Hard power matters to prevent all-out war, head of Royal Air Force says

The head of the Royal Air Force says it is essential to build an armed forces that can prevent all-out war as he discussed the importance of deterrence and collective defence.

Speaking at the Chief of the Air Staff's Global Air and Space Chiefs' conference in London, Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton said hard power matters as part of a grand strategy to stop a major conflict from happening.

"We're building our Armed Forces to stop an all-out war starting and that demands more sophisticated thinking," he said.

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ACM Knighton said war is costly and the job of the military is to avoid it.

He referred to Nato as the greatest military alliance in history and said the comparison between Russian and Nato capability is "pretty impressive" – even without the strength of the US.

However, he added this is only the case if you can "join it up and make it work together".

"It's our collective strength that always is greater than the sum of its parts when it comes to deterrence," he said.

Iran's attack on Israel in April has prompted discussions around whether the UK should be doing more to improve its defence against attack from the air. 

The Chief of the Air Staff said any system should be international by design but warned: "We must acknowledge that we can't protect everything all of the time.

"We cannot afford an Iron Dome for Europe."

New Armed Forces minister Luke Pollard also spoke at the annual event which was attended by global leaders in air and space power.

He said: "If we are to get Britain's fighting forces fit to deter our adversaries and defeat them if necessary we must be ready for the profound step changes in warfare we are seeing in our increasingly volatile and contested world."

He added the UK must "look again at how we strengthen air and missile defence, look at our countermeasures and get that right up the agenda".

Mr Pollard also used his speech to highlight the Government's plans to improve service life as a way of attracting and retaining more people.

He said the new Labour Government will "reform defence to improve decision making, strengthen industrial resilience, improve morale and deliver better value for money and…equip ourselves for all domain warfare".