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  "path": "/partner/uk-to-send-more-fighter-jets-to-gulf",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-05T15:50:57.000Z",
  "site": "https://nukta.com",
  "textContent": "\n\n\n\nBritain is sending additional fighter jets to Qatar amid the widening war in the Middle East, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Thursday as his defense minister visited Cyprus.\n\nThe four Typhoon planes will join an existing UK squadron in the Gulf state \"to strengthen our defensive operations in Qatar and across the region,\" Starmer told reporters.\n\n### Drone strike on RAF base\n\nThe announcement came after Defence Secretary John Healey arrived in Cyprus following a drone strike on a UK air base on the Mediterranean island earlier this week.\n\nAn Iranian-made unmanned drone struck a hangar at the Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri on Monday.\n\nTwo further drones detected that day were shot down by British warplanes.\n\nHealey posted on X alongside a photograph of himself meeting Cypriot Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas.\n\nThe pair discussed how \"the UK is further reinforcing our air defences to support our shared security,\" he added.\n\nIt came after Britain's Labour government faced criticism from the Cypriot authorities related to its response to the attacks.\n\nOn Wednesday, Cyprus's High Commissioner to the UK, Kyriacos Kouros, said Cypriots were \"disappointed\" at the level of information-sharing with residents.\n\n\"Let's say the people are disappointed, the people are scared, the people could expect more,\" he told the BBC's Newsnight programme.\n\n### Additional defense deployments\n\nStarmer told a news conference Thursday that two Wildcat helicopters armed with Martlet missiles that can take down drones will arrive in Cyprus on Friday.\n\nHe had announced their deployment on Tuesday, adding that he was also dispatching \"helicopters with counter-drone capabilities\" as part of Britain's \"defensive operations\" in the region.\n\nStarmer has also deployed HMS Dragon, a Type 45 air defence destroyer able to launch eight missiles in under 10 seconds and guide up to 16 missiles simultaneously.\n\nIt is not due to set sail until next week, however, according to officials.\n\nStarmer has faced criticism from the opposition Conservative Party that he has been too slow to deploy resources to the region.\n\nThe premier insisted that throughout January and February, the government has moved fighter jets, air defence missiles and advanced radar systems to the region.\n\nUK Typhoon and F-35B jets have been operating in the Middle East since the war began on Saturday with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.\n\nStarmer initially refused to have any role in the US-Israeli war with Iran but later agreed to a US request to use two British military bases for a \"specific and limited defensive purpose.\"\n\nThose bases are in Gloucestershire, western England, and the UK-US Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean. Starmer has insisted that the Akrotiri base is not being used by US bombers.\n\nMonday's drone strike there caused minimal damage and no casualties, British officials said. Service personnel's families have been moved away from the base as a precaution.",
  "title": "UK to send more fighter jets to Gulf"
}