Wavell Room Audio Reads
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Wavell Room Audio Reads
An improved audio format version of our written content. Get your defence and security perspectives now through this podcast.
Nýlegir þættir
77 þættir
What Makes a Good Military Coalition Partner?
The United States Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, recently commented that the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, which ex...
Principle-Based Close-Combat Training
Europe's NATO members can gain an operational advantage by reframing close-combat training. However, with the current Combatives models, this change w...
Bullshit & Botshit: Digital Sycophancy & Analogue Deference in Defence
The recently published Strategic Defence Review (SDR)1 and National Security Strategy (NSS)2 both place accelerating development and adoption of autom...
What a British-Led Military Contingent in Ukraine Could Look Like
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, in its full-scale war for the third year with level overall years of conflict, is reaching a critical moment where bo...
Vegan Uniform: Why wouldn't we?
The recently reported move by the RAF to manage supply of vegan alternative uniforms on request, whilst not necessarily quite as new as it may seem, m...
Identification/Mission First in the Digital Age
This brief presents a strategic imperative. The development of the IMF is consistently bound by a very complex set of messaging - not just within the...
I Like The Word Lethal
"I like the word lethal. It is reminiscent [. . .] of pretty women and muscular men in classy hotels. Of secret negotiations and ice cubes in 25-year-...
Euclid's Army by William F. Owen
Modern military debate often gets lost in technology, jargon, and expensive promises about the "next war." In Euclid's Army: Preparing Land Forces for...
The Gradual Erosion of the Nuclear Taboo
Introduction
This year marked the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since then, the non-use of nuclear we...
#Wavell Reviews A Risk Too Far: A Psychological Autopsy of the Planning for Arnhem by Gary Buck
You may have thought that another book on Arnhem was not necessary or that it could not possibly tell you anything you did not already know about this...
Ancient Arts, Modern Ethics, and the New Battlefield
The recent Defence Committee report, Defence in the Grey Zone, brings renewed focus to the challenge of hostile activity below the threshold of conven...
Integrated strategy and Human Security outcomes: The British Army's engineering surveys in Albania
Aligned to His Majesty's Government (HMG) priorities of curtailing irregular migration and associated connections to human trafficking from Albania, e...
NATO's Early Cold War Lessons Show What US, Japan, and South Korea Must Do Now
In the not-so-distant future, a U.S. military commander in the Indo-Pacific could be forced to fight two major wars at once - one against a Chinese as...
Integrated Recce: Enhancing Cavalry Operations through technology on the CV90 Platform
The rapid advancement of military technology continues to transform the operational landscape of modern warfare. Cavalry operations (CavOps), traditio...
Goodbye Digital - Hello AI
Introduction
Like many of us, I love listening to our veterans' tales, exploits and adventures. They regale stories from their long caree...
Restructuring the British Army: A Two-Division Model
The British Army faces a pivotal moment as it navigates the evolving demands of modern warfare within the framework of the Strategic Defence Review (S...
How India-Pakistan conflict Inform China's Operational Playbook
The four-day India-Pakistan military crisis showcased a real-world glimpse of how near-peer militaries will face each other on the future battlefield....
#WavellReviews Lawrence of Arabia by Ranulph Fiennes
I first discussed Lawrence of Arabia by Ranulph Fiennes over an evening mezze in Jordan with a senior civil servant. With myself stationed in Jordan -...
Lessons from the 1866 Battle of Lissa
The U.S. Navy faced multiple threats in an emerging technology environment. The past two years have offered many lessons about the efficacy of anti-sh...
The Defence of a Baltic Bridge
It was our own fault, and our very grave fault, and now we must turn it to use, We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse!" R...
Drones Take Centre Stage: The New Face of Modern Warfare
On June 1st 2025, Ukraine carried out well-coordinated drone attacks on four airbases deep inside Russia. In the operation codenamed 'Spider's Web', 1...
Who wants to be a millionaire? Life in occupied Ukraine
President Putin has only been able to sustain his war by bribing the poor, desperate and marginalised. The deal has been straightforward: sign up and...
Russian World
At around the same time the video headlining this article was recorded, President Putin was hosting Russian Language, or Pushkin Day. This precedes Ru...
Creating internal dilemmas: The Gendering of Grey-Zone Warfare
"Russia's hybrid attacks against NATO look like war", writes Deborah Haynes for Sky News. She is referring to grey-zone warfare, attacks that sit unde...
The UK's F-35 Procurement Strategy: A Balancing Act
The United Kingdom's procurement of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, encompassing both the F-35B and F-35A variants, reflects a complex interpla...
#WavellReviews War in the Smartphone Age by Matthew Ford
War in the Smartphone Age explores how modern technologies, particularly smartphones, are transforming the character of conflict. Dr Matthew Ford, an...
Making NATO More Agile and Lethal: A Digital Insurgency is Underway
"Nothing After Two O'clock" or "No Action, Talk Only" are well-worn jabs at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that once resonated with a c...
S-400 Debut in South Asia: Limits of Tech Supremacy
Amongst contemporary systems, the Russian S-400 has been perceived as one of the most advanced air defence system. With a layered defence of 4km, 120...
The false promise of new technology: the British Army and the (new) calibre debate
It is the lot of the infantry to hold ground and get shot at. This is the mundane history of the infantry, not the story you hear during training at C...
Is Autonomy the End of the Naval Warfare Officer
The end of the Warfare Officer?
You're not unskilled, they're the wrong skills.
In a rain-beaten marina on a rugged coastlin...
On Warrior Culture
Editor's note: This piece is slightly different to our normal ones. It's more akin to a blog and written in the first person. However, we deemed it in...
Cheap is good enough
With the imminent publication of the new government's first Strategic Defence Review this article throws out a challenge. Can we make the first cheap...
A Nuclear Dilemma: Peacekeeping in Ukraine
Introduction
President Donald Trump's attempt to end the war in Ukraine continues, but for how much longer? He has recently stated that h...
How defence SMEs can pioneer social impact in procurement
A golden opportunity in the era of Labour's Procurement Act
The dust has barely settled on Labour's Procurement Act, which kicked in back...
Operation Flow and the Ukrainian Withdrawal from Kursk
In August 2024 a surprise Ukrainian incursion in Kursk Oblast resulted in the capture of 1,376 square kilometres of Russian territory. Over the next s...
Ukrainian Service Women
On the eve of the invasion of Ukraine, there were around 31,000 servicewomen and female MOD employees in the Ukrainian armed forces. This represented...
Israel's Victory Doctrine Achieves Indeterminant Outcomes
On January 19, 2025, a ceasefire was agreed to after nearly 16 months of continuous combat in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. In short order, every sid...
Reworking the strategy of strategic communication
"Achieving information dominance is an indispensable prerequisite of combat action."
Editor's note: This style of article is also a move...
The state we are in - British Army decline
General Sanders was evidently as blunt as he felt he could be in his valedictory communication when standing down as Chief of the General Staff (CGS)....
Hooper Prize - Third Place: Falklands Analysed.
Third Place (Joint)
LH(EW) Lewis Batch, Northwood HQ
It is more than 40 years since the Falklands conflict. Evaluate the cha...