The rest of Europe is showing the UK what proactive defence looks like

This isn’t the throwaway sentiment of an observer, but the words of the head of the UK’s military, who this week sounded the alarm on the country’s war readiness.

The startling admission from Air Chief Marshall Sir Richard Knighton comes amid mounting warnings about the threat of war with Russia and the US President seeming more and more set on invading Greenland.

The warning is stark. In the event of a further escalation of the war in Europe, the UK would be largely unprepared, unable to fund its equipment programme or meet the goals laid out in its sweeping and ambitious defence review unveiled last year.

Unless something changes, the consequences could be catastrophic.

Beyond just the general escalation of conflict, Ukraine has massively accelerated the way technology is used in combat and Russia has shown that it has little compunction about the targets it chooses.

We’ve seen relentless drone attacks on civilians in urban areas, with some also venturing into the airspace of European airports.

We’ve seen suspected shadow fleet vessels mapping and targeting critical undersea infrastructure. We’ve seen hypersonic missiles aimed at areas in Ukraine near the NATO border, following threats by Putin to target the countries supplying arms to Zelenskyy.

All of this could be coming the UK’s way next. Its geographical distance from the frontline shouldn’t put the government at ease when the development of these technologies is blurring the concept of a ‘front line’.

In order to be prepared for what could unfoldbecome, the UK needs to learn from Europe.

Compare the UK’s readiness to other European countries. Sweden has just announced it will spend $440 million on an unmanned drone defence system as part of a wider $1.6 billion investment in air defence.

In contrast, the UK has spent only £118 million on upgrading its air defence system last year. The UK’s current system is inadequate, designed for smaller scale threats that pre-date the Ukraine war. As defence analyst Sean Bell puts it: ‘the UK no longer has an effective interceptor to protect critical national infrastructure’.

Part of the reason for this is that the UK has historically relied on layers of European countries to protect it. But with the frontline now more abstract than ever, the UK can no longer rely on those assurances.

Spending hundreds of millions of pounds on air defence systems can seem abstract and even frivolous to some, at a time when so many other sectors of society are demanding money, but it only takes one missile or drone to slip through the net for an oversight to become an unspeakable tragedy.

The UK can learn a lot from its European allies when it comes to proactive defence. Without adequate air defence, the horror that is so often seen in the cities of Ukraine could be imported to London.

________

Tobias Billström is the former Swedish foreign minister and now Director of Strategy and Government Affairs of drone defence company Nordic Air Defence.

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

To contact us email opinion@lbc.co.uk