UK to build Israeli-style iron dome to protect country from Russian missiles

It comes at a time of growing Russian threat

Chief of the Defence Staff of the UK, Sir Richard Knighton, said that the armed forces are developing the system in order to block potential Russian attacks.

Knighton said that the UK could soon have its own system, which can intercept ballistic and cruise missiles.

“We call it integrated air and missile defence, and we have, over 30 years, not really faced a threat from the air in that way”, he told LBC.

“The threat has evolved, Russia’s capability and willingness to use ballistic and cruise missiles has become more apparent. It’s been become clear that that peace dividend needs to be reversed, and we need to invest more in our radar capability, in our airborne air defence, and also in, ultimately, our ability to shoot down these drones and cruise missiles”, Knighton added.

“So we know right across NATO that one of the biggest gaps in NATO’s capability is integrated air and missile defence, and we are part of that as the UK.”

“That’s one of the highest priorities that the Secretary General set at the Washington summit last year, and I know that that will be an issue that will come up at the NATO Ankara summit in 2026. We will be responding to that as a nation, alongside our allies. And there is a lot to do”, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard continued.

Other countries are also looking to develop a missile guard system, including the United States.

US President Donald Trump has unveiled plans for a ‘Golden Dome’ shield worth around £130 billion.

The Iron Dome is an Israeli mobile all-weather air defense system, which is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from distances of 4 to 70 kilometres away.

The UK doesn’t currently have a missile system like Israel does, and a ballistic missile defence capability is operated only by the Royal Navy.

Just days earlier, a Vladimir Putin mouthpiece warned that a “nuclear strike on Britain is inevitable” after a British paratrooper was killed in Ukraine.