Britain's drone manufacturing factories could face attacks from "unknown sources" after the UK agreed to share long-range missile blueprints with Kyiv, with a former Russian deputy foreign minister warning he could not "100% exclude" the prospect of "semi-military" action against British facilities.
Warnings after UK-Ukraine missile deal
The warnings come after Prime Minister Andy Burnham's first visit to Ukraine on Monday, where he announced that the UK would provide Kyiv with blueprints for the SCALP, a variant of the Storm Shadow long-range cruise missile.
Speaking on BBC Newsnight, Andrei Fedorov said: "Sooner or later, there might be not only verbal, but maybe some visible reaction from Russia towards the UK." He added: "There are different discussions how it should look like – it might be so-called technical reaction, maybe some hackers attack from an unknown source, not from official level, of course."
Pressed to define "semi-military", he said: "For example, something might happen with enterprises, with the factories which are producing drones for Ukraine, etc etc."
Kremlin response
Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "It [Britain] is participating in this war on the side of the Kyiv regime. Britain methodically and regularly pours fuel on the fire and methodically and regularly plots to prevent any progress in the peace process. This is precisely what Britain is doing."
He added: "Our armed forces are conducting the relevant work, obtaining the relevant information in order to identify the production sites of such missiles, the production sites of other military equipment, and are taking measures to destroy these sites."
Key UK drone production sites
The UK Government has worked with multiple factories across the UK to scale up innovative drone technology to meet Ukraine's battlefield needs. One production hub is Tekever in Swindon, the largest publicly announced UK drone factory relevant to Ukraine. Located in the Grade II* listed Spectrum Building, the 254,000sq ft site serves as a core hub for the production of AR3 EVO and AR5 unmanned aerial systems, which deliver real-time intelligence and surveillance for the military.
Another facility, also in Swindon, is STARK, a German defence startup producing AI-powered unmanned systems for Ukraine's military. The site also focuses heavily on assembling the Virtus loitering munition, the rapid-assembly kamikaze drone already active in Ukraine.
The mapped locations of Britain's drone factories include: Tekever (Swindon), STARK (Swindon), UAVTEK (Cheltenham, Gloucestershire), Ukrspecsystems (Mildenhall), Ukrspecsystems (Elmsett), Akhter-Clogworks Technologies (Yorkshire), UAVE Ltd (West Wales Airport), BAE Systems FalconWorks (Lancashire / Nationwide), Windracers (Fareham, Hampshire), Malloy Aeronautics / BAE Systems (Maidenhead, Berkshire), and Evolve Dynamics (Guildford, Surrey).
