Some members of the North Atlantic Alliance consider the state of the United Kingdom’s air defense to be inadequate, noting that it lacks effective means to defend against ballistic missiles. This was reported by The Sunday Times.
According to the newspaper’s sources in the UK’s defense sector, several NATO countries have recently expressed disappointment over Britain’s insufficient contribution to defense systems aimed at protecting Europe from long-range missile attacks.
A defense audit initiated by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government also revealed that the UK lacks ground-based air defense systems capable of protecting critical infrastructure or populated areas from ballistic missile strikes, the publication notes. As reported by The Sunday Times, during the Cold War, Britain focused on defending against nuclear-armed missile strikes and therefore deprioritized other air defense systems.
“The reason Britain has a very weak air defense is that for 30 years no one thought it was needed,” a senior official in the British defense sector told The Sunday Times.
According to the source, Britain could be attacked from “any direction” if a ballistic missile were launched from a ship, submarine, or aircraft.
“In 15 years, a ballistic missile could strike Britain from anywhere in the world. But this is a very expensive problem to fix,” the official added.
