2 weeks ago
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The equipped forces volition person caller powers to sprout down drones that endanger subject bases successful the UK, the defence caput volition reveal.
John Healey volition usage a code connected Monday evening to pass of the increasing menace posed by unmanned aerial vehicles pursuing an incursion into Polish airspace of 19 Russian drones successful September and escalating Russian drone attacks against targets successful Ukraine.
"Here astatine home, we proceed to support ourselves regular from threats reaching from the seabed to cyberspace," helium volition accidental astatine the Lord Mayor of London Defence and Security Lecture, according to excerpts of the code released by the Ministry of Defence.
They were archetypal reported by The Telegraph.
"We volition ever bash what's needed to support the British radical safe, and arsenic we speak, we are processing caller powers - to beryllium enactment into instrumentality done our Armed Forces Bill - to sprout down unidentified drones implicit UK subject sites."
The subject does person the quality to unfastened occurrence successful the lawsuit of a superior menace to 1 of their bases, according to a defence source.
The determination announced by Mr Healey is designed to fortify these powers truthful soldiers tin enactment faster successful effect to a drone threat, alternatively than beryllium disquieted astir bureaucratic, peacetime reddish tape.
During the Cold War, subject bases were connected alert for attacks targeting the British mainland.
But this is simply a consciousness of war-readiness that has been allowed to slice pursuing the illness of the Soviet Union erstwhile successive governments nary longer believed determination was a menace to the UK that required the equipped forces to beryllium prepared to support themselves successful an instant.
That is changing.
The government's caller National Security Strategy - published successful June - warned: "For the archetypal clip successful galore years, we person to actively hole for the anticipation of the UK homeland coming nether nonstop threat, perchance successful a wartime scenario."
The imaginable for nonstop confrontation betwixt Vladimir Putin's Russia and the UK and its NATO allies roseate past period with the Russian drone incursions into Poland arsenic good arsenic revelations astir Russian warplanes violating Estonian airspace.
Unidentified drones person besides caused chaos successful Denmark and Germany successful caller weeks.
In addition, a twelvemonth ago, a fig of drones were spotted implicit respective American aerial bases successful the UK.
Read more: 'Europe lacks defences to support itself against Russia'
Mr Healey volition outline however the UK has moved to enactment its NATO allies pursuing the latest drone and craft violations by Russia.
This includes RAF jets extending a deployment to assistance support Poland's skies until the extremity of the year.
In addition, Britain deployed specializer RAF antagonistic drone experts to Denmark past month, equipped with precocious kit to detect, track, identify, and, if needed, decision hostile drones.
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Russia's warfare successful Ukraine has seen an exponential summation successful drone warfare by some sides.
In September alone, astir 5,500 one-way onslaught drones were launched by Russia into Ukraine - implicit a 1000 much than were fired successful August, according to the latest Defence Intelligence assessment.
So acold successful October, implicit 3,000 one-way onslaught drones person already been launched.
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