Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the use of the US C-Ram defence system in response to a recent drone attack on US troops at the Iraqi airport, what anti-missile defence capability the Government has against (a) drones and (b) longer range missiles.

The UK has several Counter-Uncrewed Aerial Systems and counter-missile capabilities for the Force Protection of UK personnel across the different domains of air, maritime and land. Whilst we are unable to comment specifically on the number and nature of the capabilities deployed for reasons of sensitivity and Force Protection, we can confirm they are all built around an ability to Detect, Track, Identify and Defeat drones operating with hostile intent in the vicinity of UK personnel and critical assets. Additionally, the Sky Sabre missile provides enduring, all weather, ground-based air defence; this will form the baseline for the future medium-range air defence capability and is being developed by the Army. In the maritime domain existing capabilities fitted to ships, such as short-range gun systems, as well as the Phalanx Close-In Weapons System and the Sea Ceptor and Sea Viper missiles, offer effective defence against medium and large drones and long-range missiles.