The armed forces will receive new powers to shoot down drones that threaten military bases in the UK, the defence secretary will reveal.
John Healey will use a speech on Monday evening to warn of the growing threat posed by unmanned aerial vehicles following an incursion into Polish airspace of 19 Russian drones in September and escalating Russian drone attacks against targets in Ukraine.
“Here at home, we continue to defend ourselves daily from threats reaching from the seabed to cyberspace,” he will say at the Lord Mayor of London Defence and Security Lecture, according to excerpts of the speech released by the Ministry of Defence.
They were first reported by The Telegraph.
“We will always do what’s needed to keep the British people safe, and as we speak, we are developing new powers – to be put into law through our Armed Forces Bill – to shoot down unidentified drones over UK military sites.”
The military does have the ability to open fire in the event of a serious threat to one of their bases, according to a defence source.
The move announced by Mr Healey is designed to strengthen these powers so soldiers can act faster in response to a drone threat, rather than be worried about bureaucratic, peacetime red tape.
During the Cold War, military bases were on alert for attacks targeting the British mainland.
But this is a sense of war-readiness that has been allowed to fade following the collapse of the Soviet Union when successive governments no longer believed there was a threat to the UK that required the armed forces to be prepared to defend themselves in an instant.
That is changing.
The government’s new National Security Strategy – published in June – warned: “For the first time in many years, we have to actively prepare for the possibility of the UK homeland coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario.”
The potential for direct confrontation between Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the UK and its NATO allies rose last month with the Russian drone incursions into Poland as well as revelations about Russian warplanes violating Estonian airspace.
Unidentified drones have also caused chaos in Denmark and Germany in recent weeks.
In addition, a year ago, a number of drones were spotted over several American air bases in the UK.
Read more: ‘Europe lacks defences to protect itself against Russia’
Mr Healey will outline how the UK has moved to support its NATO allies following the latest drone and aircraft violations by Russia.
This includes RAF jets extending a deployment to help defend Poland’s skies until the end of the year.
In addition, Britain deployed specialist RAF counter drone experts to Denmark last month, equipped with advanced kit to detect, track, identify, and, if needed, defeat hostile drones.
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Russia’s war in Ukraine has seen an exponential increase in drone warfare by both sides.
In September alone, around 5,500 one-way attack drones were launched by Russia into Ukraine – over a thousand more than were fired in August, according to the latest Defence Intelligence assessment.
So far in October, over 3,000 one-way attack drones have already been launched.
