Armada Analysis - Podcasts

Armada explored the SMART Kill, or Spectrum Measures Against Radio Frequency Threats, concept back in November 2024. How has the concept developed during the intervening years? Alasdair ‘Gilly’ Gilchrist, a former Royal Navy Electronic Warfare (EW) practitioner and an EW subject matter expert, has been developing his SMART Kill concept for several years. He was previously a guest on the Radioflash...

A new book provides a valuable, and much-needed, introduction to the fundamental principles of communications intelligence. For some in the electronic warfare community, Communications Intelligence (COMINT) is the poor relation of its electronic intelligence counterpart. Nonetheless, COMINT has never been in more demand: The global growth of electronic communications, on and off the battlefield, m...

Following a recent US federal shutdown, America’s government is reopening for business. What does this mean for electronic warfare provision in the country’s forthcoming defence budget? The US government shutdown on 1st October after Congress failed to pass appropriations legislation for the 2026 fiscal year. As a result, over 900,000 government employees went on unpaid leave and a further two mil...

David Robbins, Business Development Director for Data Links at SPX Communication Technologies, joins Thomas Withington to explore one of the biggest challenges facing modern defence and security teams: how to ensure reliable, secure communications across airborne platforms in contested environments. David introduces ECS Connect, a new capability that aggregates satellite, cellular, mesh, and tradi...

A new film documentary is in development that reveals the fascinating history of tactical datalinks and the impact they have had on military operations around the world. Tactical Datalinks (TDLs) help reduce the Clausewitzian ‘fog of war’ by improving situational awareness. TDLs have been around in some shape or form since the Second World War. It was during that conflict that the Luftwaffe (Germa...

On 15th August, the second edition of Cognitive Warfare: An Artificial Intelligence Approach, the seminal work on this subject, will be published. The first edition of Dr. Karen Haigh and Dr. Julia Andrusenko’s book was published in 2021. Armada gratefully received a copy which we reviewed . Just four years later, the second edition has hit the shelves. That a new version has appeared so rapidly s...

Kyiv faces the prospect that the United States may end her military support for Ukraine following a suspension in March. How could the international community fill any gaps left by Uncle Sam? On 4th March the administration of US President Donald Trump announced an abrupt suspension of all military aid to Ukraine. A few days earlier on 28th February, the world witnessed an unbelievable spectacle i...

China’s advancement in sensing technology is moving at pace. A new report examines in detail where the country might be catching up with the United States. On 20th January, the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) DeepSeek artificial intelligence chatbot was released, based on the DeepSeek-R1 Artificial Intelligence (AI) model. The Hangzhou DeepSeek AI company, which developed the model, has claim...

The defence and security electromagnetic agenda for the new US Congress and Executive is considerable, but what are the priorities? The new US Congress, and the administration of President Donald Trump, will have a heavy workload regarding the importance of the electromagnetic spectrum to America’s strength, security and prosperity. EW spending priorities will need be balanced with other defence a...

As the modern battlefield is increasingly digitalised, the role of data in decision-making and situational awareness is vital. How can you make sure it gets through? The role of data in the modern world has undoubtedly increased. The ability to generate data has become much more simple and, as roles for the generated datapoints are created, data has become increasingly important to workflows, obje...

You have heard of hard kill, you have heard of soft kill, but what about SMART Kill? Drawing on his operational experience in the Royal Navy, and time in industry, Alasdair Gilchrist , our guest on episode 16 of Radioflash ! says we need to start thinking about how to engage threats without stovepipes. Mr. Gilchrist, who has recently embarked on a new career as a consultant, has developed the SMAR...

The US and her allies are embracing the Multi-Domain Operations philosophy with the Joint All Domain Command and Control System is at the heart of this endeavour. Multi-Domain Operations, or MDO, focus on improving the pace and quality of decision-making at the expense of one’s adversary. The goal is to navigate the famed OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide and Act) loop at a faster clip than your enemy...

