UK faces ‘most dangerous period’ in decades, says Chief of Defence Staff

Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton said Russia was “probing, challenging, testing our defences” including through “cyber attacks or trying to smuggle technology and reckless sabotage and assassination attempts”.

The Chief of the Defence Staff added that Moscow was “definitely raising the stakes and risks crossing a line”.

It came as the Prime Minister announced the delayed Defence Investment Plan will be published before the Nato summit in Turkey, beginning on July 7.

Sir Richard said: “This is the most dangerous time I have known in my working life.

“And it is important that society and all of us recognise and understand that, and that may mean that we need to make different choices and different priorities.”

The defence investment plan, known as the Dip, was originally slated for publication last autumn but has been repeatedly delayed. It will set out a plan for how money is spent on defence.

Some in Westminster had expected the plan to be published this week, exactly a year on from the strategic defence review that called for a Dip.

The Chief of the Defence Staff said: “In my 35-year career, this is the most dangerous period that I have known.

“And as a consequence, it is important that we enhance the capability and the readiness of our armed forces alongside our allies to deter our adversaries from doing something daft.

“Over the last two decades we have been preparing for shorter wars and for conflicts that are confined and limited, what we need to ready ourselves for is potentially much greater, longer conflicts, as we’ve seen in Ukraine.”

Sir Richard said drones and autonomous systems are “going to become increasingly important in the future of warfare” and are an area where the UK needs “to invest more and enhance our capability”.

Ministers have been repeatedly criticised over the delay to the Dip, with Commons Defence Committee chairman Tan Dhesi saying Britain’s military and defence industry “need to know where we stand and where we are going”.

A wrangle between the Treasury and Ministry of Defence is thought to be behind the delay.

Sir Keir Starmer vowed the blueprint for Britain’s defence spending will be “another step up” in the amount spent on the military.

The boost to defence spending is said to be worth more than £18 billion, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves and the Prime Minister are reportedly considering watering down the amount over concerns it is unaffordable.

Speaking during a visit to a defence contractor in Wiltshire, Sir Keir said the investment plan would provide the cash for the “capability” outlined in last year’s Strategic Defence Review.

Sir Keir said the UK needs to make sure it is “ahead of the curve” with its defence capabilities as he said the defence investment plan would be published in the coming weeks and mark “another step up” in spending.

“Look at how quickly the technology here is changing. It is obvious to all of you, and it’s obvious to me, that we need to make sure we’re ahead of the game, ahead of the curve here, and that we’re getting the capability that we need now, in five years, in 10 years.”

Last year’s strategic review aimed to answer those questions, he said.

“You won’t be surprised to know that a lot of focus was on technology, on how we equip, you know, our armed forces with the best, and how we make more of autonomous capability, some of the stuff that you are working on.

“Now in order to put that strategic review into effect, we’ve got a defence investment plan, so that is the plan that says here’s the money that goes with the capability.

“We bring the two together, and it is another step up. It is another increase in spending, but it is necessary. It’s the right thing to do to defend our country.”

He said government had been working on detail of the investment plan.

“We’ve been working on that defence investment plan for some time, very closely with our armed forces, as you would expect, because we need that interaction.

“What is the capability that you most need in what time period with the MoD, and actually across government, because this is a cross-government priority,

“And that will now be published before the Nato summit, which is in just a few weeks’ time, a very important summit where countries across the world come together.

“Nato, of course, being the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen.”