America and Israel's war with Iran has shown that even the world's most sophisticated air defences can be overwhelmed by enemy missiles and drones, if fired in significant numbers. Iran's have broken through the layered air defences of US military bases in the Middle-East causing significant damage. Russia's war in Ukraine has also exposed the huge challenge of defending their own skies from large-scale attacks.
The government's Strategic Defence Review, published in 2025, explicitly warned of the threats to the UK – including ballistic and cruise missiles and drones – and highlighted the need for the UK to invest more in its air defences. The Labour government is allocating up to £1bn to address it. The Conservatives now say they will spend more - £10 bn - over a decade.
Both parties agree that the UK needs layers of air defences. Tories pledge £10bn for British anti-missile defence system Currently the country has a number of systems to deal with short and medium-range threats – from drones to cruise missiles. But the armed forces still lack a weapons system to deal with long-range ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
And those don't come cheap. Each interceptor used by the US Patriot missile system costs about $4m (£3m). Sophisticated air defences that can deal with a range of threats are expensive.
The US Army alone wants to increase its budget for both missiles and interceptors by fourfold next year – to $36bn (£27.1bn). Israel also spends a significant proportion of its $45bn (£33.9bn) annual military budget on air defences. For the Conservatives there's also a presentation problem.
Their original press release mentioned building a new air defence systems that would be "in essence, a British Iron Dome", referencing Israel's elaborate air defence system. But any comparison of the challenge of defending Britain's skies with Israel's, about 10% the size of the UK, is naive. Nor is the threat the same.
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