ERX-transferred legacy ARIN-region resource); no confirmed current country — registry remark references GB (Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire) historically only [Confirmed for RIR; Unknown for country] — stat.ripe.net/data/whois?resource=AS709, whois.arin.net/rest/asn/AS709

Allocated

2002-08-21 (RIPE RDAP autnum top-level registration event, 16:06:12 UTC); last changed 2017-11-15 [Confirmed] — rdap.db.ripe.net/autnum/709

Org status

legacy/dormant; RIPE record maintained by ERX-AS709-MNT; ARIN WHOIS is a stub transfer-out record pointing to RIPE, with no active operating organization named [Confirmed] — whois.arin.net/rest/asn/AS709, rdap.db.ripe.net/autnum/709

Contacts

admin/tech handle PSK7-RIPE, associated per RIPE record with a MITRE Corporation (Bedford, MA) contact; no dedicated abuse contact on file [Likely] — bgp.he.net/AS709, stat.ripe.net/AS709

Security/abuse context (NEUTRAL, DATED)

no notable public abuse signal found as of 2026-07-25 — not on Spamhaus ASN-DROP (live JSON checked directly), NANOG archives, or general threat-intel search

Network & routing

Network type

legacy/inactive; RIPE database status = LEGACY; no operational classification possible (0 prefixes ever observed announced) [Confirmed] — stat.ripe.net/data/whois?resource=AS709, bgp.he.net/AS709

Size

dormant — 0 IPv4 and 0 IPv6 prefixes announced; CAIDA customer cone = 1 ASN (itself), 0 prefixes, 0 addresses [Confirmed] — stat.ripe.net/AS709, asrank.caida.org/asns/709

Routing/peering

NOT announced — 0/328 RIS v4 peers, 0/324 RIS v6 peers see it; CAIDA degree 0 (provider/peer/customer); no PeeringDB record found [Confirmed] — stat.ripe.net/AS709, asrank.caida.org/asns/709

RPKI

not assessable — no announced prefixes, so no ROAs exist to validate [Confirmed] — stat.ripe.net/AS709

Notable usage

none identified; the named facility (RAF Upper Heyford) closed in 1994, eight years before this AS record's 2002 creation [Confirmed] — bgp.he.net/AS709, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Upper_Heyford

Related ASNs

none identified [Unknown]

Analyst note

Encountered as a dormant legacy ASN whose only descriptive text names a UK military facility that closed eight years before the AS record was created; no live operator, website, or routing activity exists to research further. Clean by absence of signal, not by verified activity.