The UK is reinforcing its defences against potential drone attacks from Russia, with counter-Uncrewed Air Systems (C-UAS) capabilities forming a key part of national security efforts.
Responding to a parliamentary question from Labour MP Terry Jermy, Defence Minister Luke Pollard outlined the steps being taken to protect military personnel and armed forces bases.
“The UK employs a broad approach to deterring and defeating air and missile threats, including those from Uncrewed Air Systems (UAS or drones),” Pollard said.
He explained that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is working closely with the Home Office to develop a “whole of Government approach” to identifying and countering drone threats. This collaboration ensures expertise from both military and domestic security agencies is used to safeguard key assets.
The UK is also focused on pre-emptive action. “We pursue counter-proliferation and military activities to counter threats before an attack is ever launched,” Pollard stated. If those measures fail, he added, “we can employ a range of active and passive defence measures to intercept the threat and increase our resilience.”
“Given the significant threat posed by UAS to our personnel and bases, counter-UAS (C-UAS) remains a crucial component of our Defence approach,” Pollard said. He pointed to British defence firms providing “a broad range of cutting-edge C-UAS capabilities, much of which is now operationally proven.”
Looking ahead, Pollard cited the Royal Navy’s Dragonfire programme as an example of new counter-drone technology being developed. “We are committed to enhancing our capabilities and modernising our Air Defence approach to ensure our Armed Forces have the capabilities they need to meet current and future threats,” he said.
A Strategic Defence Review is currently underway of course, with counter-drone measures forming a “vital part” of the assessment.
The ability of ministers to say an awful lot while announcing virtually nothing at all continues.
Cutting through the spin.
Nothings changed.
A “Range” “Reinforcing”
What range? Where is the reinforcement?
Taking this purely from a home defence perspective as he mentions bases.
The RAF Reg has a handful of ORCUS.
Rather than buying kit more widely to cover more installations, by his words, the idea seems to be to stop proliferation and use intell or offensive action to stop threat at source.
How?
OK, in the field the Army has several programs underway from CUAS sights up and they use LMM and Starstreak, which seems a waste.
Home defence?
Maybe there is some covert program to put jammers at many more CNI locations?