Key facts
- An Israeli-style Iron Dome missile defence system is not the appropriate solution for the UK.
- The UK is significantly larger than Israel and has more large cities, making a blanket Iron Dome impractical and costly.
- The UK's geographical position, with NATO allies between it and Russia, offers some protection from short-range attacks.
- Longer-range missiles remain a potential threat to the UK.
- Israelis are questioning their reliance on Iron Dome, with one resident stating it provided a false sense of security.
- The UK has a scarcity of resources for air defence, a deficiency acknowledged in the 2023 Defence Command Paper Refresh.
Calls for the UK to adopt an Israeli-style Iron Dome missile defence system following recent geopolitical events are misguided, according to Dr. Sophy Antrobus, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS).
Following Iran's April 14 attack on Israel, which involved 221 suicide UAVs, cruise missiles, and over 110 ballistic missiles, British politicians and journalists have debated enhancing the UK's air defence. Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the Commons, and James Heappey, former Minister for the Armed Forces, have advocated for an 'Iron Dome-style missile defence system for the UK.' Tobias Ellwood, former Chair of the House of Commons Defence Committee, suggested the UK requires a 'permanent umbrella' of air security.
However, comparisons to Israel's short-range interceptor system are considered unhelpful. John Foreman noted in The Spectator that the UK is eleven times larger than Israel and has 75 cities with over 100,000 residents, compared to Israel's 15 such cities in a compact area. The UK's Chief of the Defence Staff acknowledged that while geographical realities and NATO allies provide some protection from short-range attacks, longer-range missiles could still threaten the UK. Implementing a nationwide Iron Dome system for the UK is deemed impractical due to the country's size and the associated costs.
Furthermore, Israelis themselves are reportedly questioning their reliance on Iron Dome. Nissan Zeevi, an Israeli living near the Lebanese border, told The Guardian that Iron Dome had provided a false sense of security and normalized rocket attacks. The Iranian attack on April 14 may have been partly designed with Iron Dome in mind, launched in the knowledge that most missiles would be intercepted.
The UK's Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) capability has been identified as a deficiency for some time, with limited investment despite acknowledgments in the 2023 Defence Command Paper Refresh that the challenge of air defence is at its most acute in over thirty years.