Hundreds of drone incidents surge at UK military sites as Kremlin warns British bases are 'legitimate targets'
From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.
Donald Trump and Lindsey Graham. The legislation Trump signed bears the late senator's name after he championed it for more than a year before dying in July.Umar Kremlev and Vladimir Putin. Kremlev, who heads the International Boxing Association, had been part of Putin's delegation on a state visit to China shortly before travelling to the Bahamas for the wedding…
British military sites recorded hundreds of drone security incidents over the past year — a near-doubling on the previous year's figures — as the Kremlin warns that UK military facilities are legitimate targets for strikes amid escalating tensions with Russia and Iran. That rate amounts to almost daily intrusions, with former Conservative defence minister Tobias Ellwood warning that surveillance drones are readily convertible into weapons platforms, describing Britain's response as inadequate. Poland has meanwhile launched preventive military aviation operations as Russia continues striking Ukraine, underlining the widening regional security alarm.
Ellwood warned the passive drones are 'not a huge step' from being weaponised to 'introduce lethality' against British bases.
The MoD has not attributed the incidents to any state, though they come amid escalating tensions with both Russia and Iran.
Western spy chiefs separately warn Putin is preparing a 'stealth mobilisation' of 300,000 troops and plans to expand hybrid attacks into Nato territory.
