UK says sightings of

The UK government wants to give military personnel new powers to shoot down unidentified drones near British bases, citing a doubling of reported drone incidents around defense installations last year, as European countries accused. Russia from NATO threatening nations with “hybrid warfare.”

“In 2025, 266 incidents of unmanned aerial vehicles were reported at defense sites, an increase on the 126 incidents reported in 2024,” the British Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Monday announcing proposed changes to UK laws. Current laws require troops to call local police when a suspicious drone is detected near a base.

“The doubling of drones near military sites in the UK over the past year underlines the growing and changing nature of the threats we face,” British Defense Secretary John Healey said in the statement. “Through the Armed Forces Bill, we are giving our military greater powers to eliminate and shoot down threatening drones near bases. And increasing investment in counter-drone technology to keep Britain safe at home and strong abroad.”

According to the ministry, the new legislation will give “authorized personnel” the “power to eliminate drones that are considered a threat to any Defense site without the need for police assistance”, including aerial, maritime and “land” drones.

Drones of all kinds – land, sea and air – have become vital tools for both sides amid Russia’s current and large scale. invasion of ukraine. However, over the past year, European NATO nations have reported unidentified drones flying near military bases and civilian infrastructure many hundreds of kilometers from Ukraine, forcing airport closures on at least a couple of occasions.

While the UK Ministry of Defense did not cite any specific foreign threats in its statement on Monday, violations of airspace by mystery aircraft were reported last year in about half a dozen other European nations, including Lithuania, which called it part of The escalation of Russia’s “hybrid war” in retaliation for Europe’s support for Ukraine.

Moscow denies being behind airspace violations in Europe and dismisses reports as “Russophobia.”

While dealing with raids around its own bases, Britain has also taken an active role in assisting other NATO nations. respond to incidentseven sending specialized counter-drone equipment and personnel to Belgium in November after a series of sightings near airports and military bases there.

Belgium’s main international airport in Brussels and one of Europe’s largest cargo airports, near the city of Liege, were forced to temporarily close at the time due to drone incursions. Before that, authorities reported a series of unknown Drone flights near a military base in Belgium where American nuclear weapons are stored.

A couple of months earlier, Denmark’s second largest airport was forced to suspend flights for the same reason, and there were also drone sightings near NATO military bases in the country.

The British Army said on Monday that the current government had “quadrupled its spending on unmanned aerial systems” since taking office a year and a half ago, “allocating more than £200 million [$274 million] “Only this year, reflecting the priority of autonomy and anti-drone technology as a key product.”

The ministry said the investments included new drones deployed to protect military bases, advanced video surveillance and “integrated threat monitoring systems to strengthen base security.”

British officials last spring announced a successful field test of a new type of weapon designed specifically to counter a drone “swarm attack,” in which multiple drones are launched in coordination to overwhelm defenses.

In a statement last April, the British government said soldiers had “successfully tracked, targeted and defeated drone swarms” for the first time using “a new directed energy weapon developed in the United Kingdom.”

The “RapidDestroyer”, a radio frequency directed energy weapon (RF DEW), was developed by a consortium led by the British arm of French defense giant Thales. The test took place at a military weapons range in Wales, “and was the largest counter-drone swarm exercise the British Army has undertaken to date,” according to the government.