United Kingdom on Thursday announced it had deployed its Rapid Sentry air defence system to Kuwait amid the war in the Gulf, which has crossed one month.
Operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) Regiment, a unit of the RAF specially trained to protect airbases, the short-range air defence (SHORAD) system is designed to counter drone attacks.
News of the deployment comes after an Iranian drone attack at Kuwait's Mina Al Ahmadi oil refinery overnight into Friday, sparking fires at the key oil facility owned by the state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.
UK’s Starmer and Kuwait’s Crown Prince discussed deploying UK’s Rapid Sentry air defense system to Kuwait. pic.twitter.com/bGu9QKYugH
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This comes amid a major escalation in the war between Iran and US-Israel forces, due to which Tehran has ramped up its attacks on vital infrastructure in the Arab nations around it.
As a result, UK PM Keir Starmer's office noted that it would deploy the Rapid Sentry system after a call with Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah.
"He reiterated that the UK stands with Kuwait and all our allies in the Gulf," the spokesperson said, adding that the PM had condemned the attacks.
A key component of the Rapid Sentry SHORAD system is its Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMMs)—munitions that are also used by the Royal Navy under the name Martlet, which reportedly have a range of up to 8km.
Manufactured by Thales in Belfast, LMMs are designed for use against small, fast targets like drones, and are able to reach speeds of Mach 1.5 (about 1,852km/h).
“Our layered system means we always have options: detect, disrupt, or defeat. Rapid Sentry gives us a credible kinetic safeguard when a drone cannot be defeated electronically,” noted Air Commodore Paul Hamilton, Commandant General of the RAF Regiment, in an RAF statement.
Equipped with a triple effect warhead and proximity fuse, LMMs are capable of responding to threats like light armored, wheeled, and tracked vehicles as well, in addition to aerial platforms.
While the RAF Regiment has not yet confirmed what radar system the Rapid Sentry system will use, reports speculate it may be the Giraffe 1X 3D radars developed by Saab.
Notably, the UK had ordered 11 of these lightweight, multi-mission, 3D surveillance radars back in 2023.
The UK's defence ministry also confirmed plans to procure additional LMMs to enhance UK force protection and support regional partners, another RAF statement said.
