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Ministers may boost UK air defences, Defence Secretary says, after 'underfunded' system branded 'negligible'
18 December 2024, 18:58 | Updated: 18 December 2024, 19:02
Defence Secretary John Healey with Andrew Marr
Britain could be set to boost its missile defences after next year's military review, the Defence Secretary has told LBC.
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John Healey told LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr that his job was "to rebuild the strength of... British defences".
The Defence Secretary's review of military spending is due to report in the spring.
It comes after John Ellwood, the Conservative former junior defence minister, warned that the UK needed its own version of the Israeli 'iron dome' missile defence system.
The UK does have missile defences currently, notably the Navy's Type 45 destroyers. The UK also has Sky Sabre medium-range mobile system which can engage with fighter aircraft, attack helicopters, drones, and laser guided smart bombs. RAF Lightning and Typhoon jets can shoot down hostile aircraft. The UK is also part of NATO’s missile defence system.
But earlier this year a review by the military contractor NorthropGrumman found that the UK's "current capabilities are very limited, to the point of being negligible".
The company said this was the "result of long-term under-investment and an over-reliance on Nato partners’ capabilities.
“This capability gap poses a significant risk to national security and the war demonstrates why [integrated air and missile defence] is now a critical requirement," they added.
Mr Healey told Andrew that the strategic defence review (SDR) includes looking at "the strength of our homeland defences, and that in this day and age, with the sort of sabotage and threats that we've seen, for instance, to our undersea cables and communication lines, has a number of levels, and the SDR is considering that.
He added that this went alongside "our determination to play a leading role in NATO and recognise that Britain has a role in coordinating allies, including in support of Ukraine, which is the job in hand... for me today."
Mr Healey told Andrew that Ukraine is in a "critical period" of the war with Russia.
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"Russians are putting Ukraine under pressure on the front line, but Putin himself is showing signs of weakness, calling in North Korean troops to reinforce his own army, walking out on Assad and failing to defend his own positions in Syria," he said.
"But I'm here discussing with the Ukrainians and the Ukrainian Defence Minister our joint plan for 2025 and I'm here to say, look, the UK is stepping up further the military help we will give, and also stepping up further the UK international leadership to try and coordinate allies so that we can stand with Ukraine throughout 2025 and beyond."
He was speaking after Keir Starmer this week visited British forces in Estonia, which borders Russia, and said that Europe needed to step up its military preparedness against the threat posed by the Kremlin.
But the Prime Minister refused to commit to increasing defence spending to 3% of GDP, from its current level of around 2.3%.
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Mr Healey would also not go further, saying: "Those are discussions that may develop in the long term planning for NATO.
"For now, my job as Defence Secretary is to make sure that we can rebuild the strength of our own British defences, that we can play a much stronger role as a leader within NATO and in Ukraine, as I am here, that we can set out and we can deliver a joint plan with the Ukrainians.
"That means we step up our support for their training, we step up their support for their defence industry, we step up the military aid we can provide, and we also step up the UK leadership in coordinating other international countries to do more."
