14th July 2023 at 11:51am.
The new head of the Royal Air Force has said the UK is “ready to fly and fight” Russian forces, and Moscow’s air force “will lose”.
In his first speech as head of the service, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton told the Global Air and Space Chiefs’ Conference the UK has to “deter our adversaries from using military force against us”.
“Using the doctrine of the four Cs around deterrence, we’re going to need to understand what we need to communicate, so that our adversaries comprehend that we have credible capability,” he said.
That we’re ready to fly and fight and that they will lose.
“The operational challenges our air forces will face wherever we’re fighting are going to be the same.
“We’re going to have to break into our integrated air and missile defences of our adversaries.
“We’re going to face cruise missile attacks and long-range missile attacks on our air bases and our air forces, and we’re going to face hybrid attacks on our logistics chains and our industrial bases.”
He added: “All of us are going to face those threats.”
It comes as the UK Armed Forces has faced criticism both domestically and internationally.
Earlier this year, a US general reportedly told Defence Secretary Ben Wallace that the British Army is no longer considered to be among the world’s top-tier fighting forces.
A Sky News report revealed that the unnamed general reportedly warned Mr Wallace about the status of the Army, and sources also claimed the UK’s Armed Forces were “a service unable to protect the UK and its allies”.
In February, Labour’s shadow defence secretary John Healey urged the Government to reboot its defence plans and boost military production to support Ukraine and to properly rearm Britain.
Mr Healey also said ministers must not delay reforming defence procurement and should commit to halting any further cuts to the Army, to ensure Britain can secure itself as Nato’s leading European nation.
Talking about the conflict in Ukraine, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard said: “Neither side… has been able to gain air superiority” which has left both sides “locked in a struggle between offence and defence, where the advantage is with defence”.
“Offence faces a massive challenge without air superiority and without being able to strike the adversary in the deep,” he said.
“Some will argue that Russia is now weaker than it was before it started the war, and that is certainly true in the land domain.
“The army has lost more than two-thirds of its tanks but the air force remains largely intact.”
