Britain’s defence strategy is being overhauled for the tech age – and a new generation is in control

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson's fresh wave of 'heretical' defence chiefs will take on threats from cyber warfare, AI, robotics and more

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has overhauled armed forces leadership. (AFP/Getty)

While attention is focused on the ongoing acrimony over Brexit, significant changes are taking place as the UK’s security architecture adapts for the demands of conflict in the 21^st Century at a time of rising international tension and uncertainty.

The Government is expected to announce its Modernising Defence Programme (MDP) in the next few days. It will set out a strategy for dealing with hybrid warfare, where new technology has driven changes in propaganda and robotics, and where conflict is marked by terrorist bombings and states for whom ‘combat’ can range from the attempted suborning of elections to the carrying out of chemical attacks.

At the same time a new top echelon of commanders who will help counter this threat has been announced, with little publicity. We now have a new deputy chief of the armed forces and the next heads for the Royal Navy, and the RAF and Joint Forces Command, which has overarching responsibilities for key elements from all three services and Special Forces.

The risks and rewards brought by the technological revolution have been very much in the news. Last week the head of MI6, Alex Younger, addressed the new reality in the fields of security and defence while stressing the importance in all this of the human factor.

In what was only his second public speech in four years in the post, Younger spoke of how “the digital era has profoundly changed the operating environment” of the Secret Intelligence Service and that “cyber is now our fastest growing directorate”. But he also pointed out a “shifting focus to the nexus between humans and technology” and how, “ironically, the most profound consequence of the technological challenge is a human one.”

The need for the right personnel in this changing landscape is important for the armed forces. And there is a generational change in the appointment of the new commanders, who are all relatively young for such senior positions and seen as iconoclasts prepared to take on vested interests and outmoded traditions.

The head of the Navy, the new First Sea Lord, Admiral Tony Radakin is 53; the head of the RAF, Air Marshal Michael Wigston, is 50; Vice Admiral Timothy Fraser, the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, is 55; and General Patrick Sanders, the new chief of Joint Forces Command is 52.

All four men have the experience of serving abroad, of working with other services and of ‘thinking outside the box’. Speaking from a little personal experience, I spent a bit of time with Gen Sanders in Iraq at a time of ferocious violence. He was able to show impressive leadership and also an understanding of the social and political sensitivities which was lacking among some in government back in London during that hugely controversial and emotive war.

The appointments were the choices of the Defence Secretary, who has spoken of the need for “transformational leaders” who are “forward looking”. Gavin Williamson is in charge of the Ministry at a particularly difficult time, faced by budget cuts, looming threats at home and abroad, and the uncertainties around Brexit. It is a time to show boldness and initiative and he should be commended for doing so.

There have been some complaints from traditionalists in Whitehall about the push for reforms, but they have not been able to mount serious objections to the moves. Williamson has the backing of the Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter, someone who has served extensively in the Balkans and also Afghanistan, where he attempted, with some success, to understand the local dynamics. I recall the wall of his office in Kandahar, covered with charts of Pashtun clans and sub-clans which were so detailed they overflowed on to the next room. He also hosted regular meetings with local leaders which helped calm some volatile situations.

The impending MDP will come under scrutiny to see just how far it goes to fulfil the Government’s pledge to “match the pace” of adversaries and produce a fighting force fit for future demands while providing value for money. Grandiose statements of intent on defence from successive governments have failed to live up to the billing many times in the past.

To break that cycle it is crucial to get the right people in place. General Sir Richard Barrons, who retired from the Army after serving in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, and as chief of Join Forces Command, stressed to me the need “not to have people who are died in the wool, stuck in their ways, but who can adapt and understand the demands of 21st Century war rather than that of the 20^th Century.”

“We are looking at a world of data primacy, artificial intelligence and robotics, as well as the advances being made by the Russians and the Chinese,” Sir Richard continued. “We saw what the Russians have done in Ukraine and Syria -- two battalions being wiped out in a matter of hours in Ukraine for example -- these are pretty serious threats.

“At the same time we have the pressure of cuts, the need to fill the holes. This is the right team of people to do it, they can serve for years to come and carry out reforms. So yes, it was a clever move by Gavin Williamson to push for these appointments.”

Professor Michael Clarke, a senior fellow at leading think tank the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) said: “The announcement of the appointments was made much earlier than expected, so this is something which has been deliberately thought out and pushed. The message being sent by Gavin Williamson is that ‘we have looked at this thoroughly and these are the best people.’

Brexit makes the challenge much clearer for the UK

Professor Michael Clarke

“What is interesting are that all four of them are relatively young, innovators, no great respecters of traditions and prepared to have heretical thoughts,” Clarke told me. “They all have joint services experience, so just eminence in your own service is not enough. Nor is someone who believes that heavy metal [armour and artillery] is the right fit now. We have nano-technology, AI, which can be weaponised, this is quite frightening stuff. We haven’t got time to waste just thinking about it, there is a need to act first.”

The MDP, Clarke stressed, must be carefully analysed to see if it can genuinely meet future needs, including whatever challenges Brexit brings to the table. “Brexit makes the challenge much clearer for the UK. It comes at a time when the US is becoming much more unilateral. It’s not just Donald Trump and ‘Trumpism’, although he has highlighted this change. This has been the tendency for the last four presidents, Obama tried to reverse this and he failed,” said Clarke.

“Britain can find a strategic role in this by smart investment in defence and security, and play an important part in a group of nations with shared values of democracy. Not just Europeans, but other states like Japan and India. It is a way of ensuring that Britain is not isolated in the uncertain future we are facing.”