After more than 3 years in gestation, the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy entitled “Global Britain in a Competitive Age” was published today. This is an ambitious and wide-ranging document that has much merit but for the Armed Forces, the devil will be in the detail that will follow in the Defence Command Paper published next week.
HMS Lancaster, HMS Westminster and RFA Tiderace are in the Baltic Sea, leading a task group of warships from the international Joint Expeditionary Force.
Undersea data cables are critical to the internet upon which the modern world has come to depend. This hidden network forms the backbone of global communications but is surprisingly vulnerable to interference by hostile actors. Protecting this infrastructure may become an increasingly important remit for the Royal Navy.More
The number of Russian naval vessels passing close to the UK has climbed steadily in the last 10 years Although most of this activity is lawful and benign, the RN always deploys vessels to closely monitor these movements in the UK area of interest. Here we summarise this activity, its purpose and messaging.
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Reports in local media suggest the British government has offered to provide a loan to Ukraine so their navy can purchase 8 fast attack craft, with the first two vessels being built in the UK. Here we take a speculative look at this proposal and developments in the shipbuilding industry. More
There is a growing conventional threat to the UK mainland that has received little attention and for which there is very limited defence. Adversaries are increasing cruise missile numbers and capabilities. Air and surface-launched missiles would be difficult to counter but submarine-launched cruise missiles are particularly potent. Here we consider the threat and how the UK could respond.
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In this speculative piece, we look at how the effects of the global pandemic may impact UK defence decision-making.
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HMS Kent is currently operating in the Barents Sea with US Navy warships conducting maritime security operations. This is a significant deployment as officially the US Navy says it has not sent surface ships to the area since the mid-1980s.More
In two previous articles (written in 2017) we covered the background, procurement, design and equipping of the Poseidon MRA1 Maritime Patrol Aircraft being purchased by the RAF. With two of the nine aircraft having arrived in the UK in so far, here we provide an update on the progress of this project that is critical to UK naval operations.More