BFBS Radio Sitrep

Former Royal Marine H Collins led the last diplomatic team out Kabul’s green zone as the Taliban marched on the city.

He was responsible for the safety of Japan’s top diplomats, and dozens of colleagues.

But hours after getting them to his security company’s HQ they were surrounded, and then had to choose between fighting their way out or negotiating with insurgents wearing suicide vests.

He shares his remarkable story with Sian​ Grzeszczyk in this extra edition of BFBS Sitrep.

The EU is hosting crisis talks, trying to prevent a new conflict between Serbia and Kosovo.

NATO’s KFOR mission, including British troops, still has a UN peacekeeping mandate in Kosovo but what could trigger their intervention?

Has the balance of power shifted in favour of Ukraine, as Russia takes two significant hits in annexed Crimea? A former Commanding General of the US Army Europe gives us his assessment.

And the incredible story of British, Dutch and Australian prisoners of war who survived the Nagasaki atomic bomb, little more than a mile from where it landed.

12 months since the Taliban swept back into power BFBS Sitrep assesses what the return of the militants has meant for our security, the people of Afghanistan, and those who had worked for Britain but could not escape.

Despite Taliban promises not to shelter international terrorists the head of Al Qaeda was found in Kabul, and killed last week by the US, so does Afghanistan pose a threat to the UK once more?

We hear from Lynne O’Donnell, who has reported from Afghanistan across more than 2 decades, about life in the country now and being taken at gunpoint by Taliban officials.

And the government says hundreds of people, including former interpreters, approved to come to the UK are still in Afghanistan. We talk to a former Army officer who’s been trying to get people to safety.

Journalist Lynne O’Donnell gives us a rare first-hand insight into how the Taliban is operating in Afghanistan.

That insight has come at a cost, her life threatened as she was detained by officials, despite entering Afghanistan with a media visa.

She tells BFBS Sitrep how it was deeply frightening and yet ‘darkly satirical’, revealing incompetence and chaos.

China says it will punish those who offend it as it launches live fire military drills off the coast of Taiwan. Sitrep looks at China’s tactics and how the United States is responding.  

What role are cyber attacks playing in the war in Ukraine? And what are the lessons for the UK? Sitrep speaks to the former head of the National Cyber Security Centre, Ciaran Martin, who also discusses the difference between Russian and Chinese cyber capabilities.

And Sitrep has a tour aboard the Royal Navy’s unique testbed ship which is designed to support trials of the latest tech and autonomous systems.

China has just overtaken counter-terrorism as the biggest effort inside MI6, and the head of the Royal Navy says China is a bigger long term threat than Russia.

BFBS Sitrep examines a list of top level warnings issued this week about the risk of conflict with China, and asks if Ukraine has taken our eye off the ball.

As Ukraine tries to retake the port city of Kherson we talk to an MP who’s just visited the country.

And a year after he quit the government over the treatment of Northern Ireland veterans, Johnny Mercer tells us why he’s returned as Veterans Minister.

In less than a year war has broken out in Europe, and Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban.

MPs say that means the UK’s new defence masterplan is already out of date, leaving British forces overstretched, vulnerable and too small.

They Ministry of Defence says it will continue to adapt strategy, but the Commons Defence Committee wants a major update to the plan now.

The committee’s chairman, Tobias Ellwood MP, talks to James Hirst about the impact on service personnel, his recent visit to Ukraine, and whether it’s the threats or our perceptions that have changed.

Scientists have spent years researching concepts including laser weapons and brain sensors for a new RAF plane called ‘Tempest’.

Now ministers want those ideas turned into a working plane in just 5 years, but is it a gamble with the UK’s air capability?

As British service personnel are banned from buying sex overseas BFBS Sitrep hears how brothels used to be unofficial parts of UK bases abroad.

And we follow soldiers on exercise in an abandoned tower block in Leeds, as the Ukraine war demonstrates the need for urban combat experience which the army has little of.

The early days of the campaign to succeed Boris Johnson have seen a bidding war on defence spending from those hoping to replace him.

BFBS Sitrep assess the defence legacy Mr Johnson will leave his successor and the challenges they’ll face.

A former head of the Army tells us what he wants from whoever becomes the next Prime Minister.

We also hear from two very different cities in Ukraine as we assess the state of the war there, and ask if the country’s plan to open new battlefront and retake the South is a risk too far.

Although cases of people serving in the armed forces taking their own lives are low – among men in the army the figures have been rising in recent years.

Among some very specific groups of veterans the risk of suicide appears to be much higher – particularly younger men who only served a short time in the forces.

As the government carries out research to understand why, BFBS Sitrep talks to a leading psychiatrist, a veteran with PTSD, and a campaigner who lost her husband to suicide about the true picture of suicide risks, how we can improve support, and the ways to help or get help.

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The head of the Army has told his troops that they have a new main effort – Operation Mobilise.

We’ll examine the plan for more of the Army to be ready more of the time for a high intensity war, and what that means for servicemen and women.

