BFBS Sitrep

“Please don’t look back, more dangerous times lie ahead which means you need to look forward… so that we are ready if war chooses us”.  So says the head of the Army, General Sir Roly Walker, in this special edition of Sitrep explaining what 2025 may bring. Kate Gerbeau and Professor Michael Clarke tackle some of the biggest questions for our defence. Could fighting in Ukraine end, and might B...

Sitrep’s Simon Newton is back from the frontline of Ukraine’s war with Russia.  He shares stories from troops who led the push into Kursk,  how British Challenger 2 tanks are used (and extremely well hidden), and the challenges of even reaching the frontline. The UK led Joint Expeditionary Force is a British defence success, according to a new study.  But the author Ed Arnold joins...

Two architects of the Strategic Defence Review have lifted the lid on how they’re working on the plan for the future of our Armed Forces. But when they tell MP’s one aim is to get it “as least wrong as possible” on predicting future conflicts, does that inspire confidence?  Kate and Mike are joined by Sitrep’s Sian Grzeszczyk Melbourne to analyse what’s been revealed, and what is still shroud...

Sitrep talks to the outgoing Director-General of the Royal United Services Institute, Dr. Karin von Hippel RUSI has contributed to UK defence & security thinking for almost two centuries, and under Dr. von Hippel’s leadership it’s help the country face threats ranging from the Covid pandemic to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Before leading RUSI she was a key figure at the US State De...

Drones buzzing airbases and HMS Queen Elizabeth. Undersea cables cut.  Mysterious parcel fires at air-freight depots.  These have all been described as hybrid, grey-zone, or sub-threshold attacks against the UK and it’s allies. But if they are all below the threshold of an act of war, where does that threshold lie? Sitrep explores the use of deniable attacks, from disruption and disinfor...

From testing whether we’re ready for war to checking whether forces families get the support they need, the Commons Defence Committee plays a key role in overseeing our defence. Kate Gerbeau talks to the man chosen by his fellow MP’s to chair the committee in this Parliament. Tan Dhesi has a background in maths, management science, and running his own construction business. So what does he bring t...

BFBS Forces News presents ‘Great British Battle Commanders’ hosted by Professor Michael Clarke, Sitrep’s defence analyst, assessing the leadership and strategy of Admiral Lord Nelson with Dr Gregory Fremont-Barnes, author of several books on Nelson and his Navy, and senior lecturer in war studies at RMAS. The interview is recorded in Nelson’s cabin on HMS Victory in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. N...

Russia thought it would conquer Ukraine in 10 days, Ukrainian resolve is still preventing that.  But after more than a million casualties on both sides, thousands of pieces of military hardware destroyed, will it simply come down to which side can outlast the other?   Sitrep’s Simon Newton and Hannah King join us from Kyiv to share how the people, and their resolve, are holding up, while...

The Defence Secretary has announced that more than 30 helicopters will be retired early, along with 5 ships, and 46 drones, all of them he calls ‘outdated capabilities’. Most significant, after years of ‘will they, won’t they’, the Royal Marines amphibious assault ships, HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, get the axe. Critics call it a black day for the Marines but the Defence Secretary insists they have...

BFBS Forces News presents ‘Great British Battle Commanders’ hosted by Professor Michael Clarke, Sitrep’s defence analyst, assessing the leadership and strategy of Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery with the former Chief of the Army and former Chief of the Defence Staff, General Lord Richards. The interview is recorded in the D-Day Map Room at Southwick House, outside Portsmouth, which was the ne...

First it was sending ammunition, then troops for the war in Ukraine, now North Korea has signed off on a formal mutual-defence treaty with Russia. NATO’s new Secretary General has called it a threat to our security. Defence researcher Joseph Dempsey, who’s spent years uncovering the secrets of North Korea’s military, explains the risk, and what’s in it for Moscow and Pyongyang. On the Korean penin...

BFBS Forces News presents ‘Great British Battle Commanders’ hosted by Professor Michael Clarke, Sitrep’s defence analyst, assessing the leadership and strategy of Boudica, Queen of the Iceni. The interview is recorded in Colchester Castle, Essex, which was built on the foundations of the Roman Temple that was sacked and burnt by Boudica’s forces in AD 60.

