A UK security expert has shed light on the military’s arsenal of defence technology but conceded the UK is “wide open” to an attack from Iran.

Defence Secretary John Healey stressed the Government does not believe Iran has any plans to attack the UK, but declined to rule out that the country can do so.

Anthony Glees, Emeritus Professor at the University of Buckinghamshire, told The Express: “If we were to be attacked some analysts say that Britain is ‘wide open’ to a missile onslaught. Our only national anti-missile defence system is the Type 45 Destroyers.

“However, we have only one that works and that has been deployed to Cyprus. We also have the Sky Sabre defence system used to protect our Army from missiles.”

The HMS Dragon, one type 45 destroyer arrived in the eastern Mediterranean last week, three weeks after an Iranian-made drone hit the British base of RAF Akrotiri, the defence secretary has said.

The Type 45 destroyer began “operational integration into Cyprus’s defence” from Monday night, Healey told MPs.

The highly advanced technology of the Sky Sabre provides unprecedented speed and accuracy. However, Prof Glees is unsure as to its current whereabouts.

He said: “We believe this system is currently in Poland, protecting our Polish allies against Russian missile incursion. It can hit a tennis ball travelling at the speed of sound, so it is good.”

According to Army Technology the Sky Sabre system was returned to the UK from Poland in 2024. When the system is deployed in Poland, it helps protect NATO’s eastern flank.

The Sea Viper system on Type 45 destroyers protects the Royal Navy fleet and can track, target and destroy a variety of air threats over 70 miles away. It is the most capable air defence system ever deployed by the Royal Navy, as per the Royal Navy.

Healey said the Germans were “good allies” to step in and provide a frigate for a Nato mission next month after the Royal Navy’s HMS Dragon was sent to defend Cyprus in response to the Iran crisis.

The Defence Secretary told LBC the German ship will be commanded by a Royal Navy commodore, saying: “This is what good allies do. The Germans have stepped in to supply their warship.”

Asked if he was embarrassed that the UK needs to borrow a ship from Germany, he said it was a “sign of the strength of the Nato alliance … but I’m not happy with the situation we have with British warships, and that’s because it takes six years to build a warship”.

The UK has 17 frigates and destroyers, he said.

Asked why they did not make another ship available for the pre-planned Nato mission, he said: “I have to make decisions based on what we’ve got.

“We were preparing Dragon in order to play that flagship role, the way that Iran hit back in an indiscriminate, widespread way, meant I needed to reinforce the defences that we’d already before the conflict broke out, put into the Middle East.

Glees added that we should not underestimate NATO’s missile defence systems.

He said:” NATO located and then destroyed an Iranian missile heading for Turkey, a NATO ally. That’s good.”

He said the systems “consist of radar and interception weapons, we think Patriot missiles, located at two sites in Romania and Poland, on the assumption that Iranian weapons would fly over these two countries

“The US Navy has destroyers with anti-missile capabilities near Rota in Spain and all are controlled by the US at Ramstein air base.

“In addition, there is the European Sky Shield ESSI led by the Germans and involving 23 European nations, including the UK.”

He also emphasised the ongoing importance of Israel’s intelligence service in the Middle East for Western powers. Glees said: “The Mossad however seems mainly accurate (they located the Iranian leadership, knew they were all going to be in the same place in Khomenei’s compound in Tehran and allowed them to be blown to kingdom come. “

The Treasury is not holding up the long-delayed defence investment plan, the Defence Secretary said.

It comes after Labour MP Tan Dhesi, who chairs the Defence Committee, suggested the plan might now be delayed until after May’s elections, adding the situation was a “mess”.

When asked if the Treasury is delaying the plan, Healey said: “No … Rachel Reeves, as Chancellor, has given defence an extra £8 billion this year over what the previous government put in. We’re spending £270 billion in this Parliament alone. We’re putting in place, from next year, the biggest increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War.”

After being asked if the Treasury has been asked to “scale anything back” on the defence investment plan, Healey replied: “No, we are working with the Treasury, we’re working across government to finalise this defence investment plan.”

This is despite ministers promising to publish the 10-year plan before Christmas, but the top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence, Jeremy Pocklington, said it had to be agreed by “everyone across government” before being finalised.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “We have the resources we need to keep the United Kingdom safe from any kind of attacks, whether it’s on our soil or from abroad. The UK stands ready 24/7 to defend itself.

“The UK operates a layered approach to air and missile defence, provided by Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force assets equipped with a range of advanced capabilities, working in tandem with our NATO allies.

“This Government has prioritised the need for air and missile defence for UK national security after years of underfunding, and that is why last June, following recommendations in the Strategic Defence Review, we announced up to £1 billion in new funding to improve air and missile defence and keep the UK secure.

“This includes a new £118m contract announced last year to deliver six state-of-the-art Land Ceptor missile systems, which as part of the Sky Sabre system can hit a tennis ball-sized object travelling at twice the speed of sound.

“The UK-led DIAMOND initiative will improve NATO’s integrated air and missile defence by ensuring that the different air defence systems across the Alliance operate better and more jointly across Europe. DIAMOND will strengthen the way European NATO allies coordinate their air defence against missile attacks.”