Iran conflict 2026: UK decided to deploy Wildcats to eastern Mediterranean in C-UAS role

An air-to-air firing of Martlet performed in September 2025 as part of last year's Exercise ‘Wildfire' off southern France. (Royal Navy/Crown Copyright)

The UK government's decision to deploy two Royal Navy (RN) Wildcat HMA2 helicopters to the eastern Mediterranean for counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) operations has raised the profile of a new mission taken on by the Wildcat Maritime Force following the introduction of the Martlet lightweight multimode guided weapon system.

Announced by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 3 March alongside the deployment of the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon , the move to deploy the two Wildcat flights from 815 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) this week comes after a UAS attack on RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, on the night of 1 March. A single Shahed-type one-way attack (OWA) UAS, thought to have been launched by Hizbullah militia from inside Lebanon, impacted the edge of the runway at Akrotiri.

In a statement, the MoD said that the Wildcat helicopters, armed with the Martlet missile system, “will be able to hunt and shoot down aerial threats, adding a powerful counter-drone capability to the region”. A social media post from 815 NAS on 4 March said, “Wildcat with AESA [active electronically scanned array] radar can hunt and destroy UAS from ship or shore, bringing flexibility and a rapid lethal response anywhere in the world at very short notice.”