The Conservative Party said its “Britannia Shield” would have three components – new advanced radar systems, upgraded command and control systems to integrate information from across Britain’s defences and rapidly decide a response, and new interceptor missiles as well as counter-drone capabilities.<\/p>\n
The three-tiered design of the proposal is similar to the British Army’s current Sky Sabre, external<\/a> air defence system.<\/p>\n This system – which can intercept munitions and aircraft as well as integrate with wider air defences – was deployed by the UK to the Middle East<\/a> earlier this year for defensive action against Iranian attacks.<\/p>\n In his speech at the conference in Birmingham, Cartlidge will say: “With a \u00a310bn budget, this would be one of Britain’s most significant military programmes since the cold war.<\/p>\n “But one that is totally necessary because of the threats we face.”<\/p>\n Streeting said in response: “They [the Conservatives] cut the Army to its smallest size since Napoleon and left a \u00a317 billion hole in the equipment plan.<\/p>\n “Their own defence secretary, Ben Wallace, admitted our Armed Forces had been ‘hollowed out and underfunded’.”<\/p>\n The Conservatives said their plan would be funded within their existing commitment to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, paid for by welfare reform and reprioritisation of existing expenditure.<\/p>\n