The Commanding Officer of 16 Regiment Royal Artillery, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Lane, said the new systems will mean British forces can “compete with our peers and take on some of the toughest adversaries”.

“It gives us a capability we have not had before; this new missile system with its new launcher and world-class radar will absolutely put us at the forefront of ground-based air defence.”

Sky Sabre can control 24 missiles simultaneously in flight, guiding them to intercept 24 separate targets.

It is likely the systems will form part of a wider ground-based air defence system to protect against ballistic and hypersonic missiles.

Defending against Russian and Chinese hypersonic missiles

Russia and China are investing “significant” sums of money in hypersonic missiles, Mr Drummond said.

The Russian Avangard hypersonic glide missile is capable of carrying nuclear and conventional payloads. It can travel at speeds around Mach 20.

Unlike ballistic missiles hypersonic vehicles are able to manoeuvre at low altitudes. The incredible speed and ability to fly around air-defence sites makes them particularly difficult to intercept.

Currently only the US military have systems thought capable of destroying hypersonic weapons by combining long-range radar systems with very powerful missiles.

An MoD spokesman said a long-term solution for air-defence systems will be delivered in the second half of this decade but there would be “no capability gap” in the interim.