The Conservative leader's £10bn Britannia Shield proposal demonstrates she "has no real idea of what is needed" for UK defence, according to a defence expert, who branded the plans "chicken feed" compared to the true cost of protection.
Kemi Badenoch insisted on Tuesday that she never compared her proposals to Israel's Iron Dome, despite her party directly linking the new plans to the Israeli defence programme in a press release issued the previous night. The 10-year plan, which she said would be funded by cutting benefits, would establish a new integrated command-and-control system to protect all military bases and infrastructure from "drone or missile attacks".
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Badenoch said: "I called it the Britannia Shield. We are explaining to people that missile defence systems are things that we need right now. The Iron Dome is one type, and we want people to understand what we're talking about, we haven't said that we are replicating that."
Expert questions the sums
Professor Anthony Glees, a politics professor at the University of Buckingham, questioned whether the Leader of the Opposition's figures add up, suggesting that installing a counter-rocket and drone system to protect military sites would cost around ten times the quoted amount.
Professor Glees told the Mirror: "While 'every little helps', we fear that Kemi Badenoch's £10bn on a 'Britannia Shield' over ten years will be of very little help. Whether it's a gimmick, whether it's gaslighting the British public or whether she genuinely does not understand the task we, as a nation, face is unclear."
He added: "Our country's view has been that as long as we are not invaded by a foreign power, and as long as the RAF can protects us from hostile bombers, we will be safe. It's why our RAF bases all over the UK are so scantily defended; a fence here, a CCTV camera and an Alsatian dog there."
Drone threat and current defences
Professor Glees noted that drone warfare has changed the situation entirely. From January to August 2026 there were over a hundred drone sightings over UK nuclear facilities and objects like submarines, a huge increase over the previous year. In 2024, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) reported that over four days unidentified drones had overflown RAF Fairford, Mildenhall and Lakenheath.
"Russia and Iran are the main threats - and Trident, the nuclear submarines, they offer no consequence in this, because they're not frightening Putin... they clearly don't think we're going to use nuclear weapons against a drone attack," he said.
The UK's Trident nuclear deterrent, with an annual running cost of around £3bn, consists of four submarines capable of launching intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. These missiles are intended to strike other countries and cities in response to Britain coming under attack by similar weapons, rather than being deployed against drone incursions.
Britain's main defence against drones currently comes from the Royal Navy's six Type 45 destroyers, equipped with a long-range Sea Viper missile system, of which only three are operational. The army also has seven Sky Sabre external air defence systems, which can identify and shoot down munitions and aircraft using a 3D surveillance sensor.
Cost of real protection
Sky Sabre missile systems are usually mounted on 8x8 heavy tactical trucks, including one deployed to Saudi Arabia earlier this year to help defend King Fahd Air Base against Iranian attacks. Another is permanently based on the Falkland Islands.
Professor Glees added: "Britain certainly needs to be protected from drone attack on its critical national infrastructure but also on our defence and military sites which stretch the length and breadth of our island home."
He continued: "As General Sir Richard Barrons and others have pointed out, £9bn over ten years is chicken feed; the trust cost of real protection would be £100bn (and needed far sooner than in 2036)."
He also noted that Badenoch's Shield would protect Britain's critical national infrastructure, which extends over the whole of the UK including Northern Ireland and along the eastern and southern coastline. "That is a huge area to cover compared to Israel - 95,000 square miles compared to just 8,500," he said.
In July, General Sir Richard Barrons told MPs on the Commons defence select committee that the cost of an "entry level" C-RAM air defence system protecting the UK was "probably £80bn". Air Marshall Greg Bagwell, ex-Deputy Commander of RAF Air Command, said it would be more cost effective to protect "certain key sites".
