The Conservatives have pledged up to £10 billion over 10 years for a new missile and drone defence system, which the party has called “Britannia Shield”.
Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge will announce the plan in his speech to Conservative conference on Tuesday. The party describes it as an integrated air and missile defence system, or a British “Iron Dome”.
Cartlidge is expected to say: “Today I’m announcing that the next Conservative government would deliver the most significant upgrade to UK air defence for generations.
“It’s called Britannia Shield – a fully integrated, multi-layered missile defence system, capable of protecting our nation from drone and missile attack.”
He will add that the £10 billion budget would make it “one of Britain’s most significant military programmes since the Cold War”.
The party says the system would have three components: new radar to detect incoming missiles and drones; upgraded command and control systems; and new interceptor missiles, counter-drone capabilities and larger missile stockpiles. It says it would deliver “a minimal deployable capability” within its first term, with the rest of the investment spent on expanding the system over time.
The Conservatives say the plan would be funded through their commitment to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, which the party says would be paid for by welfare reform and reprioritising existing spending.
Kemi Badenoch said: “If a missile or drone is launched at Britain, we do not get a second chance to wish we had prepared.
“That is why today we are announcing Britannia Shield: a new national missile-and-drone defence system to protect the whole United Kingdom, our sovereign territories and British bases overseas.”
The Conservative leader accused the government of underfunding defence. “They keep pouring billions into a broken welfare system while leaving our security underfunded”, she said. “When forced to choose, they pick social security over national security.”
Badenoch added: “Conservatives choose differently. We have fully funded defence spending at 3% of GDP by 2030, because keeping Britain safe cannot be another promise for some distant point in the future.
“The threat is here. Britain must be ready. And Britannia Shield will help make sure we are.”
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The party says Labour‘s Defence Investment Plan allocated “just £790 million of new funding over 10 years for missile defence”. It also cites a November 2025 defence select committee report which warned that, compared with European allies, the UK had “next to nothing” in integrated air and missile defence.
A Labour spokesperson said trusting the Conservatives on defence “would wave a huge white flag to our enemies”.
“Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives hollowed out our Armed Forces, leaving our army at the smallest size since the Napoleonic era”, the spokesperson said. “Their dismal record in government speaks for itself and they should never be given responsibility for keeping our country safe again.”
The spokesperson said the government was delivering “the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, including £1 billion investment in air defences”, and was committed to spending 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2035.
Liberal Democrat defence spokesperson James MacCleary accused the Conservatives of “Truss-style fantasy economics”.
“£10bn would not even touch the sides for a complete UK-wide ‘Iron Dome’”, he said. “They either need to review their dodgy sums or come clean about which parts of the country their Patchwork Dome wouldn’t cover.”
MacCleary added that the Conservatives’ plan to fund defence spending “is based on targeted cuts to the poorest and most vulnerable children”.
