The UK has bolstered its defensive capability in the eastern Mediterranean, with new rotary-wing assets and an airborne surveillance and control (ASaC) platform having arrived in Cyprus.
Two Royal Navy (RN) Leonardo Helicopters Wildcats arrived at the Royal Air Force’s (RAF’s) Akrotiri base on 7 March. They were transferred from RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset, southwest England, aboard an RAF Boeing C-17 strategic transport.
Once fitted with a stores-carrying weapon wing, the Wildcat can deploy Thales Martlet missiles in the counter-uncrewed aerial system (C-UAS) role.
“Although still to be tested in action, the Wildcat-Martlet combination has proved successful repeatedly on test ranges, with aircrew repeatedly destroying aerial drones,” the RN notes.
On 9 March, the RAF said that an additional Wildcat also has now been deployed to the region.
Meanwhile, one of the RN’s Crowsnest-configured Leonardo AW101 Merlin HM2 helicopters arrived in Cyprus on 9 March, with the 820 NAS-operated rotorcraft having departed RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall two days earlier.
To be employed in the ASaC role, the rotorcraft will “further strengthen our ability to detect aerial threats”, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) says.
“820 Naval Air Squadron already has experience of providing force protection from similar threats, having deployed ASaC aircraft on active operations in the Red Sea last year during the transits of the carrier strike group led by HMS Prince of Wales during Operation Highmast,” notes RNAS Culdrose commanding officer Captain James Hall.
The UK already has a detachment of Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed Martin F-35B combat aircraft stationed at RAF Akrotiri. On 7 March, the combination was employed to engage what the MoD describes as a “one-way attack drone fired from Iran towards Iraq”.
Tackling the drone threat from Iran is a major focus for the UK military in Cyprus, after one air vehicle struck its Akrotiri base early during the conflict being staged by US and Israeli forces against Tehran.
Separately, a UK flight-test example of the Typhoon was recently photographed at BAE Systems’ Warton site flying with two rocket pods installed beneath its wing. While the airframer declines to comment at this time, the activity is believed to be in support of adding the BAE-produced APKWS guided rocket to the fighter’s suite of weapons.
The APKWS system provides a reduced-cost method of engaging drone threats, with a range of US military aircraft already operating with the weapon.
