The UK has expanded its military presence in the Middle East, with additional aircraft, air defence systems and naval assets deployed as Iranian attacks across the region intensify, Defence Secretary John Healey has said.
Updating MPs, Healey said UK actions are guided by three core principles: “defensive… co-ordination with allies… and ensuring a legal basis for our decisions,” with the overall aim to “protect British people, protect British bases and protect British allies.”
He described Iran as a growing regional threat, stating “Iran is a threat to us all… its attacks across the region are escalating,” and noting that since the start of the conflict it has “fired more than 3,500 ballistic missiles and drones” at targets across 12 countries.
Healey confirmed that two Iranian missiles were launched towards the UK-US base at Diego Garcia, though neither reached their target. “One fell short… the other was brought down… neither got close,” he said, adding that UK forces were not required to respond and operations continue as normal.
The UK had already reinforced its posture prior to the escalation. “Since January… we took significant steps to pre-position Typhoons, F-35s, counter-drone teams, radars and air defences in the region,” Healey said, arguing that these preparations enabled an immediate response once hostilities increased.
Further reinforcements have since been deployed, including additional aircraft, helicopters and a warship. Healey confirmed “HMS Dragon has arrived in the eastern Mediterranean” and is integrating into allied air defence efforts around Cyprus.
RAF and Royal Navy aircraft have now flown nearly 900 hours on defensive missions across multiple locations, including Cyprus, Jordan and the Gulf. The UK currently has “more jets in the region than… at any time in the last 15 years,” alongside an additional 500 air defence personnel in Cyprus.
The UK is also working with partners to strengthen regional defences. Healey said the government has established “Taskforce Sabre with industry” to support Gulf states with rapid procurement, with systems including “lightweight multiple launchers” set to be deployed to Bahrain and “Rapid Sentry” air defence systems to Kuwait.
Concerns over maritime security are also growing, with Iran accused of threatening shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Healey said Iran is “holding the strait… hostage by laying mines, targeting ships… and putting lives in danger,” adding that UK planners have been deployed to US Central Command to develop response options.
The UK is also accelerating minehunting and maritime drone capabilities, as part of efforts to secure freedom of navigation alongside allies. Healey said force protection measures across the region remain under constant review, while UK Space Command is monitoring Iranian missile activity and providing early warning to deployed forces.
He added that despite the focus on the Middle East, the UK remains committed to wider defence priorities, including NATO obligations and support to Ukraine, stating “we remain determined to make Britain safer, more secure at home and strong abroad.”
Ahhh, another “MoD Warning” sniffs the air and inhales deeply….
“One fell short… the other was brought down… neither got close,” he said, adding that UK forces were not required to respond and operations continue as normal.
Re Diego Garcia, a good job our forces were “not required to respond” as there is absolutely nothing they could have done even if they were asked. We have virtually no assets in DG beyond NP 1002, which I assume is still there.
“The UK had already reinforced its posture prior to the escalation. “Since January… we took significant steps to pre-position Typhoons, F-35s, counter-drone teams, radars and air defences in the region,” Healey said, arguing that these preparations enabled an immediate response once hostilities increased.
A desperate attempt to deflect the criticism about Akrotiri and the almost non existent RN presence.
Typhoons. Old news, reannounced.
F35. Old news, reannounced.
Counter Drone teams. Old news, reannounced, but how many for context? They won’t say, because we have so few.
Radars. Which? 1 ACC? Giraffes from 16RA?
“Air Defences” Which are? Has it been admitted that Sabre has gone to the SBA’s or not?
“UK Space Command is monitoring Iranian missile activity and providing early warning to deployed forces.”
Via the US I assume, as what assets does UKSC actually have? Can Carbonite 2 or Tyche “monitor Iranian missile activity”?
“and “Rapid Sentry” air defence systems to Kuwait.
Nice to see a final official admittance that it even exists. I thought they were mostly in Iraq at Irbil.
“alongside an additional 500 air defence personnel in Cyprus.”
Additional? Additional to what? What was there before? It is suggested, nothing at all.
“Healey said force protection measures across the region remain under constant review”
FP with WHAT, should you decide to expand? The RN has a handful of escorts to send.
