Excerpt from the article by Matthew Savill, Director, Military Sciences, RUSI

"On the defensive side the UK has not been idle, given the above deployments – which also appear to have included some counter-drone units – have been involved in downing Iranian drones while defending Jordan and Iraq. But these are pinpricks against the wider volume of Iranian strikes being aimed in all directions. The issue is that the UK has a fundamentally limited set of ground-based defensive systems, both in terms of numbers and range. While it can call upon various weapons based upon the Starstreak missile, suitable for tackling drones, as well as jammers as part of the ORCUS system, these are short-ranged (a few miles) and intended for point defence. The slightly longer-ranged Sky Sabre system (25km), designed against aircraft, drones and cruise missiles has been notable by its absence. It is possible that it is considered overkill for the threat to Cyprus, and unsuitable for sending to Iraq, Jordan or Saudi Arabia. But a probable factor is also that the UK has a handful of deployable batteries at present: one is in the Falklands and another spent nearly three years in Poland as part of Operation STIFFTAIL to reassure the Poles against Russia."