What if the UK’s defence future hinges not on its own capabilities, but on bridging gaps in an unpredictable US partnership?
In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, Peter Apps speaks with Matthew Savill, Director of Military Sciences at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), about his two decades in the MOD – from Iraq intelligence to Ukraine support and the evolving US-UK relationship amid Trump’s return. They discuss hybrid threats, rapid tech shifts in Ukraine, procurement pitfalls, and Europe’s uneven readiness for escalating conflicts.
What You’ll Learn
US-UK Dynamics: How unpredictability in US policy challenges shared interests, from deterrence ambiguity to public spats on defence spending.
Ukraine’s Tech Battlefield: The interplay of drones, electronic warfare, and tactics reshaping combined arms, with lessons from rapid iteration amid industrial-scale losses.
UK Defence Realities: Why procurement delays, force specialisation, and whole-of-society readiness must evolve to deliver coherent power beyond small-scale contributions.
Matthew’s insights underscore that in a world of rising confrontations, honest self-assessment and swift adaptation aren’t optional – they’re the keys to credible deterrence.
Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.
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