“He added that despite the focus on the Middle East, the UK remains committed to wider defence priorities, including NATO obligations and support to Ukraine, stating “we remain determined to make Britain safer, more secure at home and strong abroad.”
Ahhhh, there it is, the vogue “in” words… safer, secure, strong abroad. They never miss a chance, be it the DS, the PM, or a Minister, to get that spin in.
You might well remain “determined” but the reality is you continue to starve the military of the funds needed to regenerate so you go right ahead with your spin. You were caught with your pants down, in several areas, and luckily for you the damage was minimal when Akrotiri was hit. Your attempts to give away territory while paying though the nose to an ally of China has not been missed, and now the Cypriots are making noises about the SBA, which was not necessary if only the SBAs were clearly well defended from the start, which is deterrence.
Enemies don’t see deterrence with the endless cuts, endless delays, endless prevarication, and endless U turns, they see a government chasing its own tail in reaction to events which is not credible regards the defence of the realm.
To end on a positive, the response from the RAF has been fantastic, given its lack of assets.
As usual a good summary mate👍 rest assured though the HS is going to give France even more money to secure our borders for us and she is demanding more bang for our bucks! Due to their performance to date that shouldn’t be too hard to achieve🤬
I thought they were also about to water down stronger deterrent measures after the Labour back benches complained.
Situation normal.
That’s a pretty fair assessment of the situation Daniele. Kinda reminds me of the bombing of Guernica in the Spanish civil war – “nothing to see hear, it nor our problem” .
Yep deterrence cost money.. but what our politician’s and public always fail to grasp is if you fail to deter it will not cost 3% or even 4% of GDP it could cost you everything.. even if you win a peer war it’s going to burn 40-50% of your GDP and lay waste to your economy for a generation…
We are seeing first hand in Ukraine and Iran what an air war requires in capability and depth.. there are reports now that even the Mighty Israeli iron dome is creaking under the pressure with more and more attacks leaking through.. the US has essentially thrown everything it can even stripping the western pacific of air defences.. and that’s against an enemy in which they have achieved overwhelming air superiority….
This should be a lesson in GBAD.. because if our deterrent stance did fail we are going to get missiled and droned by Russia…
The horse bolted…at about 100 knots…height 150ft…and detonated in an empty hangar built for a time when the Royal Air Force dealt in Wings of aircraft rather than Flights.
The empty Episkopi saddle club stable door, paint peeling, rust corroded hinges, fittings, squealing, clanged and banged, closed one moment, re-opened the next as the solitary Crowsnest ascended and descended for a few hours of intermittent coverage…
Where is the anger at this disgraceful state of affairs? Only insouciance in the house of commons, petulance in committee, is offered…?!
The Defence Industrial Plan has been refused by the Treasury, like a ‘my little pony’ club fence, and is back gathering in tray dust at No 10.
Impossible, hitherto, to believe but it really is going to take a (Chinese guided) ICBM landing in Westminster/Whitehall in order for ‘the first duty of government’ to get the attention that it always should have had; a grave dereliction of duty by successive governments of all major parties; willing the mission but not the means for the last thirty five years.
Servicemens lives overseas at risk; the country derided, an international laughing stock; shameful!
What an absolute disgrace!
really liking your assessment of the “my little pony’ club” spot on Monro.
Thanks. That’s the kind of level we seem to be at in Downing Street and elsewhere in government, while the country is at war, good guys overseas under constant air attack etc etc
What the flying fig..? Disgraceful…
Monro,
Substantially agree w/ your viewpoint and arguments re this crisis. Virtually all of E-NATO discounts the possibility that there may be viable Israeli and 5-Eyes intelligence that Iran was indeed closer to the acquisition of a rudimentary nuclear capability than has been publicly acknowledged. Based upon current Iranian strategy of expansion of the conflict, it is discomforting to contemplate the targeting of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, GCC capitals, Berlin, London, Paris and other European metropolitan areas w/ even low yield fission weapons. Impossible? Perhaps not, the true gravity of the Cuban Missile Crisis was not publicly revealed for 30+ yrs. post event. All of the current issues resulting from this conflict would be increased by multiple orders of magnitude w/ nukes. Truly hope this episode provides additional impetus for E-NATO ABM defence and generalized GBAD measures. 🤞🤞 UK and US have been historically fortunate, but the odds may not remain favorable indefinitely … 🤔
Great to hear from you, FormerUSAF. My father was flying 317th ‘deuces” out of Elmendorf during the Cuban missile crisis. I think they all thought at the time that it was going to kick off. He later flew Lightnings out of Akrotiri Cyprus. I have photos of intercepts of Turkish Thunderflash recce aircraft that persuaded Turkey not to invade Cyprus 1968, deterrence in action. We forget this stuff at our peril and, in Britain, we have forgotten it. You are so right. We do not know Iran’s intentions but we knew their capabilities. No British government should be risking its service personnel overseas in the way that we have just witnessed. And they should not, of course, be risking the safety and security of the entire country as they have been since 1991. This government still doesn’t get it. They will pay the price for that at the polls. This has been a close call. We are, yet again, indebted to the good ol’ U.S. of A. Hopefully our next government will recognise that and step up to the plate once more, as we always used to… Good luck to you.
