British households should lose their little children to combat Russia, warns defence chief
British families must be prepared to send their sons and daughters to war against Russia, the head of the military has warned.
In a stark message, Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton said ‘more people’ needed to be ready to take up arms to protect the country.
He explained that although the chances of a direct Russian attack on UK soil remain remote, that ‘does not mean the chances are zero’.
Sir Richard called for schools to encourage children to take up jobs in the arms industry and said more British families will ‘know what sacrifice for our nation means’.
His comments come just days Mark Rutte, secretary general of the NATO alliance, predicted that Europe is Vladimir Putin‘s next target.
Mr Rutte urged NATO states, such as Britain, to switch to a ‘wartime mindset’ and warned too many countries are ‘quietly complacent’.
Meanwhile, armed forces minister Al Carns said the country was on a ‘war footing’ and warned that the ‘shadow of war was at Europe’s door’.
He said: ‘The shadow of war is knocking on Europe’s door and that war could be bigger and bloodier than what we have experienced in recent times.
In a stark message, Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton (pictured) said ‘more people’ needed to be ready to take up arms to protect the country
Europe has been warned that it may be Vladimir Putin’s next target
Speaking at a Royal United Services Institute event in Westminster last night, Sir Richard called on civilians to help build national resilience to ensure the UK functions in a crisis.
He said: ‘Every day the UK is subject to an onslaught of cyber attacks from Russia and we know that Russian agents are seeking to conduct sabotage and have killed on our shores.
‘But Russia’s hard power is growing quickly.’
As a result of increased defence spending and the experiences in Ukraine, Russia has a ‘massive, increasingly technically sophisticated, and now, highly combat-experienced, military,’ he added.
Setting out the ‘whole of society’ effort needed to respond to the increasingly dangerous situation in Europe, the Chief of the Defence Staff said: ‘First, it means more people being ready to fight for their country.’
That meant not just regular forces, but an increase in the reserves and cadets, he said.
The ‘painfully slow’ pace of private investment in the defence industry also needed to accelerate.
‘Building this industrial capacity also means we need more people who leave schools and universities to join that industry,’ he said.
‘So, we need defence and political leaders to explain the importance of the industry to the nation, and we need schools and parents to encourage children and young adults to take up careers in the industry.’
Sir Richard added: ‘Sons and daughters. Colleagues. 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.’
The Government announced earlier this year that UK defence and security spending would rise to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035 at the latest.
Armed Forces minister Al Carns (pictured) said the country was on a ‘war footing’ and warned that the ‘shadow of war was at Europe’s door’
Sir Richard said: ‘Our objective must be to avoid war, but the price of maintaining peace is rising.
‘Unless we can explain the risks, we can’t expect decision makers in government or society more broadly to pay that price.’
His intervention follows a similar warning from the new head of MI6.
Speaking for the first time at MI6’s headquarters in London, Blaise Metreweli described how Britain is now ‘in a space between peace and war’ as Putin continues to push the West towards war.
Ms Metreweli, who is the first woman to lead MI6 in its history, accused the Russian leader of deliberately ‘dragging out negotiations’ over the war in Ukraine.
‘Russia is testing us in the grey zone with tactics that are just below the threshold of war,’ she said, claiming Putin was attempting to ‘bully, fearmonger and manipulate’ through cyber attacks on the UK’s critical infrastructure, drones buzzing airports and bases and aggressive activity in our seas.
Russia is also waging ‘state-sponsored arson and sabotage’ and spreading poisonous propaganda which ‘seeks to crack open and exploit fractures within societies’.
In a wide-ranging speech, Ms Metreweli suggested information is being ‘weaponised’, not just by hostile states, but also by algorithms, corporations and tech bosses.
As states race for tech supremacy, she predicted some algorithms will ‘become as powerful as states’, suggesting data tracking and filtering could ‘become a new vector for conflict and control’, while tech bosses such as X’s Elon Musk become ever-more powerful.
‘Power itself is becoming more diffuse, more unpredictable as control over these technologies is shifting from states to corporations and sometimes to individuals,’ she said.
‘The foundations of trust in our societies are eroding. Information, once a unifiying force, is increasingly weaponised. Falsehood spreads faster than fact, dividing communities and distorting reality.
‘The algorithms flatter our biases and fracture our public squares. As trust collapses, so does our shared sense of truth – one of the greatest losses a society can suffer.’
