LONDON, April 2. /TASS/. Britain has "extremely limited capability" to defend itself against ballistic missiles, which poses a serious threat to the country’s security amid the growing number of such strikes in modern warfare, Colin Da Silva, who served as assistant chief of air staff for the Royal Air Force, told the Financial Times (FT).

The Ministry of Defense and the Treasury have still not clarified, in his words, the amount of "sufficient funding" in this area. Debate about the adequacy of Britain’s air and missile defenses has sharpened, according to the publication, following Iran’s attempted strike in March on the British-American base at Diego Garcia with two ballistic missiles. Britain's European allies have land-based missile defense systems designed to defeat high-altitude, fast-moving targets and hypersonic weapons. London, however, relies on Type 45 destroyers armed with Aster 15 and Aster 30 naval air defense systems. These systems have a "very limited capability" and are unable to protect a significant part of the UK territory, Da Silva stated.

Royal Air Force Typhoon fighters armed with AIM-132 missiles, as well as the Sky Sabre medium-range ground-based anti-missile system, are not designed to intercept ballistic missiles or hypersonic weapons.

Responding to criticism about its missile defenses, the British Ministry of Defense stated, "we have the resources we need to keep the United Kingdom safe from attacks, whether it’s on our soil or from abroad." The Ministry of Defense also noted that the UK is relying on its NATO allies for this. However, military experts doubt, as the FT reports, that neighboring NATO member countries can be relied upon to use scarce and expensive interceptors on incoming missiles that are not directly aimed at them, particularly if they too were under attack.