Britain faces 'dawn of the third nuclear age', head of UK armed forces warns

4 December 2024, 22:00

The world is entering a “third nuclear age”, the head of Britain's armed forces has warned.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin warned Britain is facing threats on multiple fronts, including from Russia, China and the ever-growing proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Despite his warning, Admiral Radakin added there is only a “remote chance” Vladimir Putin’s forces would directly attack or invade the UK.

The Chief of the Defence Staff issued the warning after a minister said the Army would be wiped out in as little as six months if forced to fight a war on the scale of the Ukraine conflict.

Read more: British Army would be destroyed in 'six months to a year' in major war, veterans minister warns

During a speech at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) defence think tank in London, he said Britain must be “clear-eyed” when defending itself from threats across the globe.

“That includes recognising that there is only a remote chance of a significant direct attack or invasion by Russia on the United Kingdom, and that's the same for the whole of Nato,” he said.

Moscow "knows the response will be overwhelming", he added, but warned the nuclear deterrent needed to be "kept strong and strengthened".

Sir Tony added: "We are at the dawn of a third nuclear age, which is altogether more complex. It is defined by multiple and concurrent dilemmas, proliferating nuclear and disruptive technologies and the almost total absence of the security architectures that went before."

He slammed the “wild threats of tactical nuclear” attacks by the Kremlin, as he warned of China’s growing arsenal of weapons.

But Sir Tony said the UK's nuclear arsenal is "the one part of our inventory of which Russia is most aware and has more impact on (President Vladimir) Putin than anything else".

It comes after a defence minister claimed the “entire British army” would be wiped out in six months if war broke out with Russia.

Al Carns, the veterans minister, who is also a reservist, issued the warning as he spoke of the importance of rebuilding the UK's reserve forces.

During a speech at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, Mr Carns said: "In a war of scale - not a limited intervention, but one similar to Ukraine - our army for example on the current casualty rates would be expended - as part of a broader multinational coalition - in six months to a year.”

He said the casualty rate suffered by Russian forces in Ukraine - killed and injured - is around 1,500 soldiers a day.

He said this ability to absorb such losses and keep fighting is part of Russia's plan and is why Britain needs to rebuild the depth of fighting forces it has available.

Mr Carns, a former full-time Royal Marine colonel before moving into politics this year, said Russia would soon be moving onto its third army in Ukraine.

"That doesn't mean we need a bigger army, but it does mean you need to generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis," Mr Carns said.

"The reserves are critical, absolutely central, to that process. Without them we cannot generate mass, we cannot meet the plethora of defence tasks."

"We need to catch up with NATO allies and place greater emphasis on reserves," Mr Carns said.

"We need to grow our active reserve - trained volunteers to respond at short notice."

He said it was also important to "understand where our strategic reserve is and indeed grow it".