The Armed Forces must adapt to deal with "unseen enemies", UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said as he announced a 1.1 billion pounds investment in the military to tackle new threats to national security.
The Prime Minister was saying that spending on "intelligence and surveillance" equipment, such as drones, is a "national necessity".
Writing in the Daily Telegraph newspaper published Monday, Cameron warns that Britain faces changing threats in the form of global terrorism and unseen cyber criminals who can target the country from abroad.
The new military funding package, to be outlined when the Prime Minister visits the Farnborough International Air Show, near London, includes an extra 800 million pounds investment in an intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance package.
Some 90 foreign government delegations are due to visit the show. Around 100,000 visitors will be frequenting the event, with 23 aircraft taking part in flying displays. Meanwhile, the investment will boost the Special Forces' ability to deal with the threat of global terrorism and hostage taking, Downing Street says.
A further 300 million pounds will be used for existing programmes, including next generation radars for Typhoon jets.
The UK will not be left safer if the Government "retreated" from the world by reducing our military capabilities, Cameron says in his article in the pro-Conservative publication.
Britain's military must be enhanced to defend against the threat of terrorist attacks as well as the potential for extra immigration if "fragile and lawless states fracture", Cameron warns.
"Today's investment demonstrates our approach to national security. There are those who believe we would be safer if we fundamentally retreated from the world," he said. "Terrorist plots hatched thousands of miles away threaten to cause harm on our streets. When fragile and lawless states fracture, migration flows can affect us right here." Cameron's article will be welcomed by critics of the Government's programme of defence cuts, the Telegraph commented.
A total of 30,000 Armed Forces job cuts have been outlined since "the Strategic Defence and Security Review" in 2010.
The regular Army has been told it must cut numbers from 102,000 to 82,000 by 2020.
Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, suggested last week that while the Ministry of Defence could "live with" its current projected budget up until 2020, further cuts could prove damaging.
"Having a modern, technological, advanced and flexible Armed Forces to protect and advance (our) interests is not national vanity - it is national necessity," Cameron says.
"Our national interest is served by Britain playing a role in the world. That is what we are doing today - whether working with forces in Nigeria or Somalia to close down terrorist threats at source, training up the security forces in Afghanistan, or sending Royal Navy warships to the Gulf to ensure vital trade routes remain open.
"We need to maintain this ability."