BBC News: Defending bases in The Gulf against Iranian drones
30 April 2026
Featured on BBC News
Iran and the UK
With the Martlet missiles there is a lot of speed and accuracy, so it gives the user what you might call a high probability of kill, so a relatively high certainty that you're going to deal with that threat. Ideally you want layers of these defences though. These missiles aren't particularly cheap, and as the news report very well described, the threat is rather persistent and quite high numbers [of Iranian drones] coming in so you want to deal with those in a cost-effective way...there's a lot of experimentation happening now across the armed forces, in fact. Interceptor drones are fantastic. That's a great low-cost or lower-cost solution to the problem. But you also need layers of tactical radars."

