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

Britain is drafting 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 set to unveil 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 legal powers to enable the armed forces to bring down unidentified drones over UK military sites — powers that will be placed on a statutory footing through the Armed Forces Bill.

Drones have caused growing disruption across European airspace in recent years, forcing airport closures and flight cancellations. Western officials, amid heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine, have increasingly pointed to Russia, which has denied involvement.

The Telegraph, which first reported the proposed measures, 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 on sight — a step that, until now, has only been permissible in very extreme circumstances.

The announcement 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 were detected into NATO airspace over countries including Romania and Estonia.

The move signals an effort to modernise legal authorities to match evolving threats from small, hard-to-detect aerial systems, while the government prepares legislation to ensure appropriate oversight and safeguards.