On the campaign trail Donald Trump said Russia should “do whatever the hell they want” to NATO allies who underspend on defence, while attacking his former top military officer as a “traitor” who should be hanged. Is this going to be the reality of his second term in the White House? And what does it mean for Ukraine - an end to vital military aid or a new determination that Russia can’t be seen t...

BFBS Forces News presents ‘Great British Battle Commanders’ hosted by Professor Michael Clarke, Sitrep’s defence analyst, assessing the leadership and strategy of Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding with aviation historian, Dr Victoria Taylor. The interview is recorded in Dowding’s former office in Bentley Priory, Stanmore, which was Headquarters Fighter Command during the Second World War.

The chancellor has promised an extra £2.9bn for defence next year, but what does that actually mean for our armed forces? Professor Malcolm Chalmers explains why it amounts to a small increase in spending power and not the step change many want, but why that could still come down the line. Amid reports that the UK’s top military officer could get sweeping new powers General Lord Richards tells us...

BFBS Forces News presents ‘Great British Battle Commanders’ hosted by Professor Michael Clarke, Sitrep’s defence analyst, assessing the leadership and strategy of the Duke of Wellington with the best-selling author of the ‘Sharpe’ and ‘Last Kingdom’ novels Bernard Cornwell. The interview is recorded in Wellington’s former office in Horse Guards, now used as the office of the General Officer Comman...

It’s 10 years since British troops left Helmand and combat operations came to an end. But the conflict reshaped the forces in ways that can still be seen today. The next war is expected to involve tanks and trenches not seen in Helmand, so from equipment to military mindsets Sitrep assesses what is helpful to still have, what is a hinderance, and what gaps may exist. 150,000 British personnel serv...

Admiral Sir Keith Blount, who is the most senior British officer in NATO, talks to Sitrep’s Claire Sadler and Professor Michael Clarke from the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium. He explains alliance thinking and actions on key topics including NATO's future, technology developments, the Ukraine war and the threat posed by Russia and China. Allied personnel were in...

Across 45 years of service General Sir Mike Jackson played a key role in many historic moments for Britain’s armed forces, even before he led the Army as Chief of the General Staff. Known to all simply as Jacko he is best remembered for defying his US commanding officer in Kosovo by saying “I’m not going to start World War Three for you”.  He did not get sacked, but did get the Distinguished...

Our armed forces put their lives on the line to protect the rule of international law and ordinary people’s human rights. But some believe those rights and laws are disproportionately affecting our troops and military decision makers. Sitrep talks to two SAS veterans who explain why they want the UK to opt-out of part of the European Convention on Human Rights, and we get expert legal opinion from...

Almost exactly 10 years since Operation Shader began RAF strikes against the Islamic State terror group ministers say it will be drawn down in favour of a new security partnership. But what form should that take, and is this the right time given everything else happening in the Middle East? Sitrep gets the thoughts of former Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon. We also assess Iran’s weapons and m...

The Army’s world-renowned Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is undertaking a radical process to modernise. It’s conducting what it calls a ‘Critical Mass Trial’ – huge efforts to ramp up the numbers of women in its platoons in response to a tragedy at the Academy. BFBS Forces News has been given rare and exclusive access to Sandhurst and has documented it in a new series produced by Rosie Laydon wh...

More than a hundred years after the First World War, more than half a million soldiers are still missing, a third of whom are thought to be buried as ‘unknown’.  Two years after the end of the Great War, The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior was established at Westminster Abbey and has served as a focal point for the public’s grief ever since. Former Tornado Navigator and bestselling author John Ni...

Lebanon is on edge after thousands of Hezbollah electronic devices exploded across two days. Many people have died and thousands are injured. Former Army Intelligence Officer Philip Ingram explains how the plan was coordinated and what militaries  learn from these attacks. Russia has lost at least 15 warships since its full scale invasion of Ukraine but it hasn’t stopped it carrying out signi...

More than 40,000 Ukrainians have had military training in the UK since Russia’s full-scale invasion of their country, but that’s made it harder for the Army to access its own training areas with bids now eight times more likely to be rejected. Former Royal Navy Commodore Steve Prest explains why the UK thinks it’s a price worth paying, for now. The UK led Joint Expeditionary Force is now a decade...