The Chief of the Defence Staff is expected to call for a “whole of society” approach to defence and national resilience, warning that Britain faces a more dangerous and uncertain security environment than at any point in his career.
Sir Richard Knighton is due to deliver his first annual Royal United Services Institute lecture this evening, where he is expected to argue that responding to growing threats will require action far beyond the armed forces and government alone.
In the advance extracts, Sir Richard is expected to warn that “the situation is more dangerous than I have known during my career”, adding that the response “requires more than simply strengthening our armed forces.” He is expected to tell the audience that a new era for defence “doesn’t just mean our military and government stepping up, it means our whole nation stepping up.”
The lecture is expected to frame resilience as a national responsibility, with Sir Richard arguing that defence must be reconnected with wider society. He is expected to say that long term military effectiveness depends on making defence and resilience “a higher national priority for all of us.”
Addressing the nature of modern deterrence, he is expected to say that readiness alone is insufficient, saying: “Our armed forces always need to be ready to fight and win, that’s why readiness is such a priority.” However, he is expected to add that “deterrence is also about our resilience to these threats” and about how the UK “harness[es] all our national power, from universities, to industry, the rail network to the NHS.”
Skills shortages are expected to be a central theme of the lecture. An engineer by background, Sir Richard is expected to reference recent findings highlighting engineering skills gaps and recruitment challenges as examples of fragile systems that could undermine the country’s ability to function in a crisis. Drawing parallels with defence workforce pressures, he is expected to argue for stronger links between industry, education and young people to rebuild national capacity.
As part of this, he is expected to announce £50 million in funding for new Defence Technical Excellence Colleges. According to the excerpts, “five colleges in England, and others across the UK, will gain specialist status and major new funding” to help deliver the ambitions set out in the Strategic Defence Review. He is also expected to note that the funding will support “thousands of short courses so defence employers can upskill existing staff quickly.”
On defence spending, Sir Richard is expected to say: “I find myself in a position that none of my predecessors during my career have faced, looking at the prospect of the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War,” adding that “the price of peace is increasing.”
Russia is also expected to feature prominently. Referring to the war in Ukraine, he is expected to warn that it demonstrates Moscow’s willingness to target civilian populations and threaten NATO directly, stating that “the Russian leadership has made clear that it wishes to challenge, limit, divide and ultimately destroy NATO.”
The speech is expected to conclude with a warning about the trajectory of global security. Sir Richard is expected to say: “We are heading into uncertainty, and that uncertainty is becoming more profound, both as our adversaries become more capable and unpredictable, and as unprecedented technology change manifests itself.”
The MoD need to try and engage the public more i feel. Pump out more videos on social media, go out in the public more.
Are they allowed to visit schools anymore im sure i read somewhere they atopped ir
Trouble is nobody is listening,least of all Sir Kier and co.Talk talk talk and all the while the clocks ticking….
Good luck getting the UK public of the 21st century to even take responsibility for themselves, never mind stepping up for anything further!
So he now expects the whole country to start Giving a fuck when each successive governments couldn’t give a fuck ?
Yeah, good luck with that, people are more concerened with who wins Love Island.
Sadly, it’s all a bit late, and the British Army doesn’t have the modern kit to fight with the same modern protection as its partners in NATO. That won’t stop the UK government from pushing its troops into conflict on European soil in their thousands. Past governments have a lot to answer for by cutting and cutting defence on the pretext that the Yanks will do the lion’s share. If only the UK had retained its armoured defence industry, building MBTs and artillery to the standard that is surprising observers in Ukraine. Within months, we may have to go to Poland or South Korea to resolve the Ajax and IFV Tracked programmes.
Maurice, thanks. I didn’t know we had a funded, tracked IFV programme as funding was pulled in March 2021 – that’s good news if we do!
Ok all good, try buying some kit then, why is the DIP still not out ? Talk and warm words and projects will not do much in sad event of a war. You deter war only by being stronge so looks like the UK will have hide behind Poland and Sweden/Germany on land for now and hope no one notices the cuboards are bare.
what we actually know is that all governments seek ’emergencies’ so they can clamp down on our freedom, never has the UK, and europe, had such low calibre leadership across the spectrum, the entire gene pool has been hollowed out
The whole of society?
Does that include the millions who have come here amongst whom are many who’ve not integrated, have no interest in doing so, speak no English, and bring the world’s problems with then which then spill out on our streets?
In effect, the UK has become a hotel for the poor migrants of the world, and still successive governments want more.
And I’ll remind you CDS that your previous CAS was dismissing white recruits as “trash” in the policy that was in place then of wanting more non white recruits.
You now of course expect the mostly white working class men and women of our nation who form the backbone of our military to go and sacrifice themselves?
While MPs sit happily at home snearing at those who dare to oppose the mass immigration we’ve seen over the last 30 years as “far right” “racists” “white supremacists” and “closet loons” which I recall that pathetic individual PM David Cameron called Brexit voters, who include World War 2 veterans whom I knew
personally.
Good luck with that….HMG, you’ve burned your bridges long, long ago.
And you’re still dragging your feet on expanding the military despite warnings from C, the DG, and numerous NATO intelligence Ministers at the dangers growing.
A bit more political than usual Daniele! I agree with every word!
I have now accepted that Healey could have done so much more in his 17 months in post. Like: order some major platforms for each of the three services; start building at least one or two of those six new ammunition factories; sort out the Ajax and Morpheus programmes; deliver a Defence Command Paper and the DIP; maintain a good number of Puma helicopters until arrival of replacements; buy more interim SPGs…………….
Good morning Graham.
Thank you. It needs saying, despite the left attempting to shout one down. I have no other platform to display my discontent other than the ballot box.
And that’s coming!
This country is in a bit of a mess if they’re talking of unity and society coming together.
Courtesy of HMG over many, many years.
On Healey, nothing against the bloke personally, I call it as I see it. There is utter paralysis in procurement ongoing and it’s getting farcial.
On recruitment, things seem to be turning but is that their efforts or the fact that unemployment is rising? And I understand that wasn’t new money either, they diverted existing so something somewhere in MoD military has lost out.
Perhaps he should direct his comments at the soft handshake merchant in No. 10 instead of talking drivel to the masses. We the great unwashed masses know what needs to be done its the Islington elite who are praying it all just goes away.