Estonia is experiencing the challenges of Russian hybrid warfare first hand and is most likely in the direct path of any future military action by Moscow to reconstitute the former USSR. Estonia is on the frontline of efforts by the Russian government to destabilise the governments, economies and societies of the Baltic nations. Like her other Baltic neighbours, the invasion and occupation of Esto...

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are two much-heralded technologies set to revolutionise signals intelligence collection, processing and dissemination. An increasingly congested radio spectrum is set to challenge the limits of human cognition in the search for the signal of interest. In this episode of Radioflash! we catch up with Patrick ‘Krown’ Killingsworth, EpiSci’s  director of au...

The modern electromagnetic battlespace is becoming more distributed, more mobile and more lethal. As neer-peer adversaries continue to develop and deploy advanced electronic warfare capabilities – the ability for the warfighter to communicate and share data to achieve decision dominance in contested environments is mission-critical. Silvus Technologies Jimi Henderson joins Armada’s military commun...

The importance of space as a domain of warfare is deepening. Since the dawn of the space age in the 1950s, militaries have exploited space for communications, espionage and strategic attack. Despite the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, military demand for space is as strong as ever. The assertiveness of the People’s Republic of China and Russia is making space ever more strategically import...

Tim Elliott, Head of Sales and Business Development, and Rob Hall, Product Management Lead at L3Harris in Tewkesbury and Fleet join Dr. Thomas Withington to address the many challenges presented by small UAS threats in today’s battlefield and explore how L3Harris’ CORVUS C-sUAS capabilities are helping to support such missions.

One of the Cold War’s great ‘what ifs?’ was whether the United Kingdom’s V-Bomber nuclear deterrent force would have been able to reach and attack its targets in the Soviet Union. In the 1950s and ‘60s, the Royal Air Force’s V-Bomber fleet was the custodian of Britian’s nuclear deterrent. A trio of aircraft, namely the Vickers Valiant, Handley Page Victor and Avro Vulcan series strategic bombers w...

Diamonds have attributes which are useful for current and future defence electromagnetic applications such as quantum communications and navigation. Diamonds have the highest thermal conductivity of any solid material making them particularly suitable for environments where temperature management is paramount. Electronic warfare, radar and military communications all depend on power amplifiers to...

Israel’s ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip have once again highlighted the perils and pitfalls of urban electronic warfare, much as US-led operations in Iraq did several years earlier. In episode 8 of the Radioflash! podcast , we chatted to Colonel Jeffrey H. ‘Fish’ Fischer , a European and global security expert, and author of the Curt Nover series of thrillers. Fish talked about the...

Ahmed Al Khoori, senior vice president, Strategy & Excellence, EDGE Group talks to Asian Military Review Editor-in-Chief ahead of exciting announcements at the Dubai Airshow.

In this episode of Radioflash! we explore how the war between Israel and Hamas could unfold in the electromagnetic spectrum. On 7th October, the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a series of devastating raids on numerous targets in Israel. As of late October, is it believed that these attacks have killed over 1,400 people. Over five thousand have been injured and Hamas has abducted in exce...

It is a truism of military theory that the road to victory is harder for the side which does not win and sustain air supremacy. It is now over eighteen months since the Russian government commenced its second invasion of Ukraine. The conflict has seen the shattering of some military aphorisms and the affirmation of others. One that has stood this test of time is that the achievement of air superio...

Milrem Robotics has made impressive strides in developing innovative robotics solutions for challenging environments. Established in 2013, Milrem developed Type-X, which was the first RCV designed for unmanned operations, as well as the renowned THeMIS which is currently part of the robotics program in 16 countries.  In this episode, we are joined by Kuldar Väärsi, the CEO and Founder of Milrem Ro...

As near-peer adversaries continue to develop and deploy advanced electronic warfare capabilities, the warfighter’s ability to operate in congested and contested electromagnetic spectrum environments has emerged as a critical need. Silvus Technologies Jimi Henderson joins Armada’s military communications webpage and monthly newsletter editor Dr. Thomas Withington on this special podcast to examine...