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British Security Perspectives. Listen to our podcasts and sign up to our email list for the latest UK Defence & Security thinking.
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New
French Army approach to war
“[the French army] in contrast with the British developed a relatively clear vision of how it wants to fight in future wars to make the best use of the mass it has.”
@MichaelShurkin
teaches us about
#French
warfare.
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326
"The final, practical and mundane reason why T-14 Armata will not become a production tank is because there is no assembly line. All models to date have been assembled by hand"
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Good Morning! Here's NASA astronaut Christina Koch returning home from a record breaking 328 days in space. It's also International Women's Day. Please be as grateful and as excited as this dog for all the fierce women in your life today.
#IWD2020
Not sure who was more excited. Glad she remembers me after a year!
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137K
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"The final, practical and mundane reason why T-14 Armata will not become a production tank is because there is no assembly line. All models to date have been assembled by hand"
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NEW: "Much of our working day appears to be mired in process and fighting off bureaucracy...commanders feel held back from investing time in learning and practising how to fight better by the very organisation which wants them to fight better"
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222
NEW: It is official - Britain has an army with more horses than tanks.
"There were 200 horses on the parade. There are 168 Challenger 2 tanks in regular service."
Is this a huge problem?
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67
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❗️❕NEW❗️❕
”Until leaders turn their backs on buzzword-laden homilies that are an inspiration to no man and, instead, find some respect for a skill mastered by few but instinctively admired by many … we will carry on shooting ourselves in the foot”
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NEW:
#Trenchwarfare
in Bakhmut.
how are
#Wagner
fighting.
These are costly infantry attacks in the style of World War I. The all arms assault familiar to a British soldier is rarely witnessed.
@thinkdefence
@FTusa284
@SpencerGuard
6
54
164
"And as many as 534 tanks have been captured as ‘trophy tanks’, including fourteen T-90 series vehicles now in service with the Ukrainian Army."
9
33
137
Mayday in Magellan; Leadership Lessons on flooded HMS ENDURANCE
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NEW: "The most extreme massive use of armour was near the Lysychansky Oil Refinery. There they went in battalions for an assault. Tanks, BMP. A lot burned."
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Proud to announce that we’ve just taken on
@RoyalNavy
&
@RoyalAirForce
editors to make our content more
#Joint
and authoritative. This Oct we will publishing a series of maritime focused articles to celebrate our broadening focus. Better
#Joint
&
#Together
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19
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"The hope that removing Putin from office may offer resolution (how and with whom?) may be misplaced. The Russian president is representative not atypical of Russian culture"
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24
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NEW: "Ukrainian gunnery illustrated that precision versus conventional munitions is a false debate. Both are needed."
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NEW: "If we want to be part of an Army with fewer procurement cock-ups, fewer unimaginative exercises and fewer terrible meetings then perhaps we need to be a bit choosier with the people we promote"
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108
“Defence must do what the British Museum and Oxford University have so far failed to do – naming and addressing the specific problems within your institution.”
1
31
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❗️❕NEW❕❗️
“Here, I lay bare my personal experiences and prejudices so that others may be encouraged to think and to act.”
@TheMaverickSgt
#ChooseToChallenge
the hindrances to organisational progression at the individual level.
22
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New:
Nothing of what you’re about to see ever happened….
What ‘Red October’ teaches us about intelligence.
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"The British Army’s inability to train at scale seriously challenges the credibility of 3(UK) Division as the Army’s ‘warfighting’ division...We are running the same risks to manoeuvre that have been realised by the Russian Army in Ukraine."
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NEW: A Battlegroup Commander deployed his Regiment to Kenya on a traning exercise. Here are his key reflections on command and battlegroup operatations and observations about how to fight.
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"I am acutely aware that I am part of a system which is failing" our soldiers.
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NEW: "The orders pertained to an assault company from 108th Guards Air Assault Regiment. The orders and action offer valuable insights into limitations and problems facing the Russian Army."
3
25
92
❗️ ❕ NEW❗️ ❕
Britain should consider following Italy's defence policy.
