Britain and the EU into a conflict from which they have so far tried to remain removed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n“The idea of sending a Type 45 [air defence destroyer] into the vicinity of Akrotiri is to build on a layered air defence system,” said former military strategist Mikey Kay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The “very expensive equipment” the UK is sending is “highly capable”, Kay said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“But how effective is it when it comes to cost-benefit ratio – and how many missiles do they have when it comes to multiple swarms of Shahed 136 drones?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The BBC team could hear the fierce roar of jets as we stood outside RAF Akrotiri which is used for training and as a mounting base for overseas operations in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Britain did not join US-Israeli strikes on Iran, British planes are taking part in what the government has described as “defensive operations” to protect UK citizens and allies in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Tuesday night, the Ministry of Defence said that RAF F-35 jets flying over Jordan have shot down an Iranian drone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The drone scare at Akrotiri on Sunday has led to British families being evacuated from the base, as well as hundreds of local Cypriots who live nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s all sparked anxiety amongst British military families and some local people while Cyprus has criticised the UK’s handling of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Specifically, said a Cypriot government spokesman, an initial lack of clarity “that the British Bases in Cyprus would under no circumstances be used for anything other than humanitarian purposes”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cyprus has stressed it has no involvement in the widening Middle East conflict, and isn’t itself a target.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BBC: European allies are rushing warships and anti-drone defences to Cyprus after a British air base was hit on the island over the weekend. The small Eastern Mediterranean nation has found itself unexpectedly drawn into the aftermath of US-Israeli strikes on Iran. The UK has announced it is sending helicopters with counter-drone capabilities as well as the Type 45 Destroyer, HMS Dragon. French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed in a televised address that a French frigate, the Languedoc, would arrive in Cyprus on Tuesday evening. Greece has already agreed to send four F-16 fighter jets as well as two frigates, including the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-in-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55156,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55154\/revisions\/55156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}