Britain’s armed forces will get new powers to shoot down “unidentified” drones over military bases, defence minister John Healey said, after incidents across Europe have raised tensions with Russia.
While recent drone sightings over airports in Germany and Denmark have triggered transport chaos, Poland shot down some of the small aircraft in September and some were seen over UK airbases last year, AFP reported.
The UK military will now be able to bring down drones threatening military bases, Healy said yesterday, also signalling plans to strengthen the NATO alliance in a major defence speech in London, according to The Independent.
Addressing the Lord Mayor’s annual defence and security lecture at Mansion House, he warned that “not since the end of the Second World War has Europe’s security been at such risk of State-on-State conflict”, arguing that Britain’s role is to be “democracy’s most reliable ally”.
Reaffirming the UK’s commitment to NATO, Healey said the government has been left with a responsibility to “strengthen it still further”, promising to “develop a greater readiness to fight together”.
Speaking just days after the US President Donald Trump signalled he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine war in Budapest in the coming weeks, Healey said: “As President Trump leads the push for peace … Here in Europe, we are ready to lead the work to secure it in the long term.”
Although the new powers to down drones will initially apply only to military sites, sources told The Telegraph the government was “not ruling out working to extend those powers” to other important strategic sites such as airports.
Countries across Europe have blamed Russia for suspicious drone flights and agreed to boost military spending, AFP reported.
Russia, which launched its war on Ukraine in February 2022 spreading panic across Europe’s eastern flank, denies being behind the drone flights.
The NATO military alliance has said it was testing new anti-drone defences in eastern Europe to counter the threat from Russia.
“Russian aggression has escalated. It’s extended even further into the west,” Healey said.
“We will always do what’s needed to defend British people, and as we speak, we are developing new legal powers to bring down unidentified drones over UK military bases.”
Last year, unidentified drones were spotted over three airbases used by US forces in the UK – RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk.
About 60 RAF personnel were sent to assist the US Air Force in its investigation of the incidents, the BBC reported.
Neither US nor UK officials have said who might have been behind the drone activity.
The airbases have strategic significance for the US military. It deployed F-22A fighter jets to RAF Lakenheath, days after the US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites in June.
