BFBS Radio Sitrep

Cyber-warfare was is no longer simply science-fiction, it is now a military fact that hits hard.

 Military communications, power systems and nuclear processing plants have all been taken offline in recent years by purely digital attacks.

 The UK’s capability for this domain sits in the National Cyber Force, created three years ago as part of Strategic Command, bringing together military and intelligence teams for both defensive and offensive cyber operations.

 Kate Gerbeau talks to Lieutenant General Tom Copinger-Symes, the Deputy Commander of Stratcom, about the cyber threats the UK faces and how the force is tackling them.

The Army’s future is built around the new Ajax armoured fighting vehicle. After years of delays, faults, and even injuries to troops, ministers say the Ajax programme is now ‘in recovery’.

We take a look for ourselves, from the production line to training on Salisbury plain and hear from soldiers using the first of the vehicles.

Another cold-war treaty has collapsed. It aimed to prevent surprise attacks by limiting Russia and NATO’s options for massing their military might. We assess whether NATO will take advantage of the extra flexibility it’s just got.

Plus the British Army’s former top legal adviser in Iraq talks us through the laws of war, and how the big questions he faced in Basra 20 years ago are mirrored in Gaza right now.

Every single country in the UN is signed up to the same laws of war, but Israel’s military campaign in Gaza is reminding us interpretations of those laws often differ.

In this extra Sitrep podcast Kate Gerbeau talks to Rev. Nicholas Mercer, who was the British Army’s top legal adviser in Iraq 20 years ago.

He explains the key principles that govern the legality of military action, how he applied them in the midst of battle, and how the Israel Gaza war mirrors many of the difficult decisions he faced in Basra.

He’s been called a strategic and tactical genius – but he also abandoned tens of thousands of his soldiers to their deaths.

Sitrep goes behind the Hollywood gloss of the new Napoleon film to assess his true military legacy, and Professor Michael Clarke explains how Napoleonic innovations are still used in wars today.

Japan is on a massive military spending spree aiming to become the worlds 3^rd largest military budget. We assess what military capability it has, and what it needs to face down China and North Korea.

Ukraine’s Commander in Chief has declared the war in his country at stalemate. But why, and what does it tell us about tensions at the top in Kyiv. Simon Newton explains all.

Japan is one of the world’s third biggest economic power, but until now its military power has come nowhere close to matching that.

That’s changing though, with a 5-year defence-spending spree to include new counter-strike capabilities which will enable Japan to fire on enemy land for the first time since World War Two.

Kate Gerbeau talks to the author of ‘Japan as a Global Military Power’, Dr Chris Hughes, about how capable Japan’s forces already are, what the extra spending will add, and why Britain is key to Tokyo’s plan for greater military might.

Russia is planning a new naval base in territory it occupies on Georgia’s Black Sea coast, because of Ukraine’s strikes against Russian ships near Crimea.

Sitrep hears from the Georgian capital about worries it could make their country a target for Ukraine.

Professor Michael Clarke and Simon Newton share their assessments, and examine how we can improve ammunition supplies to Ukrainian forces who are having to weigh individual artillery shells at the front line, because ‘standard’ doesn’t mean quite what you think.

And we explain why a new study says training for servicemen and women needs to be less industrial, and more democratic.

Israel’s mission to destroy Hamas has some parallels with the battle to liberate Mosul from the Islamic State terror group – tens of thousands of fighters among a densely packed population of around two-million citizens.

Major General Rupert Jones, who was deputy commander of the anti-IS coalition, shares the lessons from Mosul, and Professor Michael Clarke assesses how they do, or don’t, apply in Gaza.

The RAF’s next generation of drone, Protector, has arrived in Britain for the first time. We’ll explain what it can do.

And as Robert Courts MP becomes the new chair of the Commons Defence Committee, we ask one of his predecessors whether the group can make a difference, or are just a talking shop. 

British ships, planes, and personnel have been sent to Mediterranean, tasked with waiting and watching as war rages between Israel and Gaza.

Professor Michael Clarke explains how they could be used, to stop weapons smuggling and gather intelligence, with the aim of preventing a wildfire spread of the conflict.

Sitrep hears first-hand about the challenges facing Ukraine’s troops as they continue to fight back against Russia, including how some artillery commanders are now limited to just five shells per week.

And General David Petraeus, arguably the most significant military commander of the 21^st century so far, shares some very personal lessons on the evolution of warfare.

General David Petraeus commanded multinational forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, wrote America’s handbook on counter-insurgency, and went on to lead the CIA.

Now he wants to help those who follow him learn the lessons of the wars he fought, and many others since World War Two.

General Petraeus and acclaimed military historian Andrew Roberts tell Kate Gerbeau how the outbreak of war in Ukraine spurred them to combine their disciplines for a fresh look at how we got here, and why.

In their book ‘Conflict – The evolution of warfare from 1945 to Ukraine’ General Petraeus shares personal accounts from Iraq and Afghanistan, and we learn lessons including how a tactic deployed with devastating effect by Israel’s enemies failed spectacularly for Russia.

Israel declared war because of a Hamas terrorist atrocity, invading from Gaza, killing more than a thousand people, and seizing more than 150 hostages.

But what was Hamas hoping to achieve? Is Israel doing exactly what its enemy wants by launching a war, and did it have any other choice?

Professor Michael Clarke and former senior intelligence officer Colonel Philip Ingram address the big military questions of this war.

