Russian missiles overwhelm Britain in simulated attack

Times

24-04-2025

Russian missiles overwhelmed the British military in an simulated air attack, it has emerged, prompting calls for homeland defence to be beefed up.
In 2022, the RAF simulated the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as if the air attack were playing out on the UK. Some of the missiles are understood to have got through the defences.
Air Commodore Blythe Crawford, who was until last week head of the RAF Air and Space Warfare Centre, said the military had assumed before the exercise that the UK homeland was safe.
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He told the Royal United Services Institute: 'We have stood for years at the western edge of Europe feeling as though the rest of the continent stood between us and the enemy. We in the UK over the last few decades have become focused on being garrison safe, and making assumptions that we are safe to operate from the home base because most of the wars we've been fighting have been overseas.
'We need to reverse that thinking and assume that from here on, we're under threat in the home base now as well.'
He said that in 2022, after Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the British military simulated 'day one' of the conflict. In the war games — part of the RAF's £36 million Gladiator programme — the UK tried to defend itself from 'hundreds of different types of munitions' attacking from several directions.
The result, Crawford said, was 'not a pretty picture'. It is understood some of the missiles got through British defences thanks to their sheer volume.
'Ukraine has made us all sit up, Crawford said. 'That drove some of the work we have been doing at the warfare centre to get after how we would solve a problem like that if a similar scenario hit the UK.
'One of the lessons we took away from that was, how do we model and simulate something like that? We [loaded] night one of Ukraine into that synthetic environment and played it out against the UK and as you can imagine it was not a pretty picture. It reinforced the fact that we really need to get after this.'
Since the war game, the military has hardened some of its aircraft shelters and practised landing Typhoon aircraft on ice in Finland in its efforts to ensure that aircraft could land in unconventional environments.
It is believed that the situation has improved and if the exercise now played in real life, a lot of the missiles would be intercepted by Nato forces.
However, experts believe that more needs to be done to ensure that the UK can rapidly disperse its aircraft and other critical assets across the country within an hour if it comes under attack. The Ministry of Defence has sharply reduced the number of its airfields over recent years and has stopped using hardened bunkers.
The external panel leading the strategic defence review, due to be published in the coming weeks, is said to have been left deeply concerned during its evidence-gathering by the holes in Britain's missile defences.
Beyond the nuclear deterrent and the air defences provided by its Nato allies, the UK is almost totally reliant on its fleet of six Type 45 destroyers to ward off the ballistic missile attacks. The Type 45 is due to be decommissioned between 2035 and 2038.
The Gladiator simulation system is used for 'highly classified and ultra-realistic' computer simulations on the ground, according to military chiefs. War games can be recorded and paused, so RAF personnel can learn from exercises and adapt.
The system replicates real-life scenarios, allowing American and British aircrews to experience the same environment and threats. Pilots can carry out exercises and practise tactics and procedures that would be impossible in a live environment because of airspace limitations, aircraft availability or security constraints.
An MoD spokeswoman said: 'The UK stands fully prepared to defend itself against any threat alongside our Nato allies.
'Our military is equipped with a range of advanced capabilities to provide a layered approach to air and missile defence.
'This includes the world-class Sea Viper missile system which has successfully shot down a Houthi rebel ballistic missile and attack drones in the Red Sea.'