Kemi Badenoch 'has no real idea of what is needed' over £10bn UK Iron Dome, says defence expert

Kemi Badenoch 'has no real idea of what is needed' over £10bn UK Iron Dome, says defence expert Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has insisted she never compared her proposals for a £10bn 'Britannia Shield' to Israel's Iron Dome - as one defence expert branded the plans 'chicken feed' Kemi Badenoch's proposals for a £10billion Britannia Shield show she has 'has no real idea of what is needed', a defence expert has said. In a speedy U-turn, the Tory leader insisted today that she does not want to build an Iron Dome-style missile defence system - despite her party directly comparing the new proposals to the Israeli defence programme in a press release issued last night. The 10-year plan, which she said would be paid for by cutting benefits, would see a new integrated command-and-control system set up to protect all military bases and infrastructure from "drone or missile attacks". Badenoch told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "I called it the Britannia Shield. We are explaining to people that missile defence systems are things that we need right now. The Iron Dome is one type, and we want people to understand what we’re talking about, we haven’t said that we are replicating that." Now, one defence expert has questioned whether the Leader of the Opposition's sums add up - and suggested installing a counter-rocket and drone system to protect military sites would cost around ten times the figure quoted. Professor Anthony Glees, a professor of politics at the University of Buckingham, told the Mirror: "While 'every little helps', we fear that Kemi Badenoch's £10bn on a 'Britannia Shield' over ten years will be of very little help. Whether it's a gimmick, whether it's gaslighting the British public or whether she genuinely does not understand the task we, as a nation, face is unclear. "Our country's view has been that as long as we are not invaded by a foreign power, and as long as the RAF can protects us from hostile bombers, we will be safe. It's why our RAF bases all over the UK are so scantily defended; a fence here, a CCTV camera and an Alsatian dog there. "But today's drone warfare has changed things entirely. From January to August 2026 there were over a hundred drone sightings over UK nuclear facilities and objects like submarines, a huge increase over last year. In 2024 the highly respected IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies) told us over four days unidentified drones had overflown RAF Fairford, Mildenhall, Lakenheath." "Russia and Iran are the main threats - and Trident, the nuclear submarines, they offer no consequence in in this, because they're not frightening Putin... they clearly don't think we're going to use nuclear weapons against a drone attack." The UK's Trident nuclear deterrent which has an annual running cost of around £3bn, consists of four submarines capable of launching intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. They are missiles intended to strike other countries and cities and in response to Britain coming under attack by similar weapons, rather than being deployed against incursions by drones. Professor Glees explained that, at present, Britain's main defence against drones comes in the Royal Navy's six Type 45 destroyers, which are equipped with a long-range Sea Viper missile system. Only three are currently operational. There are also the army's seven Sky Sabre external air defence systems, which can identify and shoot down munitions and aircraft using a 3D surveillance sensor. Sky Sabre missile systems are usually mounted on 8x8 heavy tactical trucks, including the one deployed to Saudi Arabia earlier this year to help defend the King Fahd Air Base against Iranian attacks. Another is permanently based on the Falkland Islands. Prof Glees added: "Britain certainly needs to be protected from drone attack on its critical national infrastructure but also on our defence and military sites which stretch the length and breadth of our island home. "As General Sir Richard Barrons and others have pointed out, £9bn over ten years is chicken feed; the trust cost of real protection would be £100bn (and needed far sooner than in 2036). "Badenoch also says her Shield would protect Britain's 'critical national infrastructure'. But that critical infrastructure extends over the whole of the UK including Northern Ireland, of course, and all up and down the eastern and southern coastline. That is a huge area to cover compared to Israel - 95,000 square miles compared to just 8,500." It follows previous comments from top generals suggesting that the bill for an Iron Dome-style system could run into the hundreds of billions. In July, General Sir Richard Barrons told MPs on the Commons defence select committee that the cost of an "entry level" C-RAM air defence system that protected the UK was "probably £80bn". Air Marshall Greg Bagwell, ex-Deputy Commander of RAF Air Command, said it would be more cost effective to protect "certain key sites".