NATO wants to make its high-readiness force more than seven times bigger, up to 300,000 troops, in little more than a year. But can it deliver?

The diplomatic niceties have been dropped, leaders are upfront about Russia, so is it time to admit we’re in a second cold war?

The new Chief of General Staff has written to all soldiers saying they must be prepared to fight in Europe and defeat Russia in battle – so are we not ready for that right now?

The internal letter has reached much further – BFBS Sitrep assesses its impact in Westminster, across the continent, and in the Kremlin.

The Dutch Prime Minister has apologised to his country’s peacekeepers who were sent on an ‘impossible’ mission with ‘inadequate’ equipment in Bosnia in the 1990s. We hear how that war has also affected Britons who had to fight for their lives.

And is it time to acknowledge North Korea as a nuclear power, amid signs the isolated communist state is about to carry out its 7^thnuclear weapon test?

Ukraine says it urgently needs more weapons and ammunition from the west.

BFBS Sitrep speaks to journalist Nicola Smith who’s on the ground near the biggest battleground and tells us about the tragedy unfolding in front of her.

Professor Michael Clark explains why although weapons are on the way they won’t make an immediate difference.

In Finland our reporter is with a Joint Expeditionary Force exercise where Ukraine is on everyone’s mind.

And what do new soldiers want from the new head of the army as he starts his first week in the job?

40 years on from the liberation of the Falklands BFBS Sitrep hears the story of the final hours from those who were there – and examines the lessons of the conflict.

The man who marched 3 Commando Brigade across miles of mud tells us how logistic difficulties left ammunition in the wrong place at the wrong time, putting individual operations on hold.

The war might have been avoided if Britain hadn’t failed to convince Argentina it would defend the Falklands – is that a lesson we’ve actually learned in the era of war in Ukraine?

And Professor Michael Clarke explains how modern warship designs owe much to the lessons of the Falklands campaign.

3 months after invading Ukraine, Russia appears to be on the brink of its first significant strategic victory – taking the whole of Luhansk province.

Is this a turning point in the war, and is Ukraine now fighting a losing battle in that territory?

BFBS Sitrep also digs into what the public at large are asking about the war – and Professor Michael Clarke will provide answers.

Ukraine’s food exports usually feed 400 million people but are now blockaded. The former Commander of a British warship tells us how the Royal Navy might help.

And has Joe Biden let the cat out of the bag on how the US would respond if Taiwan were invaded by China.

The daring amphibious landings of thousands of British troops was arguably the most perilous and pivotal moment of the Falklands war.

40 years on BFBS Sitrep hears from key figures about how and why it enabled the liberation of the islands.

But at sea 22 lives were lost in the operation, the man who was Captain of HMS Ardent tells us the story of its sinking, and how it still occasionally gives him nightmares.

And as we assess the latest developments in Ukraine we ask if history has any lessons for Vladimir Putin as he’s accused of micromanaging Russia’s ‘special military operation’

Commander Alan West was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his pivotal role in the Falklands war.

His ship HMS Ardent was sunk with the loss of 22 lives – but it helped the thousands of troops who liberated the islands get safely ashore.

Even as the crew battled fires and tended the wounded the ship sailed to more open waters, to draw out the Argentine fighter jets.

Now Admiral Lord West, the former First Sea Lord, tells BFBS Sitrep the full story of that day, the responsibility he still feels to his ship’s company, his pride at their bravery, and how 40 years on he still has occasional nightmares about it.

Finland has entered a ‘grey zone’, defying Russia to apply for NATO membership, but not yet covered by the alliance’s mutual defence guarantees.

Hours before the announcement the UK signed a mutual security agreement with Finland – so what is the risk we’ll be called on to defend the country before it becomes a NATO member?

As we analyse the latest developments in the Ukraine war we’ll explain why the tiny Snake Island, in the Black Sea, has become a key battlefront.

France is pulling its military mission out of Mali after 9 years, but what does that mean for the 300 British peacekeepers deployed there with the UN.

And we go training with Commando Gunners of the future as the regiment marks its 60^th anniversary.

We know all too well what Russia’s invasion is doing to Ukraine – the catastrophic loss of lives, the physical devastation, and also the national resolve to fight back.

But what is this war doing to Russia?

BFBS Sitrep assesses the UK’s latest claim that Russia’s military is now significantly weaker for the long term.

We also look at the financial hit to its economy and how could that affect the Kremlin’s ‘special military operation’

And what of the political consequences – could significant military losses eventually fuel a palace-coup at the Kremlin?

Boris Johnson has just done a new defence deal with India – which imports most of its military hardware from Russia and won’t condemn the invasion of Ukraine.

BFBS Sitrep examines why India’s sitting on the fence over Europe’s biggest conflict since WW2, and asks why it’s worth the UK making this deal.

Professor of Defence Studies Michael Clarke assesses whether the Ukraine conflict could be spreading to neighbouring Moldova.

And the leader of Iraq’s new all-female de-mining team tells us how the death of her brother, in an explosion, drives her work.