BFBS Sitrep

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...

It remains an iconic piece of news footage and now historian Ben MacIntyre, the man behind SAS Rogue Heroes, has been given permission to talk to the men who took part in the operation to end the siege of the Iranian Embassy in London in 1980. Some of them have never spoken openly about the mission until now and these personal accounts detail the build-up, planning and execution of Operation Nimro...

The Defence Secretary has said “we will do our part” as the government prepares us for a “difficult” budget, fuelling speculation that some big defence projects, like new planes or ships, could be axed. Sitrep’s Professor Michael Clarke explains why the Chancellor won’t be making any such announcements, but that that everything is up for consideration, and how difficult choices will have to be mad...

Major General Tim Hodgetts served 41 years as an Army doctor, rising to become Surgeon General. He’s lived through gunfire and explosions while trying to save lives, from Germany via Northern Ireland, to Afghanistan.  Throughout much of that time he also wrote poems as a way to help him process those experiences, but now he’s published some of them in an anthology, “Frontlines and Lifelines”...

Rishi Sunak wanted one of the UK’s top generals to be the next National Security Adviser, but Keir Starmer has decided to readvertise the job. So far it’s always been a civilian, but would a top-ranking officer make more sense? The UK’s first ever National Security Adviser, Lord Peter Ricketts, tells us what the role involves and shares his thoughts along with ex Royal Navy officer Professor Peter...

The UK’s first sovereign military satellite, Tyche, is now in orbit.  It’s the first piece of a planned constellation of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance orbiters, at a cost approaching one billion pounds. Former Royal Navy officer Darren Jones, from Tyche’s manufacturer, explains what capability it can offer the Armed Forces, while Professor Michael Clarke and Juliana Suess from...

Is this Chess, or Russian Roulette? Professor Michael Clarke explains why Ukraine has chosen a path with big risks, but also potentially big rewards by taking the fight to Russia on its own turf in Kursk. Sitrep’s Simon Newton analyses the forces and movements of each side as we assess how this could develop and affect the war. 75 years since the Geneva Conventions created a rulebook for the condu...

Sitrep’s looking into the role of the Russian mercenary group, Wagner, after reports of fierce fighting in the West African country of Mali and asking why this conflict has caused a diplomatic row between Mali and Ukraine?  And where is the balance between the needs of the military and the needs of the media? Sitrep will discuss that with the former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe...

Most servicemen and women are getting a 6% pay rise, twice the rate of inflation.  The government says it’s the biggest increase for more than 20 years.   But in real terms pay has been falling for a decade, and satisfaction with it is at a record low. Sitrep talks to the Defence Veterans and People Minister, Alistair Carns, to ask whether it’s really enough, and why accommodation costs...

The new head of the Army has warned the UK has three years to be ready to fight a war or deter conflict. General Sir Roly Walker’s talked about an “increasingly volatile world” but he said war wasn’t inevitable and the Army had "just enough time" to prepare itself. He says he wants to double the Army's fighting power in three years (and triple it by the end of the decade) and he’s stressed the nee...

From where the armed forces are deployed around the world, to the kit they have for the job, and how they’re looked after, the government has launched a “root and branch” defence review.   Two people who’ve been hands on with past reviews, Lieutenant General Sir Nick Pope and Sitrep’s Professor Michael Clarke, explain what will be different about this one and the job that it has to do.  ...

Around one in twenty of the UK’s MPs have military experience, but what do they bring to the job and does it help them make a difference? Sitrep talks to the new MP for Derbyshire North, Louise Jones, and Jonny Ball who hosts the Veterans in Politics podcast and has mentored several of the new intake to Parliament. India’s Prime Minister claims to be neutral on the war in Ukraine, but he’s been pi...

The Allied Reaction Force is the new “tip of the spear” for NATO’s military power. It’s  described as a strategic, high-readiness, force-generated, multi-domain and multinational capability. The ARF replaces the NATO Response Force and Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), as part of a radical update of military structures and plans since the invasion of Ukraine. The idea is to pack mo...

75 years since NATO was created to defend Europe, Sitrep asks what’s needed to do that job properly today. From organising hundreds of thousands of troops, to digging ditches and ensuring bridges can carry tanks, the challenges are explained by Professor Michael Clarke and Oana Lungescu, a former senior advisor to the NATO Secretary General. Part of the jigsaw is the new Alliance Reaction Force. I...

Two Royal Navy minehunters, given to Ukraine last year, are still in UK waters because they can’t get into the Black Sea while the war continues. But Ukraine’s Navy is using them to prepare for when they can start clearing the hundreds of explosives lying on the sea-bed. Sitrep’s Simon Newton has been watching some of that work on Exercise Sea Breeze in Scottish waters. Mark Rutte has been appoint...