Not with a national communist nuclear armed superpower that has 60% of the world’s shipbuilding capacity and the mercantile economic and maritime nous of the 17 and 18c British empire .. but welded to a communist and yet at the same time almost Nationalist ideology.. it’s essentially they have added the bits that worked from the British empire, national socialism and communism… all with a veneer of capitalism, I don’t know how they have done it but it is a masterpiece of supercharging your state from essentially a 3rd world peasant nation to the defacto maritime world superpower ( not yet naval) in a generation… it scary as fuck. Infact I would say it’s unparalleled in history to be honest … it took the British 200 years to gain maritime supremacy.. the US about 140 years from the time they first challenged the British to becoming the single defacto maritime superpower..
I think bizarrely one of the issues is although the US has been focused on naval dominance it never really got maritime dominance.. at its heart it’s still a continental power..
J,
Indeed, this episode could prove to be an almost irresistible opportunity for ChiCom assault and annexation of Taiwan (original target date was 2027+). Reasonably certain that would eventually spiral into nuclear warfare w/ current POTUS. Probable Pyrrhic victory for one of the participants, w/ cockroaches ultimately becoming the apex genus.
‘you start to wonder whether Trump’s Iran gambit might accidentally be the thing that gets America’s defense sector in order. The observation often attributed to Otto von Bismarck — about God having special providence for fools, drunks and the United States of America — might yet again apply.
“Mobilize” is both rousing and alarming, an impassioned call to rebuild America’s defense industrial base. “Mass production is like a muscle,” Sankar and Hart write. “If you don’t use it, it atrophies.” The country that built the arsenal of democracy in World War II has for all sorts of historical contingencies — all crisply laid out in this readable tome — developed a kind of sclerosis when it comes to building weapons. The Defense Department dictates what gets built and how, and has a maddening array of rules and regulations in place that give preference to insiders and keep upstarts away.’
That sounds familiar…
‘…the most serious Pentagon overhaul since the Clinton era. The Trump directive mandates a preference for commercial off-the-shelf solutions, threatens to cancel any major program more than 15 percent over budget and tries to make it easier for start-ups to compete with defense-industry giants.
Many of the ingredients for a turnaround, in other words, are falling into place. And perversely, in launching the poorly justified Epic Fury and burning through billions of dollars’ worth of exquisite, expensive hardware that was sitting on shelves, Trump may have accidentally done the one thing frustrated Pentagon reformers could not: He has made the problem impossible to ignore.’
The Washington Post 24 March 2026
Meanwhile, in Britain….crickets….
It is the sheer lack of vision at the highest level that creates so much anger.
The Britain of the 1980s had a battle hardened army in the heart of Europe; forward defence from which all of Europe benefited. That gave Britain great leverage in Europe. It gave Britain the gratitude of its close ally and partner, the U.S. It gave Britain credibility as an ally and trading partner in key high growth regions of the world.
Strong defence pays for itself many times over, drives and enhances economic growth.
A government with vision would make that case. The tragedy is that this country has had no such government for the last thirty five years.
Agreed
Nice to know that we have been warned after 3,500 missiles and drones have been launched. haha
Does anyone know if the multiple launcher and Rapid Sentry, which I’m assuming is both LMM and Starstreak, can be adapted for naval vessels? Might be useful add on for the OPVs and RFAs.