A new angle on the Integrated Review by
@MichaelShurkin
9
23
90
NEW: "T-14 Armata, in the end, proved a story of technology over-reach. ‘The fact remains that the T-14 will remain a prototype toy with no chance of mass production’, Russian defence journalist Roman Skomorokhov has sentenced."
3
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81
❗️ ❕NEW ❗️ ❕
Ever heard of having a "Blackbelt in 'Bullshito'"
12
20
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❗️❕NEW❗️❕
We interviewed the
@RoyalNavy
First Sea Lord. In this podcast
@AdmTonyRadakin
talks about naval leadership. Becoming the First Sea Lord “was just something that happened… I never had the expectation that I would reach this level”.
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NEW: "To make matters worse, online courses are inevitably dull, and fail to enable the masters level learning that ICSC(M) is supposed to deliver"
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💥New💥
“Even Handforth Parish Council would be impressed by the British Army’s ability to miss the point”
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‼️NEW ‼️
"So in short, instead of celebrating we should be troubled by this episode. I am unsure that the LRRG carried out the right actions here...". An alternative view on combat in Mali. |
@LouJoSays
40
16
78
"If the British Army wants to be able to fight a range of adversaries on the modern battlefield then it needs to resist those who claim that the tank has had its day."
4
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78
‘My section were my family’
@ArmySgtMajor
outlines his view on why soldiers fight. ‘I fought, knowing that my section, my friends, where to the left and right of me’. Perhaps The military’s values are all it needs to offer the next generation.
#RUSILWC
4
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The Army's core business is the application of violence - chasing soft power is an illusion, argues this author. What's your take?
14
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British Brigade Destroyed. “The numbers are not invented. Each event is backed by video evidence. The reader is invited to scan the numbers and reflect”
8
18
76
An image that says a million words.
Thank you to those on parade today.
You did the nation, and our Sovereign, a great service.
Queen Elizabeth II takes her seat for the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Berkshire.
📷Jonathan Brady - see more at
#PrincePhilipfuneral
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"Until this language of nonsense stops it is very hard to see how this culture of apathy and dishonesty within the British Army will ever change."
This author argues the Army cannot effectively focus on and resolve key problems. Do you agree?
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"Ukraine shows that the threat posed by artillery makes protected mobility a universal requirement. Light infantry moving around the battlefield in unprotected trucks and jeeps is no longer a viable approach"
10
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“My advice to people at the junior level is to enjoy the moment and look after the people they have the privilege to lead… The career flows from that” If ego dominates then its uncomfortable.
@AdmTonyRadakin
1
21
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‼️NEW ‼️
A first for us... a film review.
13
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68
"For the British, more used to being a global player and having a military capable of supporting that role, the Italian approach may be profoundly unsatisfying. The problem is that the British are only willing to pay for an Italian-sized military."
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❗️ ❕ NEW❗️ ❕
“Two new aircraft carriers… two frigate programmes… new support shipping… all of our aviation is being refreshed or renewed… that’s a great platform to respond to the strategic context”
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Want to learn about the French Army approach to war. Read on!
“[the French army] in contrast with the British developed a relatively clear vision of how it wants to fight in future wars to make the best use of the mass it has.”
2
22
69
NEW
"This post, however, is not about the necessity of Feminism. This is about how men in Defence can start to change themselves and lead their conservative, homogeneous organisations into a better, more gender-equal future." |
@pettoir
10
24
66
"The advantage of gliding munitions is obvious: they are significantly cheaper than cruise or ballistic missiles while providing comparable accuracy and good range"
2
9
64
❕❗️NEW❕❗️
They all go out of service in the next 10 years and thus far, I’m not hearing much noise about their replacements… check out this view on the Royal Navy’s mine hunting force. |
@pwo134
14
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63
“The Army must be in place or held at very high readiness. Ideally a mix of both. We must be prepared to fight for
@NATO
territory. Land will still be the decisive domain. You can’t cyber your way across a river”.
4
6
63
The formation reconnaissance community needs a serious rethink to remain relevant in the modern Army.
6
12
62
!! NEW !! Our gender differences are cultural and so is our language. "At the most severe, gendered language... damages unit cohesion and undermines effectiveness”.