Another gas pipeline under the Baltic sea has been damaged by an apparent explosion, but what can NATO do about it?

And how the Trinity system could soon be providing British forces with ‘battlefield broadband’, for data driven warfare.

Iron Titan is the Army’s largest land exercise in more than 20 years, involving 8000 troops across more than 40,000 square miles of South-West England and Wales.

Sitrep hears from some of those taking part, and Forces News reporter Rosie Laydon explains how its using the lessons of Ukraine to test the deployment of the UK’s warfighting division.

Violence, and a Serbian troop buildup, have prompted the deployment of 200 British soldiers to Kosovo as extra peacekeepers. Major General Chip Chapman explains their role, and the risks.

And thousands of new quieter and lighter assault rifles have been ordered for British troops, we explain how it will be different for those who get it.

Ukraine has punched a new hole through Russia’s minefields, ditches, and ‘dragons teeth’ in Western Zaporizhzhia, but is it enough to start taking back big swathes of land?

Professor Michael Clarke explains why this is halfway to being a turning point, and Forces News reporter Simon Newton explains what obstacles are still in the way of Ukraine’s tanks.

British Army Veteran Shaun Pinner made headlines around the world when he was captured in Ukraine and sentenced to death by Russia. He tells us why he was never a ‘war tourist’, how decades-old training helped him survive, and about the moment he met his unlikely saviour.

Three veterans of Britain’s nuclear test programme, now entitled to a new medal, share their experiences of being guinea-pigs for the UK’s race to become an atomic power.

When Shaun Pinner left the Royal Anglian Regiment, after 9 years as a soldier, he had no intention of ever returning to military life.

Two decades later he was fighting in Ukraine as one of the country’s marines, besieged in the city of Mariupol as it was battered and starved by Russian forces.

When he was captured Shaun was beaten, tortured and eventually sentenced to death by firing squad. Yet he is now a free man, and living in Ukraine.

He tells Kate Gerbeau the incredible story of how he ended up there (via waste management and volunteering in Syria), why he was never a ‘war tourist’, and the surreal moment when he met his unlikely saviour on a luxury jet.

The Army’s about to test software which, with the help of tiny drones, can give soldiers a 3D model of their battlefield on a phone or tablet in minutes.

The ‘Farsight’ system eliminates the need for network connections, big servers, and long waits. A former US special operations commander who’s helped develop the software tells us what it will mean to troops on the ground.

Russia expert Emily Ferris explains how Moscow’s technology compares, and how military call ups have created a ‘brain-drain’.

And the NHS says three-quarters of its hospital trusts are now ‘veteran aware’. Two pioneers of the scheme tell us what it should mean for the care of those who have served their country.

This week Sitrep focuses on how the British military and defence industry are learning lessons from the war in Ukraine.

Rear Admiral Andrew Betton, Director Joint Warfare at UK Strategic Command, says the way warfare has evolved in Ukraine is a wake-up call.

Sitrep also explores how the defence industry is responding to the conflict in terms of new weapons and equipment.

Plus General Lord Dannatt, the former head of the army, tells us failing to learn the lessons of history left Britain behind at the outbreak of the second world war.

In a special Sitrep podcast, the Head of the British Army says by the end of the decade the Army will be the most modern and the most lethal in Europe. Listen here to the exclusive interview with the CGS, General Sir Patrick Sanders

Sitrep hears from the 3 star British General helping to enforce the uneasy armistice on the border between North and South Korea.

The UK is a member of the US-led United Nations Command Korea. Its role is to enforce the armistice and de-escalate tensions. Its Deputy Commander, Lieutenant General Andrew Harrison, tells Sitrep that the Demilitarised Zone is a ‘surreal’ and ‘dangerous’ place and warns of the need for constant vigilance.

Also in this week’s podcast, Sitrep will be assessing how the battlelines in Ukraine have changed and why. We’ll be hearing from the Institute for the Study of War, Professor Michael Clarke and Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, Former Commanding General US Army Europe.

For 70 years there’s been an armistice – but no peace treaty- between North and South Korea.

In this special addition, Sitrep hears in full from the 3 star British General helping to enforce the uneasy armistice in his role as Deputy Commander of the US-led United Nations Command Korea.

Shaista Gul was known to thousands of British servicemen and women over the years. He created a small oasis of peace at the UK’s headquarters in Southern Afghanistan.

But after Lashkar Gah main operating base closed in 2014 he had to leave the job he loved, and with it the garden he’d created. 

What followed was Taliban intimidation, fatal attacks on his family, and eventually a perilous journey to eventual safety in the UK.

Sitrep talks to Larisa Brown, author of ‘The Gardener of Lashkar Gah: The Afghans Who Risked Everything to Fight the Taliban’, and Shaista Gul’s son Jamal, who worked as interpreter for Britain’s armed forces in Helmand.

Supporting Ukraine, recruitment & retention, procurement problems and a budget to balance. The new Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has a lot to manage, but does it matter this is his first defence role, indeed does it matter who does the job right now?

Professor Michael Clarke explains why his room for manoeuvre is limited, and what we can expect.

Waiting on the Defence Secretary’s desk are 67 recommendations to shake up Armed Forces life and careers. Could older troops, greater neurodiversity, and direct entry to higher ranks solve skills gaps and make for stronger services?

And Sitrep examines the latest scientific research into whether some of the most tightly-controlled illegal drugs in the UK could cure PTSD. We hear from one veteran who says psychedelic therapy has transformed his life.