UK lack of Missile Defences
Discussion
Posting in here as it's probably as close to a "war stuff" forum as we have and I'm more interested in the logistical side of this than the politics of it so avoiding NP&E.
Obviously events in Iran have shone a bit of a light on the apparent lack of a UK missile defence system.
Is it as simple as years of underfunding or has a bit of complacency also set in?
What would be needed to fix it?
Is it as "simple" (as much as MOD procurement terms can ever be simple) as handing someone some money for a few batteries of "something"?
Obviously events in Iran have shone a bit of a light on the apparent lack of a UK missile defence system.
Is it as simple as years of underfunding or has a bit of complacency also set in?
What would be needed to fix it?
Is it as "simple" (as much as MOD procurement terms can ever be simple) as handing someone some money for a few batteries of "something"?
Yeah I'm less interested in the politics (how we find the money) and more the "is it as simple as that?" side.
Do we literally write someone a cheque and they can set these things up quickly or are we talking years of infrastructure to create suitable sites etc.
To stress this is the logistical and "how it works" angle not the politics of it.
Do we literally write someone a cheque and they can set these things up quickly or are we talking years of infrastructure to create suitable sites etc.
To stress this is the logistical and "how it works" angle not the politics of it.
borcy said:
Yes it's quite alot of money and there's a waiting list for most of them. So yes years.
^This.And a UK Govt isn't going to write any cheque anyway, as it doesn't believe (doesn't want to believe) that mainland UK would ever be a target for a ballistic missile attack.
Spending the money on more viable (and relatively cheap) anti-drone systems should likely be a bigger priority than an anti-ballistic missile system.
Using multi-million pound air-air missiles fired from fighters is not a solution.
aeropilot said:
^This.
And a UK Govt isn't going to write any cheque anyway, as it doesn't believe (doesn't want to believe) that mainland UK would ever be a target for a ballistic missile attack.
Spending the money on more viable (and relatively cheap) anti-drone systems should likely be a bigger priority than an anti-ballistic missile system.
Using multi-million pound air-air missiles fired from fighters is not a solution.
Yeah obviously this question was bought on by the current situation but it was slightly surprising that if the media reports are accurate we don't seem to have anything covering any of the mainland UK.And a UK Govt isn't going to write any cheque anyway, as it doesn't believe (doesn't want to believe) that mainland UK would ever be a target for a ballistic missile attack.
Spending the money on more viable (and relatively cheap) anti-drone systems should likely be a bigger priority than an anti-ballistic missile system.
Using multi-million pound air-air missiles fired from fighters is not a solution.
I don't know how accurate those reports are and likewise I don't know about the reports of batteries or systems in other countries (Romania and Poland and Aegis cruisers in Spain was mentioned I believe).
Not sure how much of a recent fixture those are and how much is down to current events or Ukraine.
I suppose it's just a bit of a surprise if there is literally nothing other than detection but I wouldn't claim to understand the logistics around how "small" or not the UK is in terms of those sorts of systems.
butchstewie said:
aeropilot said:
^This.
And a UK Govt isn't going to write any cheque anyway, as it doesn't believe (doesn't want to believe) that mainland UK would ever be a target for a ballistic missile attack.
Spending the money on more viable (and relatively cheap) anti-drone systems should likely be a bigger priority than an anti-ballistic missile system.
Using multi-million pound air-air missiles fired from fighters is not a solution.
Yeah obviously this question was bought on by the current situation but it was slightly surprising that if the media reports are accurate we don't seem to have anything covering any of the mainland UK.And a UK Govt isn't going to write any cheque anyway, as it doesn't believe (doesn't want to believe) that mainland UK would ever be a target for a ballistic missile attack.
Spending the money on more viable (and relatively cheap) anti-drone systems should likely be a bigger priority than an anti-ballistic missile system.
Using multi-million pound air-air missiles fired from fighters is not a solution.
.
As said, from a UK Govt pov, its not ever been seen as an important or needed defence system for UK mainland.
LivLL said:
I remember a time when missile defenses were placed on rooftops in London. It was this century too.
If you are referring to the measures put in place during the 2012 London Olympics, they were not anti-missile systems, they were anti-aircraft systems.....there's a big difference.butchstewie said:
Yeah obviously this question was bought on by the current situation but it was slightly surprising that if the media reports are accurate we don't seem to have anything covering any of the mainland UK.
I don't know how accurate those reports are and likewise I don't know about the reports of batteries or systems in other countries (Romania and Poland and Aegis cruisers in Spain was mentioned I believe).
Not sure how much of a recent fixture those are and how much is down to current events or Ukraine.
I suppose it's just a bit of a surprise if there is literally nothing other than detection but I wouldn't claim to understand the logistics around how "small" or not the UK is in terms of those sorts of systems.
It's never really been a thing in the uk, missiles were either extremely difficult/impossible to stop or we aimed to shoot down the aircraft delivering it. I don't know how accurate those reports are and likewise I don't know about the reports of batteries or systems in other countries (Romania and Poland and Aegis cruisers in Spain was mentioned I believe).
Not sure how much of a recent fixture those are and how much is down to current events or Ukraine.
I suppose it's just a bit of a surprise if there is literally nothing other than detection but I wouldn't claim to understand the logistics around how "small" or not the UK is in terms of those sorts of systems.
Although there are few different types of missiles so need different solutions but I'm assuming it's the long range stuff from iran you're meaning.
aeropilot said:
LivLL said:
I remember a time when missile defenses were placed on rooftops in London. It was this century too.
If you are referring to the measures put in place during the 2012 London Olympics, they were not anti-missile systems, they were anti-aircraft systems.....there's a big difference.LivLL said:
aeropilot said:
LivLL said:
I remember a time when missile defenses were placed on rooftops in London. It was this century too.
If you are referring to the measures put in place during the 2012 London Olympics, they were not anti-missile systems, they were anti-aircraft systems.....there's a big difference.I guess if there is ballistic missle attack from somewhere our submarines should evaporate the place.
Also, its a lot cheaper not to meddle in everyones affairs and then nobody wants to attack us. We have great relationship with all European countries.
You look at Israel - yeah i guess they have pissed off a number of people so they do need the defences.
Also, its a lot cheaper not to meddle in everyones affairs and then nobody wants to attack us. We have great relationship with all European countries.
You look at Israel - yeah i guess they have pissed off a number of people so they do need the defences.
Surely it’s just not needed? Realistically, who is going to be lobbing missiles at us? The only nations who are adversaries are really just the Russians, Iran and China. NK just get left alone to starve their own people. With the Russians we’ve got the nuclear deterrent, the Chinese are too busy taking over the world economically and the Iranians are presently being wiped out militarily. The real risk, to me at least, is Islamist terrorism - and they’re not going to be using ballistic missiles.
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