#IWD2020
@LucyO030919
@royalnavyrachel
@LizzieG241
@JohnHayward79
@British_AWN
14
19
64
NEW: "Never pay lip service to security. Security is a principle of war, yet we are quick to let our guard down, sometimes with devastating consequences. In one exercise we lost 50% of a company to indirect fire after they remained in the same position"
0
8
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"It was barely 6 months between the Kabul evacuation and Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. Academic analyses of NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan were barely complete before the UK and the international community focused on another conflict"
6
11
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The British Army is at a cross roads. The army can't do everything, the question is: What does it want to do next?
10
12
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NEW: 150k British military personnel served in Afghanistan, with 457 losing their lives. Operations cost over £27bn between 2001 and 2021. The report highlights that there must be an open, honest and detailed review of the UK’s involvement in the country
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13
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“A British Long-Range Precision Strike missile array would form a strategic conventional umbrella over continental Europe. It would be the United Kingdom’s most significant contribution to European security below the nuclear threshold”
6
17
61
#Maritime
opinion incoming - We dont need a British Army of the Vistula... Invest in the
#RoyalNavy
.
5
9
61
"The Army has become dependent on the Army Reserve to provide the additional personnel it would need to deploy. Regular Army reliance on the Army Reserve to backfill shortages in frontline headcount means the Army Reserve cannot focus on its primary tasks"
16
5
61
‼️ NEW‼️
The intelligence cycle of the UN Protection Force was pretty bad.
@SRDMaguire
takes a look at some details
5
23
60
New Article:
#Army
engagement, one view on how to do it better. Engagement – Fighting the Myths of Blackadder, Bad Lads and Bullies. …
1
18
57
In December
@Royalnavy
ice patrol vessel HMS Endurance flooded. What happened next is an epic tale of leadership under pressure. Part 1 of a series from the Captain,
@pwo134
3
19
56
❗️❕NEW❗️❕
”Playing for domination leads to misogynist & toxic behaviour towards women and minorities. It leads to playing for indulgence rather than learning the meaningful lessons serious games can impart—which is bad for the outcomes of wargames”
18
15
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❕ ❗️NEW❕ ❗️
“The West has many of the answers already. There is a reason why Special Forces troops are so busy, and why experience teaches us that when tank troops deploy, they don’t deploy to destroy tanks…”
Here’s a view on modern warfare.
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11
54
"The British Army has become conceptually fixated with the deep battle at the expense of the close."
Do you agree? How did this fixation come about?
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54
“Warriors are rapists, murderers, and slave owners. Their values are the opposite of those that modern armed forces should aspire to.” |
@RyanNoor18
6
13
54
New! There is a saying: ‘Behind every great man, is a great woman’. But who is behind every great woman? Commentary on challenges female leaders must overcome.
10
16
54
Ukrainian air defenders have no answer to glide bombs launched from the sanctuary of Russian air space. This is a far more serious threat than Iranian kamikaze drones.
5
11
53
Not every view on modern leadership behaviours is positive.
"let’s stop the officers with no interest in their soldiers, with an inability to execute their immediate duties in accordance with the values and standards from hiding behind rank slides."
6
9
54
Everyone is trying to get into the Wavell Room! We’ve hit 10k! Thanks to all our followers, old and new. If your looking for contemporary military thought, come on in.
3
5
51
New
The Army isn’t serious about war fighting.
Conventional war is a numbers game.
5
14
52
NEW: "The British military is a one-dimensional industrial-age construct designed and built to win in the Cold War. It cannot field the digitally optimised capabilities needed to deliver"
11
12
51
“Chinese interest in an arsenal ship is unsurprising. The development of a robust precision strike capability is of central importance to China’s military development efforts" |
@JamesBosbotinis
1
29
48
New! “Won’t Somebody Please Think of the Children?!” A weekend
#LongRead
. One view on why the British Army should ignore calls to end its recruitment of under 18s.
@gavtopley
…
18
13
49
"Land forces will remain the primary means of victory and enabling other national security objectives."
Do you agree?
35
5
49
❗️ ❕ New❗️ ❕
Listen up, lizards.
@TheMaverickSgt
would hate this tweet. Read on to learn why.
