Britain's warplanes and pilots are ready to fight if Russia attacks or poses a threat to the country or its NATO allies. This was stated by the head of the Royal Air Force of Britain, Mike Wigston, reports Sky News.
“I have no doubt that Russia is the most obvious threat to the security of the UK and Europe – just look at its behavior not only in Ukraine, but also in Georgia before that,” the military said, speaking at the world's largest RIAT air show.
According to him, now the pilots are training hard to be ready to repel a potential Russian threat and are focusing on practicing close combat, since the British military of the current generation does not have much experience in this.
Asked how likely the RAF would be in direct conflict with Russia, Wigston noted that Moscow was becoming "increasingly aggressive."
“Of course, we hope that it will not come to this and that the containment policy will work, but if the day comes when Russia unleashes aggression against a NATO member, we must be prepared,” Wigston was quoted by the BBC as saying.
“It all comes down to having pilots with the skills, ability and experience to operate in any situation – when performing a missile launch or in close combat,” the military added.
At the end of June, the UK government announced that it would allocate an additional £1 billion ($1.2 billion) for military assistance to Ukraine.
The new aid package included "integrated air defense systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, innovative electronic warfare equipment." An order for the production of drones for Kyiv in the amount of £100 million ($120 million) will be received by a British company, which will be able to “scale production”.
The volume of British military assistance to Ukraine reached $ 2.8 billion, the office said that only the United States sent more for these purposes. With £1.5bn ($1.8bn) of economic and humanitarian assistance already provided, total British aid to Ukraine in 2022 has reached £3.8bn ($4.6bn).