How Vulnerable Are British Skies? Very, Say MPs

The 19th century military theorist Carl Von Clausewitz came up with the concept of a centre of gravity, or in layman's terms where a nation derives its strength from. It can be its capital, manufacturing center, or a coastal port. While Clausewitz might identify London as the UK’s centre of gravity, he might be surprised at how easy it is to target it with modern weaponry. 

America has the Patriot and Nasams air defence systems, France has the SAMP/T, Russia has the S-300 and S-400, and the U.K. occasionally has a Type 45 frigate within the vicinity of the British Isles. Long-range air defence is a capability that the UK is critically lacking as Labour’s Luke Akehurst pointed out during a cross-party debate in Parliament: 

"To defend London against ballistic missile threats, a Type 45 destroyer would have to be permanently moored in the Thames estuary.”

"That would mean it could not do anything else.”

"In particular, it would be unavailable for its primary role of protecting one of our aircraft carriers from air and missile threats."

While the U.K. does have the Type 45 that is equipped with the Sea Viper system which is capable of downing targets as far as 70 miles away, one major air defence system, or even a handful, would not be able to successfully down a barrage of missiles.

Upwards of ten long-range air defence systems have been sent to Ukraine, yet with the Russians firing mass salvos of drones and missiles, ordinance still gets through. 

To protect the isles from the threats they face, a substantial investment is needed to procure a series of long-range air defence systems. 

From the outside, it appears the government is taking the threat seriously with the Defence Procurement Minister Maria Eagle saying “We have got to consider properly the range of threats – from the low-cost drones we see affecting the UK today to the strategic long-range weapons that Russia threatens to use.”