Britain is a “sitting duck” for drone attacks, senior defence sources say, because Ed Miliband’s wind farms interfere with radar used by defensive domes. The Mail has the story.
Ministers have been warned the UK lacks any equivalent to Israel’s famous ‘Iron Dome’, which gives it the capability to intercept ballistic missiles at high altitude from 40 miles away.
Military chiefs have called for the Treasury to allocate the estimated £10 billion required for the system – but have so far been promised only £1 billion to scope out options.
Germany, in comparison, is spending £3.5 billion on the Arrow anti-missile system as part of an expanding pan-European air-defence network.
Part of the reason for the Government’s hesitation is said to be that such a defence system would require the scaling back of Mr Miliband’s wind farm programme, which a source suggested “presents a major obstacle for anti-missile systems because of the impact they have on the radar needed to guide them”.
The Energy Secretary has vowed to double England’s onshore wind capacity to 29 gigawatts by 2030, and has dedicated £1.1 billion a year for offshore wind developers as part of his aim to meet Net Zero targets.
The source added: “Wind farms are effectively giant chunks of metal that stand in the way of the tracking stations. It’s fair to say wind-farms and radar are not a great mix.
“We are really lagging behind other countries on this. Ministers keep saying, ‘We have to be mindful of the cost implications, and there’s lots of competition for resources.
“Fine. But then what’s the cost of a missile landing in the middle of London, Manchester or Birmingham? We are sitting ducks.”
The RAF has also warned that the blades on Mr Miliband’s turbines reflect electromagnetic pulses pinged out by radar equipment to detect incoming aircraft and missiles.
This creates unhelpful background noise for system operators. Each blade on a turbine can generate a false return, meaning there is potential for disruption from several sites.
Worth reading in full.
How did Miliband, a self confessed enemy of the UK get anywhere near decision making?
He was appointed by a series of PMs to high level jobs, most recently by PM Starmer. Miliband is a whole-of-Government problem.
He is what used to be called a “fifth columnist”, tearing down England from the inside.
The same 5th column is also working in the USA and elsewhere.
Nixon and before him Kennedy warned explicitly about them.
And in Britain, well Milliband got the same way in like Mendelson
who was forced onto him .
That interference has been known by countries surrounding the North and Baltic Seas for about 25 years
One missile with one hydrogen bomb, launched from a sub under arctic ice, will wipe out all of London and surrounding areas
Various bureaucrats kept quiet about it, because they did not want to rock the wind mania boat.
Miliband is way over his head, as is Starmer.
Where in hell is the Churchill generation?
“Miliband is way over his head, as is Starmer.” Way over their heads in the North sea would be good.
So that’s what is affecting Millisecond. Too much clutter.
UK doesn’t need protection from radical Islam rockets etc…
… It is becoming radical Islam from within.
Anybody who bases their conclusions on facts rather than ideology knows that Iranian missiles don’t have the range to reach the United Kingdom.
The vehicle Miliband rides to power is a political party. They pick up all sorts of rubbish. Without it he would be dead in a ditch.
Same reason Biden became president. Elections have consequences!
Why is anyone surprised by this? Little Eddie is a self confessed enemy of England and is paid huge amounts of money to do all the damage possible to England.
There is zero evidence for these assertions, and they are not necessary to explain his conduct. He was just systematically educated to believe he and his immediate associates are smarter than anyone else, and that they don’t need to bother with detail to make good decisions. He is serving under a Prime Minister without the inclination, the interest in specifics or the courage to challenge him. This is all you need in order to explain it. Its not malice, its not corruption, its a very stupid kind of intelligence. A kind that the UK, and Oxbridge in particular, specializes in producing for its political class.
His own words and actions are “zero evidence” of his actions? Sure buddy, sure.
a telling example of –
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.“?
“He was just systematically educated to believe he and his immediate associates are smarter than anyone else, and that they don’t need to bother with detail to make good decisions.”
To quote somebody, there is zero evidence for these assertions.
There is plenty, but you have to know where to look. Start by looking at the Oxford tutorial system and how teaching is done in it. Then ask yourself about the barrister/solicitor divide, and what this means to the approach to issues.
If you have spent your university years writing a few page papers on complex subjects, and being tested by reading them aloud, what do you think this does to your approach to real world problems? And if you spent your schooldays getting educated to succeed in an entrance exam conducted on similar lines?
Well, there’s certainly a “capability”, but…
Are the Brits about to buy from Israel their failed rocket show hardware now? Now there are going to be some impressive kickbacks…
Not defending the own borders
but wanting and Iron Dome is as perverted as a thing can be.
typos…?
Why would an island nation surrounded by (purported) allies want any equivalent to the defense system required by a mainland nation surrounded by vocal opponents?
