"The situation is more dangerous than I have known during my career and the response requires more than simply strengthening our armed forces," Richard Knighton, chief of the defence staff, is expected to say in a speech Monday, according to a ministry statement.
"A new era for defence doesn't just mean our military and government stepping up -- as we are -- it means our whole nation stepping up."
To that end, he will announce �50 million ($67 million) in funding for new "Defence Technical Excellence Colleges" to help defence employers train up staff.
Knighton is also expected to speak about Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its threat to NATO.
"Putin's willingness to target neighbouring states, including their civilian populations, potentially with such novel and destructive weapons, threatens the whole of NATO, including the UK," he will say.
"The Russian leadership has made clear that it wishes to challenge, limit, divide and ultimately destroy NATO."
Knighton will set out his ideas in a speech to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a think tank specialising in defence matters.
He led Britain's Royal Air Force before taking over as chief of defence staff in September.
Earlier in December, Britain and Norway unveiled a new defence pact that will see their navies jointly operate a warship fleet to "hunt Russian submarines" in the North Atlantic.
The aim is to protect critical undersea infrastructure, such as cables, which Western officials say is increasingly under threat from Moscow.
British navy says it tracked Russian sub for three days in Channel
London (AFP) Dec 11, 2025 -
The British navy said Thursday it tracked a Russian submarine navigating through the Channel for three days, as it steps up efforts to police its seas against such threats.
A British naval supply ship with an on-board helicopter was deployed to track the stealthy Kilo-class submarine Krasnodar and the tug Altay, the Royal Navy said in a statement.
The Russian ships had arrived from the North Sea and entered the Channel.
"Expert aircrew were prepared to pivot to anti-submarine operations if Krasnodar had dived below the surface," the statement said.
But it sailed on the surface throughout the operation, despite unfavourable weather conditions.
Near the island of Ouessant, off northwest France, the British said they handed over monitoring of the vessels to a NATO ally, without saying which one.
The British military carried out a similar shadowing operation in July, after spotting the Russian sub Novorossiysk in its territorial waters.
Defence minister John Healey announced on Monday the launch of a multi-million pound programme to improve the Royal Navy's capabilities in the face of Moscow's "underwater threats".
According to London, Russian submarine activity in British waters has increased by about a third over the past two years.
In early December, the UK and Norway signed a cooperation agreement to jointly operate a fleet of frigates to "hunt down" these submarines in the North Atlantic.
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