The Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Richard Knighton has revealed that the UK is developing an Iron Dome similar to what Israel uses to protect their country against aerial threats.
Sir Richard told Andrew Marr on LBC that the UK Iron Dome will act against “Russia’s capability and willingness to use ballistic and cruise missiles has become more apparent”.
Sir Richard told LBC, “We call it integrated air and missile defence, and we have, over 30 years, not really faced a threat from the air in that way.
“The threat has evolved, Russia‘s capability and willingness to use ballistic and cruise missiles has become more apparent.
“It’s been become clear that that peace dividend needs to be reversed, and we need to invest more in our radar capability, in our airborne air defence, and also in, ultimately, our ability to shoot down these drones and cruise missiles.”
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The Chief of Defence Staff was asked about suggestions the UK is behind other counties, such as Israel and the US, Sir Richard said, “So we know right across NATO that one of the biggest gaps in NATO’s capability is integrated air and missile defence, and we are part of that as the UK.
That’s one of the highest priorities that the Secretary General set at the Washington summit last year, and I know that that will be an issue that will come up at the NATO Ankara summit in 2026. We will be responding to that as a nation, alongside our allies. And there is a lot to do.”
“We’ll definitely see improvements by the end of the decade,” Sir Richard added.
“But it’s really important to recognise that even if you look at Israel, which is a small country, kind of size of Wales in terms of square area, even with all of its Iron Dome capabilities, it is not a fool proof mechanism.”
This week the head of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) Blaise Metreweli has warned that the UK is now “between peace and war.”
The British spy chief has said that Vladimir Putin is “testing us in the grey zone” and these tactics are “just below the threshold of war.”
She said that Putin is attempting to “bully, fearmongering and manipulate” by the Kremlin exporting chaos as the Kremlin is “dragging out” peace talks in Ukraine.
She warned of the power of social media which is growing and some of the algorithms may “become powerful” such as “states” in a new information war.
The MI6 spy chief said, “Our world is more dangerous and contested now than for decades. Conflict is evolving and trust is eroding, just as new technologies spur both competition and dependence.
“We are being contested from sea to space, from the battlefield to the boardroom, and even our brains as disinformation manipulates our understanding of each other and ourselves.
“We are now operating in a space between peace and war.”
She warned that Britain is facing the “menace of an aggressive, expansionist and revisionist Russia.”
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