NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Britain's new $11b aircraft carriers 'are vulnerable to cheap long-range missiles'

Daily Mail
11 Jul, 2017 12:39 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The $5.5 billion HMS Queen Elizabeth could be disabled by low-cost, technology-rich weapons, a study found. Photo/Getty Images

The $5.5 billion HMS Queen Elizabeth could be disabled by low-cost, technology-rich weapons, a study found. Photo/Getty Images

Britain's new £6.2billion ($11 billion) aircraft carriers are vulnerable to relatively cheap long-range Russian and Chinese missiles, a report has revealed.

Multibillion-pound defence projects are at risk from technological advances by potential enemies of the UK, the think-tank study found, according to Daily Mail.

Missiles costing less than £500,000 ($889,000) each could "at least disable" Britain's new £3.1billion ($5.5 billion) HMS Queen Elizabeth, it claimed.

The report noted: "Key Western military assets had become vulnerable to targeting and disruption and destruction by long-range precision missiles to a degree that had hitherto been unthinkable."

It warns the Government has focused more on offensive systems over protective capabilities.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"There has been a growing imbalance within the attack-defence military equation, driven by the spread and speed of applicable technologies," it adds.

The report by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) lists Iran as an example, saying the country has long held anti-ship missiles from Russia.

It has also claimed to have developed its own Hormuz-2 supersonic, ballistic anti-ship missile, weapons which "must be seen as a key contextual element of British naval deployments".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The study says UK defence capabilities costing £16billion ($28.4 billion) a year are "increasingly vulnerable to low-cost, technology-rich weapons".

The Royal United Services Institute report names the most notable vulnerability as "increased peer and near-peer threat from Chinese and Russian long-range precision missiles".

It adds: "China and Russia appear to have focused many of their efforts on being able to put at risk the key Western assets that are large, few in number and expensive ... The advancing capabilities of potential adversaries of the UK should be a genuine concern."

For the adversary "it has become much cheaper to destroy major systems and platforms than to develop and build them, making large-scale attacks on a single target more likely".

Another area of concern is defences in space, where the UK has a significant satellite-building capability and makes extensive military use of space for spying and communications.

Photo/Getty Images
Photo/Getty Images

The report warns "the space-denial capabilities of peer and near-peer adversaries risked threatening critical navigation and communication capabilities".

The authors add: "The advancing capabilities of potential adversaries of the UK should be a genuine concern."

Co-author Professor Trevor Taylor, a professorial fellow at RUSI, said: "UK defence policy prioritises the capability to project force to areas of concern and to deter attacks on British assets and allies.

"The advancing capabilities of potential adversaries in Northern Europe, the Middle East and even East Asia need to be taken into account in reviews of UK defence policy and military tasks, British and Nato approaches to deterrence strategy, and the priorities for UK capability development."

Co-author Andrew Tyler said Britain must ensure "defensive posture and potential for recovery ...match our offensive capabilities".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Last month Britain's biggest ever warship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, squeezed out of the Rosyth basin in Scotland and set sail on her maiden voyage.

Once it is handed over to the Royal Navy it will boast 24 of the world's most advanced stealth fighter jets.

The F-35B Lightning II and its radar can track objects the size of snooker balls 20km away.

It will also have a modern-day Gatling gun known as Phalanx, which fires 20mm shells at a rate of 3,000 rounds a minute.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

Jimmy Swaggart, famed televangelist rocked by scandal, dies at 90

01 Jul 06:26 PM
World

Senate approves $1.6t cuts, advancing Trump tax, immigration agenda

01 Jul 06:09 PM
Premium
World

'Sending us to slaughter': Russia's military bloggers describe brutal, stalled war

01 Jul 06:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

Jimmy Swaggart, famed televangelist rocked by scandal, dies at 90

Jimmy Swaggart, famed televangelist rocked by scandal, dies at 90

01 Jul 06:26 PM

His ministry once generated US$140m annually through broadcasts and merchandise.

Senate approves $1.6t cuts, advancing Trump tax, immigration agenda

Senate approves $1.6t cuts, advancing Trump tax, immigration agenda

01 Jul 06:09 PM
Premium
'Sending us to slaughter': Russia's military bloggers describe brutal, stalled war

'Sending us to slaughter': Russia's military bloggers describe brutal, stalled war

01 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Edenton statue debate divides town, sparks Confederate resurgence

Edenton statue debate divides town, sparks Confederate resurgence

01 Jul 06:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP