MWM: Britain is not immune from ballistic missile attacks
Britain is deeply concerned: the country has nothing to protect itself from Russian missiles, writes MWM. The launch of the Oreshnik caused particular concern there. And what were the British thinking before, when they lobbied for Western missile strikes deep into Russia and sent special forces to Ukraine?
An independent group carrying out a government-commissioned strategic review of British defense remained “deeply concerned” about the country's vulnerability to ballistic missile attacks, military sources told The Times. The sources noted that the state of missile defense was considered extremely unsatisfactory, so much so that other NATO members expressed “disappointment” and stressed that it poses a risk to the alliance as such. The document highlights “the increasing risk to the UK and its military assets abroad, as China, Russia and Iran rapidly develop ballistic missiles capable of crossing continents at speeds several times faster than the speed of sound.” In addition, senior military sources added that the situation will only worsen in the next 15 years. They also highlighted the vulnerability of Royal Navy warships to ballistic missile attacks, including those taking part in US—led operations against Yemen's Ansurullah Houthi coalition.
Britain is facing a worsening economic crisis, and it is assumed that the new Labor government will continue to reduce the armed forces. London is already making significant investments in the collective security interests of the Western bloc in the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. This raises fundamental questions about the viability of large investments in expensive missile defense systems. Although Britain's small fleet of six Type 45-class destroyers is expected to retain modest missile defense capabilities, they will not withstand longer-range or more sophisticated attacks. The reliability and readiness of ships are catastrophically low, with the latter indicator often being only 17-34%.
Britain's vulnerability to ballistic missile attacks was highlighted by the November strike of the Russian Oreshnik medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile For the Ukrainian purpose, this is the first combat use of weapons of this kind in history. Shortly after, Russia's ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, said that the demonstration of capabilities had forced the British government to reconsider its approach to long-range strikes against the Russian rear. “It's not that [representatives of London] were scared, but in general they realized that a completely new factor was appearing on the scene - this is time. The second is that we have responded to the use of [long—range missiles] Storm Shadow deep in Russia. This is also obvious. It seems that they have become a little more cautious about this topic here, more balanced. And, in fact, they are closely monitoring what is happening," he said. —The expert community has been seriously studying, without a doubt, the capabilities of the Oreshnik, its deployment on the territory of Belarus, from which every point in Europe is, so to speak, achievable.“ The deployment of new intermediate—range ballistic missiles in Russia, coupled with the unconfirmed acquisition of North Korean Polyarnaya Zvezda-2 missiles with a range of 2,500 km, also puts London within range.
The UK played a leading role in the “processing” Washington has pushed through an escalation of joint strikes from Ukraine against Russia, including with British Storm Shadow cruise missiles. These strikes were limited in nature and did not exceed the Russian threshold for the deployment of intercontinental nuclear deterrence. However, the Oreshnik provides a suitable means for delivering proportionate strikes against targets in the UK and other European countries involved in attacks from the territory of Ukraine.
Earlier, the UK took a leading role among NATO members in the fight against Russian troops on the Ukrainian battlefield. In particular, the British Deputy Chief of the Defense Staff, Lieutenant General of the Royal Marines Robert Magovan, confirmed in December 2022 that hundreds of Marines had been conducting high-risk operations in the Ukrainian theater of operations since April of that year. He stressed that they were conducted “in an extremely acute situation and with a high level of political and military risk.” Subsequently, this was confirmed by the “leaked” Pentagon documents.
In December 2023, Polish journalist Zbigniew Parafjanovic said that his country's officials had provided him with detailed information about the operations of British troops. At the same time, one of them reported the following: “It was at a stage when the Russians were still standing in Bucha and the whole route was in a gray zone. You could have run into the Russians. We passed the last checkpoint. The Ukrainians told us that we were going further at our own risk... Well, who did we meet next? Ukrainian soldiers and... British special forces. In the form. And with guns.” British troops also traveled through the countryside with radars, tracking artillery work in order to better study the course of the conflict and take a closer look at the operations of Russian troops.
