Drones targeting UK military sites nearly every day as threat from Putin grows

Rogue drones are targeting Britain's military bases almost daily, leaving Britain vulnerable to growing threats from Russia and Iran , The Independent can reveal.

Some 340 security incidents involving drones were reported at or near Ministry of Defence sites in the year to August 2026, data obtained under freedom of information laws shows. In 2025 there were a total of 250 incidents recorded – double the 126 recorded the year before.

Experts warn the alarming increase reflects the government’s woeful lack of security and unreadiness to combat hostile threats at a time of intense escalation from Vladimir Putin , as well as aggression from Iran.

The MoD would not give details of who it suspected was behind the threats, but experts say hostile actors working on behalf of Moscow or Tehran were the obvious culprits. The stark figures, obtained under freedom of information laws, come as Poland warned that Putin is planning a drone attack on a Nato country .

Former Tory defence minister and former Army captain Tobias Ellwood said the large sharp uptick in detected drone incidents in the UK showed that the British military is viewed “as a target” and said the government is “asleep” to such threats.

He added: “Here in the UK we are doing nothing about protecting our critical national infrastructure, as well as military bases, and it's such an easy way to disrupt.

“At the moment these are just rogue drones, and they're passive, but it's not a huge step to then add a kinetic dimension to them to make them introduce lethality.

“All this points to the fact that we are not taking the rise in threat levels that our European cousins are addressing seriously at all.”

Mr Ellwood said Russia and Iran were “100 per cent” responsible for many of those incidents. “They are absolutely active in Britain in plotting, mapping, and then recruiting useful idiots to prosecute this targeting.

“It could be criminal gangs as well, but they would then be supported by Russia. Russia is by far the obvious culprit here... It's not China's style. They tend to do things in a different way.”

It comes amid growing concerns over the UK’s ability to defend itself and intense pressure on Labour to boost defence spending and prioritise national security.

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk warned on Friday that Moscow was planning hybrid strikes with drones or missiles targeting Nato countries supporting Ukraine .

“There is a real risk that drones or other types of projectiles will enter the territory of one or several countries on the eastern flank and even cause destruction,” he added.

UK chief of the defence staff, Sir Richard Knighton, cautioned earlier this year that the UK is facing the highest level of threat from Russia since the Cold War . And security minister Angela Eagle also warned of the dangers posed by Iran after the UK “identified activity linked to the IRGC involving threats to life and intimidation on UK soil”.