The world is on the brink of a ‘third nuclear age’ in which Britain is threatened by multiple enemies including Russia, the head of the armed forces has warned.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said “wild threats of tactical nuclear use” by Russia and China, Iran’s inability to cooperate on a nuclear deal and North Korea’s “erratic behavior” were among the threats facing the West .
He called on Wednesday for more defense funding and reforms at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) defense think tank.
Despite the warnings, Sir Tony said there was only a “remote chance” that Russia would directly attack or invade Britain if the two countries were at war.
Sir Tony added that Russian President Vladimir Putin is aware of the UK’s nuclear arsenal and said it affects him more than other threats.
This had seen successive British governments invest “substantial sums of money” in renewing nuclear submarines and warheads, he said.
Sir Tony said Britain must be “clear in our assessment” of the threats it faces.
“That includes recognizing that there is only a remote chance of a significant direct attack or invasion by Russia on Britain, and that applies across NATO,” he told the audience.
He said it was necessary to keep Britain’s nuclear deterrent strong. He described the first nuclear era as the Cold War and the second was characterized by disarmament efforts and “counterproliferation.”
“We are on the verge of a third nuclear age, which is much more complex,” he said.
This era is more dangerous than anything he has known in his career and the world is more contentious than ever, he said.
The armed forces chief needs popular support to get more funding. He said he wants to strengthen the country’s resolve and give people a sense of what he calls the tragedy of war without having to experience it. Hence his stark warning about the magnitude of the threat.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office said Defense Secretary John Healey had previously discussed “the state of the armed forces inherited from the previous government”.
The spokesperson said: “This is why the Budget has invested billions of pounds in defence, and it is why we are carrying out a strategic defense review to ensure we have the capabilities and investment needed to defend this country .”
The defense chief’s speech came as Defense Secretary Alistair Carns warned that a major war would result in the army being wiped out within six to 12 months.
He told an audience at the same think tank that Britain needed reserves to fight a ‘war of scale’.
Official figures show that the army had 109,245 personnel on October 1, including 25,814 volunteer reservists.
