UK PM Sunak: Fighters on Standby to Shoot Down Chinese Ballons Intruding on British Airspace

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during his visit to RAF Coningsby in Linconshire following the
Getty Images
Oliver JJ Lane

The UK Defence Ministry is launching a security review into the possibility of Chinese spy balloons over the United Kingdom, meanwhile, the Prime Minister reassures the public that the nation’s rapid reaction force is on standby 24 hours a day to deal with aerial threats.

Balloon panic has reached the United Kingdom after a string of remarkable shoot-downs of ‘UFOs’ over North America in the past week, with high-altitude balloons generally credited as Chinese spycraft destroyed over U.S. and Canadian territory. Now questions are being asked in London over whether the UK has ever been the target of a Chinese spy balloon — a redundant effort, perhaps, given the advanced state of Chinese influence in the country already — with top government figures moving to reassure the public they are safe from balloons.

This started Sunday night with comments from the British defence minister Ben Wallace, who said there was to be a security review over spy balloons in the UK and whether the experiences of the U.S. and Canada meant the UK needed to make any changes over how it monitored its own airspace. A report on Wallace’s comments in the Daily Telegraph notes questions on whether Chinese spy balloons have already crossed the UK are being asked, and it is a possibility the Ministry of Defence has not yet ruled out.

Wallace said: “The UK and her allies will review what these airspace intrusions mean for our security. This development is another sign of how the global threat picture is changing for the worse.”

These remarks were followed by other comments from the Prime Minister Monday morning when he was asked directly whether he was aware of any Chinese Balloons over the UK. While the Prime Minister blatantly twice evaded a direct question on whether the UK had actually detected any balloons yet, he did say that Royal Air Force jets — a group of which are on constant standby to protect UK airspace, irrespective of balloon issues — were ready to defend the country.

Rishi Sunak told the BBC: “Well, I want people to know that we’ll do whatever it takes to keep the country safe. We have something called the Quick Reaction Alert Force, which involves Typhoon planes which are kept on 24-7 readiness to police our airspace, which is incredibly important.

“I can’t, obviously, comment on detail on national security matters but we are in constant touch with our allies, and as I said we’ll do whatever it takes to keep the country safe.”

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.