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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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The U.K. could not successfully fend off Russian missile strikes during a simulated attack on British soil carried out shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The British military used a "synthetic environment" based on Russia's initial strikes against Ukraine to model a possible Russian aerial assault on the U.K., Air Commodore Blythe Crawford—who retired as the Commandant of the U.K.'s Air and Space Warfare Centre earlier this month—said during an appearance at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank on Thursday.
"We [loaded] night one of Ukraine into that synthetic environment and played it out against the U.K. and, as you can imagine, it was not a pretty picture," Crawford said. "It reinforced the fact that we really need to get after this."
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It is understood some of the missiles penetrated U.K. simulated defenses.
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It is generally accepted that air defenses are unlikely to consistently intercept all high-volume incoming aerial attacks, but layers of different systems try to capture as many threats as possible.
A spokesperson for Britain's Ministry of Defence said the U.K. is "fully prepared to defend itself against any threat alongside our NATO allies."
"Our military is equipped with a range of advanced capabilities to provide a layered approach to air and missile defence," including the Royal Navy's Sea Viper missile system, which has intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Iranian-backed Houthi militants in the Red Sea, the spokesperson said.
The U.K. uses a range of air defense systems like this, as well as aircraft like the country's Typhoon jets to intercept missiles and smaller, man-portable air defense systems like Starstreak. It is one of several countries also investing in new directed energy weapons to take out incoming drones.
Russia has hammered Ukraine's cities, military sites and critical infrastructure with persistent long-range missile strikes for more than three years since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion. The Kremlin has wielded a combination of ballistic and cruise missiles, including ones provided by North Korea, as well as Iranian-designed Shahed kamikaze drones.
Kyiv has consistently called for more air defense systems and vital interceptor missiles from its allies, themselves contending with dwindling stockpiles and scarce numbers of air defense batteries. Air defense systems operated by Ukraine are one of Russia's high-priority targets.
Ukraine on Thursday said Russia had launched a "massive" combined attack across the war-torn country overnight using 70 cruise and ballistic missiles and 145 drones. At least eight people were killed in the Ukrainian capital and more than 70 injured, Ukrainian authorities said.
Kyiv's air force said on Thursday morning that Russia had launched 11 Iskander-M and North Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles, plus various types of cruise missiles and the drones, at Ukraine since 7:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday. Ukraine shot down 48 out of the 70 missiles, intercepting 64 of the 145 drones, Kyiv said.
A Wake-Up Call
"Ukraine has made us all sit up," Crawford said. "That drove some of the work we have been doing at the Warfare Centre to get after how we would solve a problem like that, if a similar scenario hit the U.K."
The U.K. would likely struggle to counter the range of threats Russia can present through simultaneous, large-scale drone and missile attacks.
Crawford said the U.K. military has long assumed its personnel and equipment would be safe from attack in home bases, which now needed to be reconsidered.
The U.K. previously unveiled its "world-leading synthetic training system," dubbed Gladiator, to replicate "real-life scenarios" for military exercises. It has a reported cost of close to $48 million.
It is understood that the U.K.'s war-gaming exercise did not take into account several of Russia's "next generation" weapons debuted later in the war, such as the Zircon and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.
Moscow has repeatedly used hypersonic weapons against Ukraine, which the Kremlin has claimed are near-impossible to knock out of the sky.
Western analysts have been skeptical, and Kyiv has said it has intercepted several hypersonic missiles using U.S.-made, ground-based Patriot air defense systems.
Hypersonic weapons travel at speeds upward of five times the speed of sound, also referred to as Mach 5 and roughly equivalent to over 3,800 miles per hour. The missiles are able to maneuver mid-flight, making them extremely hard to track or intercept.
The Financial Times reported in May 2024 that NATO had just 5 percent of the air defenses it needed to cover the alliance's eastern and central European members during a full-scale attack.
"In the near future, Europe would be unable to defend itself against a Russian attack," one Czech defense official told Newsweek earlier this year. If a ceasefire in Ukraine frees up Russian assets, Moscow could "attack the Baltic Allies and Europeans alone would hardly be able to stop it," the official said.
Update 4/24/25, 10:05 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Britain's Ministry of Defence.
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