More Britons must be ready to fight for their country, the head of the British military has warned, warning that “more families will know what sacrifice for our nation means”.
The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal General Sir Richard Knighton, said that preparing for the Russian threat requires “the whole nation stepping up”.
Knighton said this means “more people being ready to fight for their country” – in both full-time service and as reserves and cadets – saying that the UK does not currently have enough personnel and “will need new skills over time”.
“Sons and daughters, colleagues and veterans will all have a role to play. To build. To serve. And if necessary, to fight. And more families will know what sacrifice for our nation means,” he said in a speech to the Royal United Services Institute on Monday night.
Knighton noted that “most people in this country have no direct experience of the Armed Forces”, with this month marking 65 years since the last National Service call-ups.
The Government has repeatedly said it has no plans to reintroduce conscription.
The UK’s most senior military officer, who has served since 1988, said that the current geopolitical moment was “more dangerous than I have known during my career”.
“For three decades, many did not have to think about the Armed Forces. Peace was stable. Conflict was distant. But that is no longer true,” he said.
Knighton warned that failure to adequately prepare for conflict would be hugely damaging not only to the Armed Forces but the UK’s infrastructure and economy.
A loss of satellite signals – something deemed vulnerable to Russian attack – for just seven days would cost the UK an estimated £7.64bn, according to London Economics, while a cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover cost £1.5bn in a government bailout.
“The whole of Britain must step up,” he said, saying the country needed “people who are not soldiers, sailors or aviators to nevertheless invest their skills – and money – in innovation and problem solving on the nation’s behalf.”
Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, who has served with the military since 1988, said it was the most dangerous time of his career. (Photo: Getty)CDS said that the “novel and destructive” weapons used by Vladimir Putin’s forces in Ukraine “threaten the whole of NATO, including the UK”, noting the damage to European undersea cables and the presence of Russian spy ships in the Channel.
Knighton also said that the UK is already subject to an “onslaught of cyber-attacks from Russia” on a daily basis, and extensive sabotage efforts, also nodding to the killing of two British citizens during the Salisbury Novichok poisoning.
Western officials last week revealed that threats against the UK’s Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces have risen by 50 per cent in the last year alone.
At the same time, Russia is rapidly expanding its military capabilities, building a 1.1 million-strong force, with more than seven per cent of GDP and 40 per cent of government spending on defence.
Keir Starmer, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, Defence Secretary John Healey and Chief of the Defence Staff Richard Knighton in Ukraine earlier this year (Photo: Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)The Government has pledged to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027 and 3.5 per cent by 2035, something Knighton said was needed because the “price of peace is increasing”.
Knighton also announced £50m for new Defence Technical Excellence Colleges, to help build skills needed to tackle the threat posed by Russia.
It comes after Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said European allies had to “be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured”, while France’s defence chief said the nation must be prepared to lose its children.
Armed Forces Minister Al Carns also said that the “shadow of war is knocking at Europe’s door”, as he launched the UK’s new military intelligence service.
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