LONDON, March 24 : The UK is now deploying short-range air defence systems across the Gulf to help counter Iranian missile and drone attacks, amid constantly widening regional conflict in West Asia.
As per The Guardian, Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a parliamentary committee address said that Britain was moving to rapidly bolster air defences.
“We’re deploying short-range air defence systems to Bahrain at speed,” he said, adding that similar deployments were under way in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
The UK is also working with defence manufacturers to supply interceptor missiles to Gulf partners and has embedded specialist airspace personnel across the region to strengthen coordination and response capabilities.
British Defence Secretary John Healey told parliament that London would be deploying its Rapid Sentry anti-drone system to Kuwait, which he termed a “battle-tested ground-based air defence missile system that has already proved highly effective for UK forces taking down drones in the region.”
Along with this deployment, London has also sent a Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Dragon, to the eastern Mediterranean to help defend Cyprus, following criticism of the UK’s earlier response to a drone attack on its Akrotiri base after hostilities between the US, Israel, and Iran commenced on February 28.
Around 500 additional air defence staff have been deployed to Cyprus as part of the reinforced posture.
British pilots have flown nearly 900 hours in recent weeks, supporting defensive operations over multiple countries including Cyprus, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE, as Iran unleashed a barrage of drones across various countries in the Gulf.
(UNI)
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