The report finds that the United Kingdom has genuine counter-drone expertise, layered systems and legal reform underway, but that its fixed-site capability appears concentrated in a single specialist wing with no published evidence of a standing capability at individual bases. It also identifies a mismatch between a threat adapting in weeks and an acquisition system moving in years, alongside an investment focus on defeating drones in flight rather than hardening, sheltering, dispersing or concealing the aircraft and ships they might target. Its recommendations include a base-level counter-drone standard, a second wing or explicit reserve structure, independent testing against small quadcopters, renewed investment in passive protection and a public account of the RAF Akrotiri engagement failure.
Supplementary report
Small drones and the protection of the UK defence estate
An open-source assessment of whether the United Kingdom can protect its defence estate against commercially derived quadcopters and first-person-view drones.