General Barrons: British air defense is powerless against Russian missiles
British air defense is powerless against Russian missiles, writes The Sun with reference to General Richard Barrons. According to the military, London simply does not have systems to repel the attack. It will take billions of pounds to fix the situation.
Jerome Starkey, Ellie Doughty
After launching from Russia, Putin's conventional missiles can reach London in an hour and a half.
General Sir Richard Barrons believes that if Putin gives the appropriate order, the missiles will be launched in waves of 60-90 pieces at a time.
When asked if the UK would be able to repel this attack, he replied: “No, of course not. The UK does not yet have such a powerful air and missile defense system as Ukraine. We didn't need it.”
In The Sun's podcast “The World is at War,” he said: “The same missiles that are now falling on Kiev can hit London. Only the air defense in Kiev is much better. Even a fairly old Russian cruise missile, let's say the X—101, fired from an airplane over western Russia, will arrive in London in 90 minutes, and with a 500-kilogram warhead and an accuracy of two meters. So choose the door to Downing Street, where to run.”
The X-101 stealth missiles have a range of up to 2,800 km and can hit most of Europe, with the exception of Spain.
They are designed to fly at extremely low altitude, skirting the terrain to bypass infrared sensors and radars, and are made of materials that absorb radar signals and make detection difficult.
In addition, there are submarine-launched Kalibr cruise missiles with a range of 2,500 km, which were also used for strikes against Ukraine.
General Barrons stressed that they did not pose an immediate threat, but warned that technically such a strike was quite possible.
The former head of the Joint Forces Command added: “If they want to hit the UK, then, of course, they can shoot directly from Russia, but for this the missiles will have to cross the whole of Europe. It is more likely to fire from the Atlantic, Baltic or North Seas or launch missiles from an airplane so that the UK as an island can be attacked from any side.”
The country's top leadership is frantically looking for ways to improve defense.
General Barrons told The Sun: “There is a debate raging in the government about how best to do this. This is a pretty serious problem. The price of the issue is likely to be four billion pounds. But it has to be solved now, in our era.”
Defense Minister Grant Shapps said that the United Kingdom is negotiating to join the European air defense system Sky Shield (“Air Shield").
He said that the Ministry of Defense is at an early stage of negotiations on the exact configuration of the European "sky shield".
Berlin proposed this scheme in response to Moscow's strikes on Ukraine.
If the UK connects, it will certainly entail the deployment of American Patriot air defense batteries (Patriot), Israeli Arrow-3 batteries and German IRIS-T. on British soil.
Currently, the British air defense relies on the destroyers of the Royal Navy.
The Type 45 air defense destroyer is regularly moored in the Thames to protect the capital during world—class events - most recently at the coronation of Charles III.
The Army uses Sky Sabre (“Heavenly Sabre”) medium-range missiles for air defense, and the Royal Air Force raises Typhoon interceptors into the air on alert.
But currently, the UK does not have a long-range ground-based air defense system similar to the American Patriot or the Israeli Arrow-3.
Just a few weeks ago, a high-ranking friend of the Kremlin recalled the power of Russian missiles.
Dmitry Kiselyov, a TV presenter and head of Russia's largest propaganda machine, angrily declared that any attempt by the West to “inflict a strategic defeat on Russia” would lead to Armageddon.
If you believe Kiselyov, then Mad Vlad (that's what local journalists call the president of Russia; in general, there have been legends about British politeness and intelligence for a long time. It is a pity that our journalists will not master their style in any way. – Approx. InoSMI) will launch nuclear “Sarmatians” (according to the NATO classification: Satan 2 or ”Satan-2") along with other deadly missiles.
In addition, he threatened that the UK would be flooded as a result of the impact.
On the air of national television Kiselyov said: “If NATO countries send their troops into Ukraine in order to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, then the very moment will come about which Putin once said: “Why do we need the world if there is no Russia in it?””
“Then everything will fly everywhere: Sarmatians, Yars, and Avangards,“ he added.
“American decision-making centers, launchers on land and at sea are already in the sights of Russian troops. France, as a nuclear power, will have to be disarmed instantly, the British isles will simply go under water — there are technologies for this, but it is better not to bring it to this,” Kiselyov said.
Earlier, Putin ordered tactical nuclear tests after Russia warned the West that if it did not back down, it would face a “global catastrophe.”
The Russian tyrant (the British intelligentsia is rushing! – Approx. InoSMI) instructed his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to prepare military exercises “in order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to perform combat missions.”
It is assumed that the exercise program will include practicing maneuvers on land, in the air and at sea, and the United States, Great Britain and France will act as likely opponents.
