Senior UK Military Commander Warns of Emerging 'Third Nuclear Age'

London: The head of Britain's armed forces, Adm. Tony Radakin has cautioned that the world is on the brink of a "third nuclear age," marked by a combination of simultaneous threats and weakened safeguards that once controlled nuclear risks.

The Chief of the Defense Staff said that Britain must acknowledge the gravity of the threats it faces, even if the likelihood of Russia launching a direct nuclear attack on the UK or its NATO allies is remote.

Radakin stated in a speech to the Royal United Services Institute on Wednesday that while the Cold War was marked by two superpowers being kept in check by nuclear deterrence, and the past three decades focused on global efforts to limit nuclear proliferation, the current era is "altogether more complex."

Third Nuclear Age

“We are at the dawn of a third nuclear age…’’ he said. “It is defined by multiple and concurrent dilemmas, proliferating nuclear and disruptive technologies and the almost total absence of the security architectures that went before.”

Challenges faced by the West include Russia’s threat to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, China’s drive to build up its nuclear stockpiles, Iran’s failure to cooperate with international efforts to limit its nuclear program, and “erratic behavior” by North Korea, Radakin said. All of this comes against a backdrop of increasing cyberattacks, sabotage and disinformation campaigns aimed at destabilizing Western countries.

Changing International Landscape

He described the deployment of North Korean soldiers alongside Russian forces on Ukraine’s border as the year’s “most extraordinary development,’’ and warned that further deployments were possible.

The annual lecture by the chief of Britain’s defense staff is a tradition at RUSI, one of the country’s foremost think tanks on military and strategic issues.

Radakin used the lecture to make the case for continued reforms in the British military so the U.K. is prepared to respond to the changing international landscape. That includes maintaining Britain’s nuclear deterrent, which is “the one part of our inventory of which Russia is most aware and has more impact on Putin than anything else,” he said.

Britain keeps at least one submarine armed with nuclear missiles at sea at all times so that it can respond in the event of a nuclear attack.

The U.K. government is currently conducting a strategic defense review to determine how its armed forces should be staffed and equipped to confront the new challenges. The results are due to be published in the first half of next year.

(with agency inputs)