The UK is increasing investment in air and missile defence capabilities following concerns raised about long-range missile threats, including those demonstrated by Iran, the government stated.
Speaking in the House of Lords, Defence Minister Lord Coaker said the Ministry of Defence is strengthening homeland defence as part of wider measures linked to the Strategic Defence Review. “The MoD is strengthening homeland security, investing up to £1 billion in capability including air and missile defence, improved munitions stockpiles and readiness at scale to deter and respond to threats,” he said.
The discussion followed a question from Lord Harris of Haringey, who asked what assessment had been made of UK homeland defence in light of Iran’s reported missile capabilities and whether public guidance would be issued in the event of a threat.
Coaker said NATO remains central to the UK’s defensive posture. “NATO remains the cornerstone of allied deterrence and defence. NATO’s ballistic missile defence system was designed to deal with precisely this type of threat,” he said, adding that the system had recently been used to intercept missiles targeting Turkey.
He also pointed to specific procurement activity. “We’ve already started to spend some of that… including £180 million contract to deliver state of the art land Ceptor missile systems to deal with some of the threat,” he said.
On the potential risk to the UK, Coaker stated: “Our assessment is that Iran poses no threat at the current time to the UK,” while noting that the government would continue to review how it communicates risks and guidance to the public if required.
The exchange also touched on the delayed Defence Investment Plan, with Coaker reiterating the government’s position. “It will be published when it is ready to be published… as soon as possible,” he said.
I wonder if he actually believes that?
I don’t.
Threats take many shapes and forms from a ballistic missile to a cheapo drone and in between.
So of those threats are very real and very possible.
Yes it’s bold statement to say Iran is not a direct threat to the UK and I still think shows the west does not fully grasp the scope of all domain warfare.. it always goes to tanks, planes, ships and bombs as a comfort blanket..
What about
1) cyber
2) political warfare
3) economic warfare
4) sabotage and terror
The price of petrol did not go up on its own.. I’m pretty sure 4 Jews charity ambulances did not burn down on their own and we know from this sites work Iranian political trolls will be out stoking political fires in the UK..
I assume that the statement (given the context of the discussion), is intended to mean ‘no direct ballistic missile threat to the UK mainland’. It would not be credible (or meaningful) to make a broader ‘no threat to the UK at all’ statement, given that such a statement would imply that nothing the Iranians could do could damage our territory, people, supply chains or economy in any way.
Well if they have had a pop at DG 4000 Kms from Iran what’s to stop them actually trying a pop at London? Obviously DG was we can have a go if we want to ! soooo the threat does exist surely?!
Yes it was a definite deterrent 3Cs act aimed at Europe.. very little question..
The Aegis Ashore site in Romania might be able to deal with them, the footprint is big enough.
Israeli intelligence says Khorramshahr-4 missile with a smaller warhead may be capable of 4000 km range.
Also, land Ceptor is for short-range threats. It is not going to be any good against ballistic missiles.
We need something with the capability level of THAAD or Israels arrow 3.
If Iran’s regime survives this conflict, they will definitely step up their missile range and go for a nuke too.
They are even more of a threat now than ever.
As they torched four Jewish Charity Ambulances. No Direct Threat… Yeah sure, not with Missiles, but Russia can (Different Discussion) Iran operates more like Terrorists and will use “Faith Leaders” to attack this country. Hell, they basically have an organisation called Palestine Action, one that would love to get into this if they were given the right information about Israeli companies and the right “operatives” then they’ll hit under that moniker too.
“Our assessment is that Iran poses no threat at the current time to the UK,”
Phew! Cancel the garden nuclear shelter…
“NATO’s ballistic missile defence system was designed to deal with precisely this type of threat,”
Oh! Hang on…
We cannot rely on NATO. Britain must take responsibility for its own security. We rely on Norway for gas. We rely on France for 10-15% of our electricity.
What an absolute shambles! No wonder decisions on Britain’s domestic and foreign policy are now dictated from overseas.
An absolute disgrace in which every government of all the major parties since 1990 has been complicit!
Israel is reporting it has knocked out 330 of Iran’s 470 missile launchers (70%)
But Iran seems undeterred by these losses, they are still getting many launches off each day.