USSR fell in 1991, 35 years ago, and the ugly Ukraine fighting shows Russians laboring fiercely against what should have been an easier target. Who is going to mount a military strike on the UK?
It’s like “A giant 8,000 slice space toaster could fall on my car in front of the house while I sleep at night, therefore I’d be a fool not to build a giant space toaster shield!”
hmmm… so I suppose it makes sense for the UK to slash its military budget to zero….
Not zero, but spend whatever it spends on tools that solve ‘problems’ that seem possible.
Iran? They have certainly been saying for decades that is one of their goals.
I think Israel and USA are higher on their list.
The people of Iran, not just the Mad Mullahs, have carried a deep and burning hatred for England for 100s of years, and they attack them at every opportunity. Historical blindness is a thing.
Israel’s Iron Dome isn’t a failure by not stopping 100% of attacks.
Wow, a new contender for peak lie spewer. You losers just ooze out of cracks in the floor like mold.
Why doesn’t Ed just ask Greta how to do it? He seemed to think she had all the answers.
The older Greta gets, the less she knows.
So… she,s in the negativity zone , now.
Israelis demonstrated that ordinary consumer items could be used as Trojan horse weapons. The Chinese could do the same with EVs, especially since their batteries have a propensity for thermal runaway.
And don’t forget the Ukrainian operation Spider Web. A small boat just offshore could devastate the UK with powerful drones.
I’m a bit dubious about this claim. The wind turbines do not move geographically and should therefore always show on the radar. What isn’t always there are incoming missiles which are moving and therefore distinguishable, I’d have thought, from the wind turbines.
Don’t get me wrong: I hate wind turbines and think them an unnecessary blot on the landscape but let’s not spoil our arguments against them with spurious rubbish like this.
When the wind blows the blades turn giving a return as a moving object.
Right- the threat may be exaggerated but there’s some validity to it. What if enemy drones were aimed to pass close to the wind machines? Small ones might be used to destroy the wind machines- which cost what? A million pounds each?
Article: “the capability to intercept ballistic missiles at high altitude from 40 miles away”
AI: “Modern onshore wind turbines typically have a hub height—the distance from the ground to the center of the rotor—ranging between 85 and 130 meters Including the blade tip, total heights frequently reach or exceed 180 to 230 meters,”
Google: 240 meters = 0.15 miles
Trigonometry says it would not be a hard problem to fix. The windmill blindspot would be very low.
Something else must be happening – maybe the Russians are dressing up their drones as the Forest of Dunsinane.
I miss the 1980’s when an American could freely theorize that the USSR military had ingenious dastardly plans near at hand. Now I just doubt it and think, wow glad I wasn’t born there.
Of course you forgot some important points.
Radar is directional but it is not a perfect directional sweep. Let’s say that the beam is 90% accurate in it’s sweep pattern, (above the spinning blades). 5% hits the blades, 5% goes above the desired path.
The spinning blades are at a distance of say 5km. The missiles at 50km. The return path length for the spinning blades is 10km, the missile 100km.
The energy in an electromagnetic wave falls off at the square of distance, so for the same return energy efficiency, (ignoring that the frontal area of a missile is MUCH smaller than a turbine blade), it is obvious that the 5% signal that hits the turbine is going to be diminished by 1/100 of the outgoing value, the missile will be diminished by 1/10000.
If the radar is transmitting at 1kW, the blade has a return pulse no better than 1000 x 5% / 100 = 0.5W
The missile has a return pulse no better than 1000 x 90% / 10,000 = 0.09W
Now do you see why the blades are a problem.
“Let’s say that the beam is 90% accurate in it’s sweep pattern”
Stopped paying much attention there. You sure you’re an engineer?
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/M-Ficco/publication/220232123/figure/fig9/AS:668488314126337@1536391442049/Signal-strength-of-directional-antennas-taken-from-www.ppm
Some will not see, no matter how much information is freely available.
Would you care to read on now?
With regard to your question about my education. I did the studies and now I is one.
I think you mean Burnham Wood, Kevin, but I take the point.
Trump should acknowledge the “special relationship” but quality if it only for certain times of the day and wind speeds at the time of the decision to lift a finger.
With any luck maybe they will start taking out their wind turbines with their anti drone weapons.
Perhaps the problem can be solved by merely looking at if from a different perspective. Wind turbines may effectively block radar’s ability to sense an approaching drone attack, but if they are as good at chopping up drones as they are at chopping up birds, well then, Britain already has its Iron Dome!
Chopping up drones would be the only valid reason for having them.
I have a revolutionary suggestion. Stop criticising other people and stick to criticising opinions and decisions. That should cut out a large number of the comments on this site and make for a healthier and cleaner environment.
Oh, wait a minute. It’s not such a revolutuionary idea, after all. You will find it in that Bronze Age document known as the Bible.
“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” Luke 6: 41-42.