LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday the UK was dispatching “helicopters with counter drone capabilities” and a warship, HMS Dragon, to Cyprus as Britain continues “defensive operations” in the region.His announcement comes after Britain´s Royal Air Force (RAF) Akrotiri base was struck early on Monday by an Iranian-made drone, which hit the runway. Another two were intercepted.
“The UK is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there,” Starmer wrote on X.
“We´re continuing our defensive operations and I´ve just spoken with the president of Cyprus to let him know that we are sending helicopters with countre drone capabilities and HMS Dragon is to be deployed to the region.
“We will always act in the interest of the UK and our allies,” he added.
HMS Dragon is one of the Royal Navy´s six Type 45 air defence destroyers.
It is fitted with a Sea Viper missile system able to launch eight missiles in under 10 seconds and guide up to 16 missiles simultaneously, Britain´s defence ministry said in a press release.
The ministry added that the helicopters are Wildcat helicopters equipped with Martlet missiles that can take down drones.
Britain´s armed forces have helped shoot down multiple drones across the region in the past 24 hours, according to the defence ministry, including over Jordan and Qatar.
Starmer initially refused to have any role in the US-Israeli war with Iran but later agreed to a US request to use two British military bases for a “specific and limited defensive purpose”.
Those bases are in Gloucestershire in western England and the UK-US Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean.
Starmer has insisted that the Akrotiri base is not being used by US bombers.
Monday´s drone strike there caused minimal damage and no casualties, according to British officials.The families of service personnel have been moved away from the base as a precaution.Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday lashed out at Britain and Spain for not fully backing his attack on Iran, as he threatened to end “all trade” with Spain.
“I´m not happy with the UK,” Trump said, as he said of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer: “This is not Winston Churchill that we´re dealing with.”
Britain, a steadfast ally of the United States throughout the two world wars and in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, decided not to join the assault on Iran that Trump launched with Israel on Saturday.
Starmer said that US fighter jets could use two UK air bases for a “specific and limited defensive purpose” -- one in Gloucestershire in western England and the other at the joint UK-US Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean.
Starmer said that the United States was not authorised to use UK bases in Cyprus, one of which was struck by an Iranian-made drone.
“It´s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land. There would have been much more convenient landing there, as opposed to flying many extra hours,” Trump said in apparent reference to Diego Garcia.
Trump, after a series of flip-flops, has criticized Starmer for agreeing to return the Chagos Islands, where Diego Garcia lies and whose people were expelled by Britain, to Mauritius and instead to lease the base.
“I will say the UK has been very, very uncooperative with that stupid island that they have,” said Trump, who was speaking next to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House.
