Britain needs its own Iron Dome after Iran's attacks on Israel

• Israel has some 10 batteries for intercepting enemy missiles across the country
• Britain currently relies on Typhoon fighter jets and Type-45 destroyers 
• Iron Dome batteries can neutralise threats launched from up to 43 miles away 

Senior UK defence figures have said that the country needs its own ‘Iron Dome’ to boost its protection against missile and drone attacks following Iran’s attacks on Israel over the weekend.

Tobias Ellwood, a former chairman of the Commons defence committee said the aerial strikes were a ‘wake up call’ to the West, emphasising that Britain needs a ‘permanent umbrella of security’  due to the evolving nature of modern warfare.

There is rising concern, especially considering the levels of current conflict, that although the UK has a strong air defence strategy, the country lacks land-based systems to defend London or its nuclear plants.

Over the weekend, Iran fired over 300 drones and ballistic missiles into Israel – and all but a few were intercepted by the country’s Iron Dome defence system.

The impressive system works to detect incoming rockets, before determining it’s path and blasting them out of the sky before they cause any destruction on land.

Of the barrage of projectiles fired on Saturday night, at least five ballistic missiles were not intercepted and managed to slip through the defences.

Senior UK defence officials have said the UK needs its own ‘Iron Dome’ to boost its defence following a wake-up call after Iran’s attacks on Israel over the weekend

The Jewish state has at least 10 missile batteries capable of intercepting enemy rockets and missiles scattered across the country

Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system has been dubbed one of the best in the world, and according to its developer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, is ’90 per cent effective’.

READ HERE: Israel’s multilayered air-defense system that protected it from 99% of Iran’s drone and missile strikes

The three-part, multi-billion pound Iron Dome system, developed by Israel with US backing after the 2006 Lebanon War, has been crucial in defending Israeli cities for over a decade and is credited with preventing serious damage or casualties.

Similar tactics have also been used by Russia to blast Ukraine’s flurry of Western and Soviet-era surface-to-air systems.

The Jewish state has at least 10 missile batteries capable of intercepting enemy rockets and missiles scattered across the country.

The device is made up of three main sections: a radar detection system, a computer to calculate the incoming rocket’s trajectory, and a launcher that fires interceptors if the rocket is deemed likely to hit a built-up or strategic area.

Each Iron Dome battery consists of three to four launchers that can each carry up to 20 Tamir interceptor missiles.

We need to prepare for a multitude of types of attack from the non-state to state actors. And that will require investments, absolutely, in an Iron Dome for the UK,’ Ellwood told The Telegraph.

He warned that the country must quickly realise where the world is headed and suggested that spending three per cent of GDP – just over £68billion – on an Iron Dome would be a sensible idea.

Britain currently relies on a sophisticated, multi-layered approach to its air defences, with Typhoon fighter jets (pictured) and Type-45 destroyers acting as the main anti-missile firepower

Type-45 destroyers are another one of the UKs strongest anti-missile systems

Sky Sabre is an air defence missile system comprising of three separate components: its radar, its command and control and its missiles

The Iron Dome batteries can neutralise threats launched from up to 43 miles away, while at the same time ignoring projectiles that are projected to strike unpopulated areas.

The 10 Iron Domes placed throughout the country are able to defend up to nearly 60 square miles of land – protecting countless civilians and critical infrastructure.

Mark Francois, the former armed forces minister, told the newspaper: ‘We have nothing remotely comparable to the very comprehensive Israeli Iron Dome system, bar a very few missiles, with limited range.’

Britain currently relies on a sophisticated, multi-layered approach to its air defences, with Typhoon fighter jets and Type-45 destroyers acting as the main anti-missile firepower.

The British military can monitor ballistic missiles launched from Russia at the RAF radar base at Fylindales, North Yorkshire.

However, munitions fired from the Middle East, are more likely to be tracked by NATO-accessed radars based in Turkey, Qatar, and Israel.

It is likely that in the situation of a missile heading towards the UK, it will be intercepted by air defence systems based across NATO allies before they have the chance to hit the country.

But in the event that a projectile makes it through the system, Typhoons can be quickly scrambled to tackle the missile.

In the wake of the current conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, Justin Crump, CEO of geopolitical risk firm Sibylline, warned that air and missile defence has been  ‘lower priority’.

‘You rarely get the war you planned or hoped for, and in an increasingly turbulent world contingencies have to be in place,’ he told the newspaper.

The UK has only one medium-range, ground-based air defence system – Sky Sabre.

According to the Army website, the system ‘can control the flight of 24 missiles simultaneously whilst in flight, guiding them to intercept 24 separate targets’.

But it is unclear how many of the £250milllion systems the UK has, with one deployed in the Falklands and another in Poland.

Along with the UK, several other countries have also expressed interest in buying Iron Dome systems in recent years, including Germany, Romania and India.

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