11
11
49
"Conventional warfare is won and lost in the deep. But the close battle must still be resourced efficiently and artillery will be required to provide mass as well as precision"
3
10
49
‼️ NEW‼️
"It is difficult not to draw the conclusion that PME is overly focussed on popular bits of popular wars at the expense of examples which have more relevance to serving personnel today." |
@SRDMaguire
11
18
49
❗️❕NEW❗️❕
The Battle of Jutland was an embarrassing failure for the Royal Navy.
#Triggerwarning
28
14
47
Hacking phones to geolocate targets, then striking with artillery.
#MultiDomainBattle
is happening and it's lethal.
1
36
45
❕❗️NEW❕❗️
”The issue when it comes to addressing neurodiversity is that Defence doesn’t seem to have a clear idea of what they think it is. A lot of people seem to think that it’s either Sheldon Cooper or Raymond Babbitt”
3
9
47
New!!
Fighting in Cities.
@Antbruceking
argues that the
@BritishArmy
needs to think harder about the Urban Environment.
'Future Soldier never mentions the urban environment once. Yet, in Ukraine… forces have converged on cities and towns.'
4
13
46
❕ ❗️ NEW❕ ❗️
The problem is not a ‘warrior culture’. The problem is how leaders apply it.
4
12
44
NEW: "Demand for reserves remains poorly defined, and there are significant supply issues through perpetual lack of investment in recruiting"
15
15
46
❗️❕NEW❗️❕
#TankTwitter
this one is for you!
🗣”Discussion around the enduring value of the tank for the British Army in any scenario neglects...to address the fact that success in a conflict is the result of the totality of the battlefield.”
3
15
45
"T-14 Armata, in the end, proved a story of technology over-reach. ‘The fact remains that the T-14 will remain a prototype toy with no chance of mass production’, Russian defence journalist Roman Skomorokhov has sentenced."
2
7
44
We’re grateful for the feedback.
But we feel that our range of articles - which span established academics to “some low calibre majors”* - is hitting the mark just fine.
*tweet written by a low calibre major
@RolandHoglett
This is the type of person
@wavellroom
should be talking to - not some low calibre major complaining that he had to wait 5 hours for a meeting, or some no talent deadbeat with pronouns in their bio trying to perform CPR on their career y clambering onto the diversity bandwagon
1
0
1
11
0
45
John Boyd - worth thinking about, argues this author. Do you agree?
3
14
45
New:
‘Warriors’ are rapists, murderers, and slave owners. Their values are the opposite of those that modern armed forces should aspire to. “
A strong argument for why armed forces around the world should take another look at who they emulate.
19
6
43
New post! I’ve passed! What’s left to learn!? The Key challenges facing Junior Non-Commissioned Officers. Our first article from a JNCO! Check it out.
@TheSectComd
…
2
13
42
"We ring fence Phys time to ensure we are “fit to fight”. Why not learning time? Surely “thinking to fight” is as important, or are all those exhortations mere words?"
Is this a good idea? Or just more time out of a busy schedule?
1
2
44
The Hubris of Ozymandias. "It is not the percentage of GDP spent on
#Defence
that matters, it is how the Defence
#budget
is spent that counts"
@RUSI_ArmyFellow
comments on the dangers of
#tech
fetishism in
#warfare
2
21
44
❗️ ❕ NEW❗️ ❕
In 1995 a genocide happened at Srebrenica.
"The UN Commander, General Janvier, had also issued a clear instruction in May 1995 that ‘the execution of the mandate is secondary to the security of UN personnel’" |
@SRDMaguire
8
12
42
New: The Army Needs to look hard at
#retention
, not just
#recruitment
. One Officer's assessment of Army retention.
8
10
41
NEW: "The recent UK procurement would last less than one day in Ukraine. Or expressed another way, to match the Ukrainian procurement, the UK MOD would have to spend £103 billion on drones"
8
12
43
"Whenever the Army has been required to reduce headcount, and this has now happened four times since the end of the Cold War, it has tried to maintain the same number of units and regiments within the existing structure"
3
8
42
NEW: Trench warfare in Bakhmut. How are Wagner fighting?
2
9
41