Space Travel News
UAV NEWS
UK military to get new powers to shoot down drones
UK military to get new powers to shoot down drones
by AFP Staff Writers
London (AFP) Oct 20, 2025

Britain's armed forces will get new powers to shoot down "unidentified" drones over military bases, Defence Minister John Healey said on Monday, after incidents across Europe have raised tensions with Russia.

While recent drone sightings over airports in Germany and Denmark have triggered transport chaos, Poland shot down some of the small aircraft last month, and some were seen over UK airbases last year.

Countries across Europe have blamed Russia for the drone flights and agreed to boost military spending.

Russia, which launched its war on Ukraine in February 2022 spreading panic across Europe's eastern flank, denies being behind the drone flights.

The NATO military alliance said last week it was testing new anti-drone defences in eastern Europe to counter the threat from Russia.

"Russian aggression has escalated. It's extended even further into the West," Healey said in a speech at Mansion House in Central London.

"We will always do what's needed to defend British people, and as we speak, we are developing new legal powers to bring down unidentified drones over UK military bases."

Last year, unidentified drones were spotted over three airbases used by US forces in the UK -- RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk.

A joint military investigation between US and British forces was launched, but no information emerged about the origin of the devices.

The EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Thursday that the bloc had no choice but to build up defences against Russian drones, as Brussels unveiled a "roadmap" to prepare for potential conflict by 2030.

"There is -- undeniably -- a new era of threat," Healey said.

"Not since the end of the Second World War has Europe's security been at such risk of state-on-state conflict."

Related Links
UAV News - Suppliers and Technology

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
UAV NEWS
Lightweight UAV detector achieves real time accuracy with reparameterized convolutions
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Sep 25, 2025
Remote sensing object detection is becoming increasingly important for UAV operations in disaster response, urban planning, and environmental monitoring. However, developing models that are both accurate and efficient on lightweight devices has remained difficult because UAV images capture objects of varying scales, orientations, and lighting under limited onboard computing power. A research team from Osaka Metropolitan University, led by graduate student Hoang Viet Anh Le and Associate Professor ... read more

UAV NEWS
UAV NEWS
Martian craters record repeated ice ages as planetary ice stores dwindle

Computer models point to crew diversity as key to resilient Mars missions

Two decades of Mars images reveal fast moving dust devils and stronger winds

Mars dust devils point to planet wide gale force winds

UAV NEWS
Lunar mega basin signals radioactive ejecta and reshapes Moon origin story

With new analysis, Apollo samples brought to Earth in 1972 reveal exotic sulfur hidden in Moon's mantle

Telespazio and ispace Partner on Lunar Transport and Navigation Services

Blue Origin teams with Luxembourg on Oasis 1 lunar resource mapping mission

UAV NEWS
Out-of-this-world ice geysers on Saturn's Enceladus

3 Questions: How a new mission to Uranus could be just around the corner

A New Model of Water in Jupiter's Atmosphere

Evidence of a past, deep ocean on Uranian moon, Ariel

UAV NEWS
Geologists discover the first evidence of 4.5-billion-year-old "proto Earth"

Stopping slime on Earth and in space

Iron from deep-sea vents travels across oceans to fuel marine life

Rare clean room bacterium survives by playing dead UH team finds

UAV NEWS
PLD Space fast-tracks MIURA 5 and sharpens Europe leadership in space access

Rocket Lab begins 21-mission campaign for Synspective with successful Electron launch

Myanmar scam cities booming despite crackdown - using Musk's Starlink

SpaceX launches Starship megarocket on successful test flight

UAV NEWS
Chinese astronauts complete fourth spacewalk of Shenzhou XX mission

Constellations of Power: Smart Dragon-3 and the Geopolitics of China's Space Strategy

China advances lunar program with Long March 10 ignition test

Chinese astronauts expand science research on orbiting space station

UAV NEWS
Asteroid near Earth detected hours after it passed the planet

Gaia data uncovers hidden link between asteroid collisions and chaotic spin states

China's Tianwen 2 probe marks halfway milestone en route to asteroid target

Water once persisted on Ryugu parent asteroid long after formation

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.