Defence Command Paper Refresh – Every Soldier Counts
The UK Defence blogosphere is awash with articles about the forthcoming Defence Command Paper Refresh. Many consider the British Army’s priorities within the wider geopolitical...
Category : Short Read
All short read articles
Russian airpower in Ukraine – Nuisance or Menace?
Introduction and Purpose – After Hubris came Nemesis One year after Vladimir Putin unleashed his war machine for what he thought would be a short...
The Russian Army rethinks defence doctrine
The April edition of the Russian Army’s house journal Voennaia mysl’ (‘Military Collection’) included an article entitled ‘Prospects for Improving the Efficiency of Army Defensive...
Using ChatGPT
The future of work fundamentally changed in November 2022 with the release of the AI language generator, ChatGPT. ChatGpt and its successors will change how...
The Strategic Utility of Raiding
What role does amphibious raiding play in British defence strategy? What historical precedents can we draw upon for today’s Commando forces? The strategic utility of...
#WavellReviews Deception Operations, by Rémy Hémez
French colonel Rémez Hémez’s book, Les Opérations de Déception: Ruses et stratagems de guerre (Deception Operations: Ruses and War Stratagems), published in 2022 by the...
Why North Korea’s seventh test matters and why it doesn’t
Since early 2022, North Korea has been gearing up for its seventh nuclear test. It’s likely to be held at the Punggye-ri test site, the...
Worm at the core of human security
There’s this idea, captured in terror management theory, that the unique awareness of our own mortality is the ‘worm at the core’ of the human...
1,500 new and modernised tanks – really?
In the last week of March 2023 the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, travelled to the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant to chair a meeting...
Urban is Not Exceptional: A Response
In a recent article, Wilf Owen dismissed much of the recent writing about urban warfare, as misconceived, badly evidenced, and misguided. He fears that the...