Britain has been labelled “defenceless” and a “sitting duck” due to its lack of adequate missile defences. The comments were made by Conservative MP Mark Pritchard as he challenged the Defence Secretary John Healey on his progress in rearming the UK and getting its armed forces on a “war footing.”
During a debate on the Commons on Tuesday, he said: “The Defence Secretary says that this country should get on a war footing, but the UK currently has no comprehensive anti-hypersonic, anti-ballistic missile defence system. Given the threats from Russia and elsewhere and their capabilities, that means that all our constituents, whether they vote Labour or Conservative, are defenceless, and that this country, frankly, is a sitting duck.”
The UK currently adopts a “multi-layered approach to air and missile defence” of the UK homeland, including in collaboration with allies.
The armed forces operate air defence assets across all three services which can be deployed for localised defence of the UK mainland, should they be required.
That capability is supported by an extensive early warning radar network in the UK, which also forms a part of NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence (NATO IAMD) system, of which the UK is a part, and the US ballistic missile defence system.
However, it lacks systems similar to the “Iron Dome” seen above Israel, with experts believing that any attack by a capable adversary would be able to overwhelm the UK’s existing defences and make it difficult for enemy missiles over the UK to be neutralised or destroyed.
Healey acknowledged the shortcomings in the UK’s air defence, pointing to the recent Strategic Defence Review (SDR) which set out recommendations to adequately protect the UK mainland.
He responded: “The right hon. Gentleman will recognise that the strategic defence review pointed out that we must do more to take seriously our homeland defence, and we are.
“It pointed out that we needed to do more on our integrated air and missile defence for the UK. We are, and we will.”
Defence sources and NATO allies have expressed concern that years of underinvestment in UK defence have left the country at risk, especially as the range of intercontinental missiles possessed by the country’s adversaries continue to increase.
Earlier this year, the Sunday Times reported that NATO leaders were set to urge Sir Keir Starmer to rectify shortcomings in the UK’s defences, warning that major British cities and infrastructure could be at risk from long-range missile threats from countries like Russia, China or Iran.
