Britain shoots down 40 Iranian drones as armed forces minister warns ‘we reside in very harmful instances’

British pilots and gunners have destroyed more than 40 Iranian drones since the conflict began, it emerged this afternoon.

Armed Forces Minister Al Carns revealed the shocking figure as he praised RAF and Royal Navy and Royal Air Force pilots and ground based teams for saving countless lives.

The one-way suicide drones would have caused devastation across the Middle East without UK forces intercepting their flight and using lessons learned from Russian attacks on Ukraine.

The Iranians are mirroring Russian tactics, launching large numbers of dumb drones to confuse defensive systems so a ballistic missile can leak through protection shields, according to UK officials.

They declined to say whereabouts in the region British teams have shot down Iranian drones, or what weapons systems were used, for security reasons.

But it is known that British teams have been active in Cyprus, northern Iraq and Gulf states.

British pilots and ground crews have destroyed more than 40 Shahed and other Iranian drones since the conflict began, Armed Forces Minister Al Carns revealed.

Shahed drones cost a mere £20,000 to build and are massed produced by Iran and Russia.

Al Carns said: ‘We live in very dangerous times, there has been a 30 per cent increase in Russian activity and we have a developing crisis in the Middle East.

‘We continue to engage with partners and our personnel are doing an amazing job. Pilots have completed more than 650 hours and more than 40 drones have been neutralised. Huge amounts of lives have been saved.’

Mr Carns also confirmed that the UK is discussing plans with European allies to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, but only after a ceasefire between Iran and the United States and Israel.

As part of that proposal, specialist UK maritime planners have been dispatched to the United States’ Central Command headquarters.

This afternoon, defence officials stressed the situation was ‘hugely complex’, much more than so than in 1987 due to the advance in crewless weapon systems.

During the ‘tanker wars’ it took 30 warships to escort cargo ships and oil tankers facing conventional weapon systems. Today the threats are more diverse and difficult to counter.

Carns said: ‘We are in the very early stages, the conceptualisation of what this could look like. The Secretary of State has had conversations with E5 partners.

‘There are an array of drones, magnetic, acoustic and fast attack craft to consider, a multitude of asymmetric threats. This would be a full scale operation. It needs to be multinational and collaborative. It is going to be deeply complex.’

According to defence officials another challenging factor is Iran’s rugged coastline which offers cover for small teams of Iranian attacks.

Behind the scenes, the UK is collaborating with allies, including the United States on military, intelligence and diplomatic levels.

An official played down any issues with the Americans at an operational level, saying: ‘These relationships are well founded. We have had planners at CENTCOM for decades. What we’ve done is send some specialists. We will continue to offer choice to our decision makers as the situation evolves.’

This time around, escorting cargo ships and oil tankers through the Strait will take more than just warships. Carns said crewed and uncrewed aerial and subsurface systems would also be required. For security reasons he declined to give specific details about specific systems.