Today, Labour Friends of Israel publishes UK-Israel Aerial Defence Collaboration: Towards a British Iron Shield, a policy briefing on the lessons Britain can learn from Israel on aerial defence to protect civilians and infrastructure against missile attacks.
Since its creation in 1948, Israel has lived under the constant threat of attack, fighting a number of existential wars.
In the last year alone, Israel has had 26,000 rockets, missiles, and drones launched at its territory from several fronts.
Because of this threat, Israel has a tested ability to defend its people from aerial threats. Britain should learn from this to bolster our own defences.
As Finland and Germany have already recognised, Israel has a tested ability to defend its people from aerial threats.
The paper makes the case that the Labour government should put in place channels to learn from, and where appropriate adopt, Israeli strategies and technology to protect Britain.
Following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, British & European security faces a direct and urgent aerial threat.
The bilateral defence relationship should be formalised as the “UK-Israel Defence-Dialogue” with a dialogue chaired at ministerial level focused on technology and workstreams established to share best practises across domains.
As part of the UK-Israel Defence Dialogue, the UK and Israel should establish a specific “Aerial Defence Dialogue” with the Ministry of Defence liaising directly with Israel’s Missile Defence Organisation.
The UK should explore which assets used and tested by Israel to defend the state and its civilians offer best practise consideration by UK armed forces.
You can access a PDF version of UK-Israel Aerial Defence Collaboration here:
