Britain must start preparing for large-scale conflict, defence officials warn
Britain must start preparing for a "large-scale conflict which could be with Russia or others at some point in the future", defence officials have warned.
They told Forces News that the demands on defence intelligence are more complex and more varied in 2024 and that we are living in "dangerous times".
The warning came as they made the rare decision to invite journalists into one of their top secret intelligence facilities at RAF Wyton, a tri-service base that is home to the biggest defence intelligence centre in the UK.
They stressed that Russia is still a "very potent force", using a weather analogy to describe the current global situation as having "storms in the Middle East, an acute hurricane in Ukraine and that China represented climate change".
During the visit journalists were presented with a Russian Orlan 10 drone and a Shahed 131 Iranian drone that have been used against the Ukrainians.
These were just two examples of weapons that are being analysed by defence intelligence experts in the UK to find out more about how they work.
Both had been given to UK defence intelligence by the Ukrainians.
The officials also said "significant lessons" would be learned from the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel.
China's aspirations in quantum computing and its hypersonic missile capabilities were highlighted - as was the work being undertaken by UK defence intelligence on how to counter those threats.
The vast majority of resources, they said, are focused on threats emanating from overseas which pose a threat to the UK, and recognised that they have their work cut out for them.
These threat assessments follow a speech made by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps in which he warned the UK was now moving to a "pre-war" era.
This was then followed by the head of the Army saying that Britain should train and equip a "citizen army" to prepare the country for a potential land war.
General Sir Patrick Sanders, the outgoing Chief of the General Staff, said creating such a force ahead of a potential conflict would need to be a "whole-of-nation undertaking".
However, Gen Sir Patrick said even a mobilisation of this scale might not be enough, highlighting how the UK's allies in eastern and northern Europe were "laying the foundations for national mobilisation".
There is, it seems, a very clear message emerging from defence officials in 2024, warnings of various dark possibilities that could face the UK in the future.
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