UK 'Iron Dome' won't protect towns and cities from Russian missiles

British towns and cities will remain unprotected against Russian missile attacks under current plans, expert have warned. As tensions continue to mount with Moscow, calls have been increasing for the UK to replicate Israel's world-beating missile defence shields - the iconic "Iron dome" and longer-range systems to tackle ballistic and hypersonic missile attacks.

These defences, with some help from allied forces, managed to neutralise around 90% of the hundreds of ballistics missiles launched by Iran in two attacks last year. Crucially only one civilian - in the West Bank- was killed. But a multi-layered system like this would be "too prohibitively expensive" to adopt here, experts say.

With plans to create a post-peace European stability force on Ukrainian soil carrying the risk of potential conflict with Russia, Britain will be reliant on the systems it has now or may possessi in the near future.

And those plans are moving apace, with Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin meeting Ukrainian and French counterparts in Kyiv this weekend to coordinate military planning for the multinational force, ahead of Thursday's meeting of defence ministers in Brussels which will be hosted by defence secretary John Healey.

Last year Admiral Radakin said an exploration of whether the UK could have a system like Israel's had begun. But it would be it up to the Government to decide whether it could be afforded, and how far it should extend.

The Ministry of Defence has taken steps to begin to improve the UK's missile defences but, as things stand, even planned new capabilities will mostly focus on protecting key military instillation and infrastructure.

"Britain gave up on the idea on protecting towns and cities during the Cold War - we're just too big ," said Airpower expert Justin Bronk of the RUSI tank tank.

"Patriot systems and their missiles cost around $1 billion each. Missiles cost $4m each. If you buy two, where would you place them? Who would you leave out? "

With defensive systems costing on average 10 times more than offensive ones, the focus will be to take the fight to the enemy, he said.

As the leading critic of Vladimir Putin's territorial ambitions, the UK has long been marked with special disfavour by Russia.

While Britain could benefit from the fact that Russian missiles from the east need to fly over Europe before reaching UK targets, plans for a European Sky Shield Initiative and the UK-led DIAMOND initiative to integrate NATO's missile defences are in their infancy, while Germany's new Israeli Arrow 3 missiles won't be integrated into any Nato system.

And we remain exposed to attacks from the seas to the West.

The best defence against that - other than a British submarine - is the RAF's fleet of 9 Poseidon P-8 maritime patrol aircraft which boast powerful sensors and the ability to drop sophisticated sonobuoys and torpedos.

But given that their duties range from protecting Trident-carrying submarines and commercial shipping to undersea cables and even oil rigs, the UK requires at least 15. We have nine.

A £250m project spearheaded by the UK Missile Defence Centre (MDC) tasked with examining how best to counter a large array of missile threats will deliver its conclusions in six years' time.

Israel, considerably smaller than the UK and honed by decades of missile attacks from seven fronts, has developed a fully-capable "missile shield" able to tackle short and long-range threats

So accurate is it that a national alarm system is now activated only for specific areas that are being targeted.

"We've done lot of things to help people have a sense of security in Israel, and Iron Dome is just one element - but it's expensive, " said an IDF commander of an Iron Dome battery protecting a town of 35,000 people last week.

The other half of Israel's equation is passive defence. Ever citizen has the Home Front Command app on their phones, which sends an alarm in times of threats and directs them to the nearest shelter within 1.5 minutes from their location.

"Every new building in Israel has a shelter. When there's an alarm, people know exactly where to go and they don't have to go to the street," said the IDF officer.

The UK currently does not maintain a system of even public bomb shelters for civilian protection.

Advances are being made, however.

Britain's Quick Reaction Alert Typhoons, our first line of defence against aerial attacks, will be helped by three E-7 Wedgetail early warning aircraft by the end of the year.

The Royal Navy's Type-45 destroyers - the UK's main air defence platforms, capable of tracking hundreds of missiles at a distance of 250 miles at a time - were last seen in action downing Houthi ballistic missiles and drones in the Red Sea.

They will be fitted with upgraded Sea Viper Evolution missiles by 2028.

Some argue that they can be tasked to sit on Britain's coast and protect cities from there.

But the UK has only six, of which only three are active today , and it is likely that most will be needed to assist Nato during a war.

The British Army will receive three additional SkySabre air defence launchers, which can engage in several fighter jets, drones and laser-guided smart bombs simultaneously at a range of 20 miles.

Of the six it has now, two are on the Falklands and the rest are in Poland.

Israel's world-beating missile defence shield consists of four main elements:-

'Iron Beam': a directed energy laser system able to destroy short range rockets, artillery, mortar bombs and drones at a range of 6 miles which is now said to be operational'

'Iron Dome': 10 radar-guided batteries of three launchers each which can be moved around to protect towns and cities. Each launcher can fire 16 manoeuvrable interceptor missiles at targets up to 40 miles away.

'David's Sling': can take down enemy planes, drones and tactical ballistic missiles, medium to long-range rockets and cruise missiles fired up to 200 miles away.

Arrow 3: can intercept ballistic missiles, intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying nuclear, chemical, biological or conventional warheads while they're still in space up to 1,300 miles away.

Comprehensive system of public and private shelters and a national alarm app which directs people to their nearest shelter.

"The UK has the fourth largest defence budget in the world, so one might think we would be strong in the area of missile defence," said maritime defence expert Commander Tom Sharpe.

"But all our ground-based missiles are designed to be both short-range and expeditionary -they weren't designed to cover large areas of land in the UK. "

He added: "The harsh reality is that defence has been hollowed out for so long now, we can barely afford the absolute basics such as ships, tanks and fast jets."

Shadow Armed Forces Minister, Mark Francois, said: "The UK has nothing remotely comparable to Israel's multi-layered missile defence system, of which 'iron dome' is but one part."

The party has launched a major defence review to address this.

Falklands hero Admiral Chris Parry, a former director general of the MoD's Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) said: "I warned 23 years ago that the UK needed to start preparing to adopt a fully integrated missile defence shield.

"The fact is that if war breaks out in the short to medium term, we will be in real trouble as far as defending the UK is concerned."

An MOD Spokesperson said: "The UK stands fully prepared to defend itself against any threat alongside our NATO allies.

"Our military is equipped with a range of advanced capabilities to provide a layered approach to air and missile defence.

"While the UK and Israel face different security environments, we take the threats we face very seriously and the Strategic Defence Review is examining the capabilities we need to keep Britain secure at home and strong abroad."