- The Armed Forces Bill, having reached its second reading in Parliament, will soon allow UK troops to down drones in and around military sites
- It is said the number of cases in which drones have harassed British military sites has doubled from 126 in 2024 to 266 last year.
- It is understood that personnel will first lean on EW effects to down a drone, and should this fail, they will resort to shooting them down
A new piece of legislation will empower UK troops to respond to rogue uncrewed systems (UxS) harassing defence sites across the country.
Only police and certain other agencies are permitted to defeat drones to prevent crime under current legislation, however the new law meet a growing domestic security threat. It is hoped the change in legislation will help to resolve the growing number of cases in which UxS have harassed bases and defence property in recent years.
According to the government, the number of cases doubled from 126 in 2024 to 266 last year.
The new Armed Forces Bill – which will also expand the Armed Forces Covenant and implement provisions for the Reserves – will be subjected to scrutiny, after which it will proceed to a third reading for agreement.
Conditions for a military response
At this stage, having passed its second reading in Parliament, meaning it is subject to change, the Bill stipulates that troops can only interfere with a UxS at any place in the UK (including in, on, above or below the territorial sea adjacent to the UK) if it is being used to conduct a “relevant offence”, or there is risk of it being used in this way, in relation to a defence area or defence property.
A “relevant offence” covers a number of purposes, the Bill suggests: obtaining protected information, assisting a foreign intelligence service, entering a site for a purpose prejudicial to the UK, unauthorised entry generally, sabotage, among other reasons.
Authorisation to respond must be given in writing and include specific details such as the related area or property and the timeframe to counter rogue systems (which cannot exceed 12 months).
Likewise, the senior officer responsible for the response must be of at least the rank of Lieutenant Commander, Major or Squadron Leader, or a high level civil servant specified in a notice published by the Secretary of State, although it does not specify whether this ought to be the Defence or Home Secretary.
Reality check: decentralised response
Two years ago, RAF Lakenheath, which hosts four US Air Force F-35 and F-15E squadrons, was one of many sensitive defence bases in the UK struggling to counter drone incursions. At the time, the former Defence Procurement Minister assured there were multi layered and credible force protection measures in place, albeit declining to comment on specific capabilities.
Other military spaces have been targeted too, from RAF bases in East Anglia to the nation’s flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, though in this instance, the civilian drone was said to be no closer than 250 metres.
In the end, there is little defensive units can learn about the intent of rogue drones in and around domestic military sites and what behaviours constitute a relevant offence – which also leads to questions to the contrary, namely when not to interfere. For this reason, decision making will be decentralised to individual commanders.
It is understood that the responsible person will need to make a judgement as to what level of threat the drone poses, at what distance to a site, and what action is appropriate to take against it.
The first countermeasures personnel will utilise are electronic warfare (EW) effects to disrupt the drone’s signal, thereby taking it down or forcing it to land. According to a report from analytics firm GlobalData, EW is one of “the most effective means that can successfully suppress enemy UAS operations”.
But in extreme circumstances, troops will have the authority to shoot down drones using whatever equipment commanders deem appropriate.
On the other end, this could include considerable firepower such as the British Army’s Sky Sabre medium range, surface-to-air missile defence systems. Last summer, the Ministry of Defence decided to double the number of Land Ceptor units on British soil over the next three years.
