Drone protection/ Britain sends "James Bond" ship to Cyprus

2026-03-03 22:34:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

A Royal Navy "destroyer" is expected to arrive in Cyprus next week, after Keir Starmer announced it would be sent to protect the country and British bases there, after hostile drones targeted RAF Akrotiri on Monday.

The prime minister said HMS Dragon, currently in the Channel, would be deployed along with two Wildcat helicopters with anti-drone capabilities, following a phone call with the country’s president, Nikos Christodoulides. The British decision comes hours after France promised to make a similar military deployment to Cyprus, although some experts said it was a surprise that the UK had not sought to reinforce its regional interests earlier.

John Foreman, a former UK defence attaché in Moscow, said the UK appeared to have decided to largely ignore the highly visible US regional military build-up ahead of the US-Israeli attack on Iran on Saturday.

"The fact that the UK is now 'considering' sending a destroyer to the eastern Mediterranean is a clear indication that one should have been there already," Foreman said.

He said the decision "seems to have been driven more by news that the French are sending ships to the area. The Ministry of Defence has been consistently behind the power curve and is now struggling to catch up. A failure of planning, intelligence and foresight," Foreman added.

The Conservative shadow defence secretary, James Cartlidge, echoed these criticisms, saying: “We need the highly capable air defence that she (HMS Dragon) provides to protect RAF Akrotiri. That raises the question: why wasn’t she there already?”

The prime minister’s spokesman said that appropriate defenses had already been deployed in Cyprus, adding that the assets deployed “include radar systems, air defenses and F-35 fighter jets.” He said: “This is a significant level of defense capability for our bases in Cyprus.”

The ship would take five to seven days to reach Cyprus from Portsmouth, as it travels at around 30 knots (34.5 mph), although it was not immediately clear how ready the destroyer was to sail.

A Shahed drone breached air defenses at RAF Akrotiri air base in Cyprus on Monday, causing minor damage as it crashed on the runway despite counter-drone units being deployed to the scene. Two more drones were intercepted later that day.

The US has given no indication of how long it intends to continue bombing Iran, but on Monday evening Donald Trump said the war could last four to five weeks, although the ability of Iran and its allies to fight may not last much longer.

The United Kingdom did not participate in the initial joint US-Israeli attack on Iran, which began on Saturday morning with the assassination of Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and several other key figures, bombed while they were holding a meeting in Tehran.

But the UK has gradually become involved, shooting down drones flying over Qatar and Iraq over the weekend in defensive operations. Then, on Sunday, Starmer said he would allow the US to bomb Iranian missile sites from British bases.

British personnel continue to be engaged in defensive operations. In the past 24 hours, RAF F-35 pilots shot down a Shahed drone over Jordan using a £200,000 Asraam missile, while a Typhoon pilot shot down a drone operated by Qatar. British forces have also shot down drones in Iraqi airspace that were heading towards Western forces in the country.

HMS Dragon is one of three Type 45 destroyers available and is designed to stop incoming missiles and drones. Last May, the warship intercepted a supersonic missile during an exercise off the Scottish coast.

France has already agreed to send a frigate and anti-drone systems to Cyprus, Cypriot government officials said. A request for support has also been made by Germany, which is under consideration.

So far, no major Royal Navy warships are in the Middle East or have been deployed to the region. A single minesweeper, HMS Middleton, is based in Bahrain.

Cypriot sources said the drone that hit the runway was believed to have been flown from territory in Lebanon controlled by Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian group he represents, although this has not yet been confirmed by the Ministry of Defense.

Cypriots living near Akrotiri were advised to take shelter after the first drone attack, and families of British service personnel are being evacuated from the base as a security precaution.

Earlier in the day, another destroyer, HMS Duncan, was thought to be sent to Cyprus, but HMS Dragon was ultimately chosen. The warship appeared in the James Bond film “No Time to Die,” firing missiles at a poison island on the orders of the head of MI6 and killing 007 in the process./CNA, translated by The Guardian