Britain is weighing the deployment of a Royal Navy warship to protect its military base in Cyprus after an Iranian drone struck RAF Akrotiri at the weekend, as France and Greece have already moved to bolster the island’s defences while the UK government continues its deliberations.
Government sources confirmed that ministers are actively “considering” sending a gunboat to the sovereign British territory, with Defence Secretary John Healey understood to have spent the past 24 hours in discussions with officials over the options. The vessel most likely to be deployed, should a decision be taken, is the Type 45 Destroyer HMS Duncan.
The urgency of those talks has been underscored by the speed at which allied nations have already acted. French President Emmanuel Macron ordered two warships to guard RAF Akrotiri after Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides appealed for assistance in shoring up the island’s defences. Greece has separately dispatched four F-16 fighter jets and two frigates to Cyprus, one of which carries the Centauros anti-drone jamming system — technology that has previously been used against Houthi drone attacks on shipping in Yemeni waters. Defence sources say the system is capable of detecting and disabling low-flying drones of the type that evaded radar before striking the base.
The drone that hit RAF Akrotiri on Sunday landed within 800 yards of UK personnel stationed on the island, causing limited damage to the runway. Two further drones were intercepted in the hours that followed. Senior Cypriot officials have said the attack was carried out using an Iranian-made Shahed drone, believed to have been launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon, and stressed that the intended target was the British base itself rather than Cypriot territory.
The strike came after Britain agreed to a US request to use its Cyprus bases for what were described as “defensive” operations against Iran, following the joint American and Israeli military campaign that prompted retaliation from Tehran. Prime Minister Keir Starmer subsequently insisted the bases had not been used by US bombers. Cyprus has since called on Britain to limit the use of its sovereign bases to humanitarian operations only.
The episode has heaped further pressure on Starmer at a moment when his government is already navigating a fraught relationship with US President Donald Trump. A decision on whether to deploy HMS Duncan is expected in the coming days as the situation around Cyprus and the wider regional conflict continues to develop.
