Overview

• The UK government is overhauling its classified homeland defence plan, last updated in 2005, to address evolving threats from Russia, including missile strikes, nuclear attacks, and cyber warfare.
• The plan outlines measures for wartime governance, including stockpiling resources, public service broadcasts, and sheltering key officials and the Royal Family in secure bunkers.
• A January risk assessment highlighted the vulnerability of critical infrastructure, such as gas terminals, undersea cables, and nuclear power plants, to potential attacks.
• Recent RAF simulations revealed that current air defences are insufficient to prevent missile strikes, prompting calls for an Iron Dome-style defence system.
• MI5 reported a 48% increase in state-sponsored threats over the past year, with Russia escalating cyber attacks linked to the ongoing war in Ukraine.