Scotland Yard is set to announce there will be an extra 600 armed officers for the capital to help double the number of police carrying weapons on the streets on any given day.
The force announced last year that more firearms officers would be recruited in the wake of the gun and bomb atrocities in Paris.
In the months since, senior officers have been drawing up plans on the quickest, most effective way of ensuring more firearms officers are available to respond to any attack in London.
That process is now at an end and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner will make what he described as a "significant" announcement on Thursday morning.
In an interview with LBC Radio, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said: "We are determined to increase the number of firearms officers. In fact I believe over the next 24 hours I'll be able to make a significant announcement about that."
There are currently around 2,000 firearms officers in the Metropolitan Police and the number of armed patrols was increased after the murders in France.
The latest move by the Met has been given a "cautious welcome" by shadow home secretary Andy Burnham.
He told Sky News: "It sounds like good news but we do have to ask where the money is coming from.
"If it's taken out of neighbourhood policing so we see police officers come off the beat, or if it's money that isn't then available to other big cities around the country, then that wouldn't be right."
Armed officers from the Met and several other forces have been holding regular training exercises at an undisclosed location in central London in preparation for the possibility of a mass firearms attack here.
In recent years, police tactics have evolved to counter the changing nature of the terrorist threat.
Instead of trying to negotiate with any potential terrorist hostage takers, armed officers are now instructed to "push forward and confront the threat head-on".
The change in tactic is a response to the knowledge that terrorists from groups like Islamic State (IS) only ever use negotiations as a stalling tactic to allow them to kill as many innocent people as possible.
Last month, senior Scotland Yard officers publicly acknowledged for the first time that anyone injured in such a terrorist attack might have to wait for some time before they receive medical attention.
For the police it is an understandably sensitive topic, but their priority is to neutralise any threat to ensure other members of the public are not killed or injured and to help ensure the scene is as secure as possible for other members of the emergency services to be able to safely treat the injured.
Sir Bernard revealed he meets armed officers every two weeks in a bid to maintain morale, after he raised concerns that those who bear firearms should have greater protection in the wake of a fatal shooting in the capital.
It follows the death of Jermaine Baker, 28,during a police operation to stop an alleged prison break in north London in December.
Sir Bernard said: "I've actually met a very large number of our firearms officers after the incident in Haringey to see how they felt, what their complaints might be and I've got a task-force running now.
"I'm seeing a group of them every two weeks with things that I've put in place to encourage more officers to feel that they've got confidence that I'm supporting them, and in turn the public are supporting them."
Prime Minister David Cameron is considering legal changes to make it more difficult to prosecute police marksmen who shoot terrorists.
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