“Every day the UK is subject to an onslaught of cyber-attacks from Russia and we know that Russian agents are seeking to conduct sabotage and have killed on our shores,” he added.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Russia’s military had become a “hard power [which] is growing quickly”.<\/p>\n
While Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine had been a strategic failure, he said, “we should be under no illusions that Russia has a massive, increasingly technically sophisticated, and now highly combat-experienced military”.<\/p>\n
Sir Richard said the UK needed to make itself a “harder target” for hybrid threats and to avoid war.<\/p>\n
Building the nation’s resilience went beyond strengthening the military and “more people being ready to fight for their country”, and included harnessing the UK’s universities, energy and manufacturing industries, and the NHS.<\/p>\n
It also meant building industrial capacity “to meet the demands in the UK and of our allies to re-stock and re-arm”.<\/p>\n
“Building this industrial capacity also means we need more people who leave schools and universities to join that industry.”<\/p>\n
He added that “we need defence and political leaders to explain the importance of the industry to the nation, and we need schools and parents to encourage children and young adults to take up careers in the industry”.<\/p>\n
Addressing a skills gap highlighted in a recent report by the Royal Academy of Engineering, Sir Richard also talked about the need to work with industry and young people, announcing \u00a350m for new defence technical excellence colleges.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, both France and Germany have outlined plans for voluntary national service.<\/p>\n
Last year, the then-Conservative government set out its own compulsory proposals, which Labour dismissed as a gimmick.<\/p>\n
Sir Richard, who became chief of the defence staff in September, said he found himself in a position none of his predecessors had: “looking at the prospect of the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War”.<\/p>\n