UK Drafts New Powers to Shoot Down Drones Over Military Bases, Defence Minister to Announce

Britain is drawing up new powers to allow service personnel to shoot down unidentified drones that pose a threat to military bases, Defence Secretary John Healey will announce on Monday.

Healey is expected to outline the measures as part of a package of responses to what ministers describe as an increasing threat from Russia. In remarks shared with Reuters in advance, he will say: “Last month we saw 19 drones cross the Polish border. A few days later a Russian jet violated Estonian airspace, while around the same time there was a concerted campaign to interfere in Moldova’s elections.”

He will tell defence officials that the government is developing new powers to enable the armed forces to bring down unidentified drones over UK military sites — powers that will be put on a statutory footing through the Armed Forces Bill.

Drones have caused widespread disruption to European airspace in recent years, forcing airport closures and flight cancellations. Western officials have increasingly pointed to Russia in the wake of heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine, though Moscow denies involvement.

The Telegraph, which first reported the measures on Sunday, said the new powers would initially apply only to military sites, but that the government has not ruled out extending them to other sensitive locations such as airports.

Under current arrangements the military can deploy specialist counter-drone equipment to track incoming drones, attempt to hijack their signals and redirect them. The Telegraph reported that the proposed changes would give service personnel or military police the explicit legal option to shoot down drones immediately on sight — a step that until now has only been permissible in very extreme circumstances.

The move follows an October operation in which the UK said two RAF aircraft carried out a 12-hour patrol with US and NATO forces near the Russian border, after incursions into NATO airspace were detected over countries including Romania and Estonia.

Healey’s announcement signals an effort to modernise legal powers to match evolving threats from small, hard-to-detect aerial systems — while balancing public safety and legal oversight as the government prepares the new legislation.