RAF fighter jets will be used to defend Bahrain as well as Qatar, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said.
With Bahrain having to fight off waves of Iranian missiles and drones, the extra air cover would significantly assist its defences.
Bahrain’s interceptor missiles and fighters have already proved effective against Tehran’s barrage, shooting down at least 75 ballistic missiles and 123 Shahed-136 drones.
Downing Street announced that Mr Starmer had told King Hamad in a phone call on Friday that the additional four fighters he announced on Thursday would head to the region, joining the four Typhoons already deployed in Qatar, to “provide further defensive support to regional allies under attack from Iran”.
“The Prime Minister also offered further defensive air cover from these jets for Bahrain to bolster their security and protect their people,” a Number Ten spokesman said.
He added that the king had “welcomed the confirmation” of support and that both countries agreed their operational teams would “work together on plans” in the coming days.
The Typhoons have a very powerful AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar that can pick up incoming threats from up to 500km and are armed with AIM-132 ASRAAM missiles that have already seen success in taking out the kamikaze drones.
Costing $225,000 per missile, the British “advanced short-range air-to-air missile” is designed for high-speed interception of enemy aircraft and missiles.
It has an advanced infrared seeker that locks on to targets at long-range using astonishing 50g manoeuvres to close and kill. It also reaches speeds above Mach 3 (3700kmh) with a range of 25km carrying a 10kg high-explosive fragmentation warhead.
“The Typhoons have already had success against Iran’s Shahed drones and with their airbase in Qatar about 20km from Bahrain, that will give them the ability to really enhance their defences,” a defence expert told The National.
An Iranian strike on a military base Mina Salaman in Bahrain on Sunday narrowly missed the facility where approximately 300 British service personnel are based.
Bahrain also hosts the United Kingdom Naval Support Facility which helps oversee naval coalition operations in the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean.
Bahrain Defence Force has stated that its personnel had “demonstrated a high level of operational readiness and vigilance” in responding to the threats, ensuring national security.
It added that the use of ballistic missiles and drones against civilian sites constituted a “serious violation of international humanitarian law and the United Nations Charter”.
