Charlie Parker

The Russian army lost almost an entire battalion in a single set of strikes by Ukrainian artillery this week. In one of the heaviest documented barrages of the war, around 70 tanks and armoured fighting vehicles were destroyed thetimes.co.uk/article/russia…

Israel could flatten southern Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah creating a Ukrainian-style "kill zone" with drones, @FTusa284 says, after the militia hit IDF tanks, armoured personnel carriers and a Humvee using FPV kamikazes thetimes.com/world/middle-e…

Exclusive: The army has launched an investigation after officers complained about their lack of kit and that they are “not ready for wars” and joked they would die in the first wave of conflict thetimes.com/article/2bde2e…

🚨 UK troops downed 14 drones in Iraq last night, the busiest night since Iran war started – UK defence officials. The drones were shot down by laser-guided Martlet missiles from Rapid Sentry launchers (originally procured in secret) and operated by RAF Regiment.

Curbing our right to know would be a blow to democracy. My Thunderer in today’s Times on floated government plans to kneecap key anti-corruption legislation by weakening FOI. thetimes.com/article/77a1c1…

The Times: Iranian drones ‘directed by hidden hand of Putin’ #TomorrowsPapersToday

A British team has triumphed in the Pentagon’s kamikaze drone combat trials to win a defence contract worth tens of millions of pounds, by @charliehparker thetimes.com/article/864f9a…

Iranian proxies used Google Maps to target RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus with a kamikaze drone Public satellite imagery shows American U2 spy planes parked directly outside the hangar that was hit in the attack thetimes.com/uk/defence/art…

Donald Trump's war with Iran is rapidly becoming global, with more than a dozen other countries in the firing line, or mobilising their armed forces, as Tehran fights back. news.sky.com/story/donald-t…

The soldiers are the “last line of defence” for a coalition base housing UK forces at an undisclosed location in northern Iraq They also reportedly use the Orcus electronic warfare weapon system to neutralise aerial threats Full story 👇 thetimes.com/article/25269a…

Exclusive: Specialist British troops in Iraq, believed to be part of RAF Regiment, have been shooting down more Iranian drones than RAF jets defending Qatar and Jordan The unit uses Rapid Sentry ground launchers to fire short range lightweight multirole missiles (LMMs) at drones

🚨 SCOOP: Photo of damage to secret US spy site on RAF Akrotiri. The drone hit a hangar for US U-2 spy planes on Operation Olive Harvest Is this “minimal” as per John Healey? UK Home Sec Yvette Cooper claimed the drone hit the runway. Not true. thesun.co.uk/news/38414897/…

NEW: British fighter jets shooting down cheap Iranian drones with expensive air-to-air missiles is akin to “firing golden bullets at plastic targets”, weapons experts have said

The expansion of Donald Trump’s war against Iran to a British base in Cyprus is a nightmare for the UK, which lacks adequate air defences and only has a limited capacity to fight back. Sir Keir Starmer talks reassuringly about how his military has bolstered its forces in the Middle East, including with the deployment of Typhoon warplanes to Qatar, while F-35 fighter jets are operating out of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. But these aircraft have very limited stockpiles of munitions and neither of model is the sort of thing that should be used for shooting down drones – they are far more sophisticated, designed for much more capable enemies and their air-to-air missiles are vastly more expensive that the contraption they’re up against. The jets can take down cruise missiles but a much more effective piece of equipment for that task is the army’s Sky Sabre air defence system. It is unclear whether one of these has been deployed. The Ministry of Defence by contrast has confirmed that ground troops specialised in countering drones are in the region – though they failed to take out the single attack drone that crashed into a runway at RAF Akrotiri on Sunday night. Then there is the threat posed by Iran’s ballistic missiles. The regime does not any capable of reaching the UK mainland, but they could fly as far as Cyprus as well as across the Middle East. Yet, the only piece of UK kit capable of blasting this kind of weapon out of the sky is the Type 45 destroyer. The Royal Navy has six of these warships but only three are available for deployment and it is not thought any were in the region. If you rewind a decade, Britain had a much bigger naval presence in the Gulf, with one, if not two warships operating out of Bahrain, along with four minehunters and a vast support ship. Today there are none. Instead, when it comes to Cyprus and other British Middle East interests, the UK is relying on the US President’s “armada” of aircraft carriers and other warships to deal with the ballistic missile threat. With Iran lashing out in response to the American attacks, Mr Starmer on Sunday U-turned on a decision not to allow US planes to strike Iran from British bases. He justified his change of heart by saying he now thought it was a legitimate request in self-defence provided the Americans only go after Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities. He said Britain was not taking part in these strikes – but clearly this could also change, especially if more UK interests are hit. Though, that too raises awkward questions about the UK’s ability to launch strikes. The Typhoon jets and the F-35 warplanes carry bombs that could destroy Iranian missile launchers. If fitted with Storm Shadow cruise missiles, the Typhoon jets could also blast the entrance of heavily protected storage depots where the Iranian military keeps its missile stocks, well protected underground. This would make it impossible for them to be used. But a larger weapon would be far better for that kind of offensive operation. The best option for the UK would be a Tomahawk cruise missile launched from one of the navy’s attack submarines. Yet, problems with the maintenance of the five Astute-class boats in the fleet and a shortage of crews mean there have been chunks of time when none of these submarines were at sea. The situation has improved slightly and earlier this year the government made a rare announcement about the deployment of one of the boats, which is usually kept secret. It said HMS Anson was visiting Australia - not particularly useful for a war in the Middle East. Defence insiders say the sorry state of the UK armed forces is the hard reality of a failure by successive governments over decades to invest in more weapons to blast missiles and drones out of the sky as well as the munitions to strike back. It is now all looking a bit too late news.sky.com/story/britain-…

British hardware is still being used to power the suicide drones behind Russia’s devastating attacks on Ukrainian cities and its civilians, a Times investigation with @occrp @tijd @KyivIndependent and others has found. thetimes.com/uk/defence/art…

As I made clear at the Sea Power Conference, the High North is once again central to strategic competition. Stated here by Defence Minister @AlistairCarns, the greatest threat to Britain comes from the High North.

Full story on why the greatest military threat facing Britain emanates from the High North 👇 thetimes.com/article/755268…

Climbing frozen waterfalls with the @RoyalMarines was definitely one of the more mental jobs I’ve done… Great to join 30 Commando’s elite Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron on an arctic expedition in North Norway this week, and see Viking vehicles in action

Defence concern is significantly higher among Liberal Democrat, Labour and Green supporters, suggesting the issue is cutting across traditional political divides Reform and Conservative supporters are notably less bothered

Defence Sec @JohnHealey_MP told @thetimes “demands on defence are rising” due to “Russian aggression”, crackdowns on the shadow fleet and the UK’s pledge to deploy troops to Ukraine He said Britain is meeting the threats “with hard power, strong alliances and sure diplomacy”

Exclusive: Public concern about defence has doubled in a month, making it as big a worry as the NHS and inflation Polling for @thetimes by @Ipsos has revealed one of the sharpest surges in unease about global politics and the prospect of war in years thetimes.com/uk/defence/art…