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Britain should lead Nato into a "new era of war" as the West confronts growing threats to its security, former CIA director David Petraeus has said.
The retired four-star US Army general argued that the UK was uniquely positioned to spearhead a transformation of the Western alliance's approach to warfare.
Speaking at the House of Lords on Tuesday, Gen Petraeus warned that the current generation was facing challenges of historic proportions.
He told peers: "Every generation is tempted to believe that its challenges are unprecedented. Occasionally, however, a generation is correct. I believe ours is such a generation."
His intervention comes as Britain faces escalating threats from Vladimir Putin's Russia over its support for Ukraine.
Moscow has accused Britain of "playing with fire", while Russian officials threatened last month to strike British factories supplying drones to Kyiv.
Putin has also warned that British cargo ships could be seized in retaliation for the UK's role in targeting Russia's shadow fleet - the network of tankers used to transport Russian oil and generate revenue for Moscow.
Western intelligence officials have meanwhile warned that Russia is conducting a sabotage campaign, fuelling fears that a "miscalculation" could cause tensions to spiral into a wider confrontation.
Gen Petraeus warned that the current generation was facing challenges of historic proportions
|GETTY
Gen Petraeus praised Britain for demonstrating "strategic clarity" from the outset of the war in Ukraine and for its support for Kyiv.
He argued that Britain's response had created an opportunity for the country to lead a fundamental overhaul of Nato's approach to modern warfare.
Gen Petraeus said: "That now presents Britain with another opportunity: to become the first major Western nation to organise its defence institutions around the new concept of warfare that Ukraine has been pioneering, and, in doing so, to help lead the transformation of Nato itself."
The former CIA chief also warned that possessing superior technology alone would not guarantee Western nations an advantage on the battlefield.
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Gen Petraeus praised Britain for demonstrating 'strategic clarity' from the outset of the war in Ukraine and for its support for Kyiv
|PA
He suggested Washington itself had yet to adapt sufficiently to the rapidly changing nature of warfare.
Gen Petraeus said: "The US has not yet developed the revolutionary new concept of warfare this moment requires, much less begun the vast resulting changes in force structure, organisation, training, leader education, procurement and personnel."
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, who as Lord Speaker invited Gen Petraeus to deliver the lecture, described his intervention as crucial at a time of growing international danger.
Lord Forsyth said: "David Petraeus has combined frontline military leadership with experience at the highest levels of intelligence and public service.
Gen Petraeus said Britain's response had created an opportunity to lead an overhaul of Nato's approach to modern warfare
|GETTY
"At a time of international peril, his conclusions on the lessons he has learned are crucial to our security."
The warning comes after Prime Minister Andy Burnham last week provided Ukraine with designs needed to construct its own variant of Britain's Storm Shadow cruise missile.
Britain has previously supplied Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine for strikes against Russian military targets and command posts.
The weapon's deployment has provoked fury in Moscow, with Kremlin figures threatening retaliation against Britain and accusing London of escalating the conflict.
Gen Petraeus served in the US military for 37 years, commanding coalition forces during the Iraq surge of 2007/8 and forces in Afghanistan in 2010/11 before going on to lead the CIA.