Speech at DSEI by Deputy Chief of the General Staff

Distinguished company, ministers, colleagues from throughout the armed forces, leaders from trade and academia, and our worldwide companions — good morning.

It is an honour to talk on behalf of the Chief of the General Staff at this yr’s Defence and Security Equipment International. DSEI is greater than an exhibition; it’s a assembly place of concepts, innovation, and partnership — a second the place nations, trade, and the navy group come collectively to chart the way forward for our collective safety.

Today, I wish to communicate plainly concerning the British Army’s place in an more and more harmful world. We face challenges of a scale and complexity now we have not seen in generations. And but, we stand at a second of alternative — to modernise, to adapt, and to steer alongside our allies. The British Army is able to meet this second. But to succeed, we should do it collectively.

The world round us is present process profound change.

In Europe, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shattered assumptions concerning the nature of warfare and safety on our continent. It has reminded us that high-intensity, state-on-state battle is now not theoretical. It is going on now, in our yard, and it’s driving NATO’s most vital transformation in a era.

In the Indo-Pacific, China’s rising assertiveness is reshaping the steadiness of energy, whereas tensions throughout the Taiwan Strait reverberate globally.

In the Middle East and elements of Africa, persistent instability, terrorism, and fragile states proceed to drive insecurity, mass migration, and human struggling — challenges that don’t respect borders and demand collective responses.

And past the bodily battlespace, we face rising threats in cyber, area, synthetic intelligence, and knowledge warfare — domains the place benefit is fleeting, and competitors is fixed.

Against this backdrop, Britain’s position is evident: we should stay a reputable, succesful, and dedicated ally. As a number one member of NATO and a world safety associate, the British Army performs an important position in deterrence, reassurance, and fast response. But we can not afford complacency. In this surroundings, relevance is earned, not assumed.

The Strategic Defence Review set out a transparent imaginative and prescient for a way the United Kingdom will meet these challenges: an built-in, agile, and resilient defence posture, underpinned by nearer alignment throughout authorities, trade, and allies. We will prioritise our Corps-level warfighting capacity to be a pressure that deters by means of power and demonstrates management by means of motion. Our deployments to Estonia and Poland, our coaching missions throughout the globe, and our continued assist to Ukraine are proof of this dedication.

We have to be the Army that NATO needs and the Nation wants. CGS has set the goal of doubling by 2030, with the SDR setting us the goal of changing into 10x extra deadly as a combating pressure by 2035 – an formidable goal that we’re nicely on the best way to reaching.

As the Chief of the General Staff specified by this speech at RUSI earlier this yr, this implies three issues for the Army:

Firstly, we should meet our dedication to NATO by offering the Strategic Reserve Corps; two combating divisions, supported by Corps-level capabilities, which is prepared to answer a peer-level risk in Europe. A corps that delivers velocity and attain onto NATO’s perimeter and, if wants be, the wherewithal to get better territory.

Secondly, we should guarantee {our capability} to maintain a warfighting effort. The SDR seeks not simply to reset or deepen the connection with trade, however to construct a brand new defence industrial ecosystem. Rebuilding the National Arsenal is prime to each innovating in peacetime and with the ability to scale that manufacturing to assist the pressure in occasions of conflict. 

Thirdly, with a view to obtain this, the Army should rebuild its’ connection to the nation.  As historical past has proven us, a future battle might nicely depend on our complete society for fulfillment.

But we can not do that alone. In order to be the very best combating pressure potential, we have to be built-in — working seamlessly alongside the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, our intelligence group, and our NATO allies throughout all domains. Land, sea, air, cyber, and area are now not separate theatres; they’re interdependent, and success requires unity of effort.

The SDR makes clear that our credibility additionally depends on modernisation. Our present constructions, tools, and processes won’t meet tomorrow’s challenges. Which is why transformation and modernisation is now not non-obligatory — it’s pressing, and our focus is now firmly on reaching development by means of transformation.

Loads of that is going to take time. How can we transfer quicker? How can we problem our personal pondering and methodology? The reply from our perspective is the Army Challenge Set unveiled on the ASGARD demonstration in July. This is meant to assist trade companions within the seek for new concepts and applied sciences.

Maximising stand-off distance, while sustaining precision, low latency of goal data, and processing resilience in finish to finish focusing on enterprise and suppleness on the battlefield.

Facilitating safety and motion by blinding sensors, deceiving enemy methods, disrupting enemy end-to-end fires pipelines whereas sustaining and sustaining pleasant power emissions throughout seen spectrum and defending in opposition to enemy munitions.

Dominating areas we can not see, throughout airwaves and inside networks, with out fratricide in opposition to our personal necessities.

Sustaining operations in prolonged, clear, and deadly battlespace the place dispersal and concealment are the norm.

Modernisation isn’t about shopping for new equipment for the sake of it. It is about making the Army related in a world the place velocity, precision, and knowledge dominance determine outcomes.

We are coming into an age the place conflicts will likely be fought in multi-domain environments, the place choices are measured in seconds and superiority is constructed on information as a lot as firepower. So to succeed, the British Army should evolve in three key areas:

Principally, digital transformation. Modernisation isn’t simply {hardware}; it’s software program, information, and networks. The capacity to sense, determine, and strike quicker than an adversary will outline victory and our operational benefit more and more is dependent upon information. We should harness greater ranges of robotic autonomy; AI’s powers of orchestration and synchronisation; robust and resilient digital networks; and a extra interconnected collection of methods. Lag in any of those areas and we will likely be out-competed. Back in July, the Army revealed and demonstrated Project ASGARD, the programme which is harnessing the ability of AI to hyperlink any sensor to any effector, and each refine and expedite determination making processes to cut back kill-chain occasions from hours to seconds. ASGARD is now not conceptual; it’s right here, as we speak, and revolutionising warfare for British Soldiers.  

Next, functionality. We are investing in next-generation platforms just like the BOXER armoured car, AJAX reconnaissance methods, long-range fires, and built-in air defence. But whereas these beautiful methods stay essential to our pressure, with a view to attain 10x lethality we are able to now not be reliant on these alone; the following period of warfighting functionality will see these beautiful methods comprise simply 20% of {our capability}. We plan for 40% of our lethality to include attritable methods comparable to uncrewed methods, and the remaining 40% to come back from consumable methods within the type of long-range one-way effectors. So for a similar sum of money that we might use to double the lethality of an AH pair purchase shopping for two extra platforms, we will multiply their lethality ten-fold, for a similar cash, by equipping them with a set of uncrewed airframes, and OWE munitions.

Lastly, folks. Technology alone doesn’t win wars; folks do. Our troopers stay our biggest asset, and modernisation means equipping them with the instruments, coaching, and mindset wanted to thrive in an surroundings of fixed change. We have obtained the course to develop the Army to ship not solely our dedication to NATO NDPP targets, but additionally Homeland Defence and our personal Sovereign necessities. Inflow is finally key to a rise in long-term power and the necessity to get to an Army of not less than 76k Regulars and 34k Reserves within the subsequent parliament in that context requires us to undertake a extra transformative method. Op INVECTOR is our plan to ship renewed emphasis on attracting, changing and coaching, the following era of soldier.

But modernisation additionally requires partnership. We can not — and shouldn’t — do that alone. Our success is dependent upon deep collaboration with trade, academia, and our allies. In conjunction with these very important companions, now we have confirmed that we could be agile and adaptable on this ever-evolving surroundings. The subsequent stage of this problem is to exhibit that we are able to scale this method.

“I believe that a lot of you, like me, spent Monday night avidly studying the newly revealed Defence Industrial Strategy following its much-anticipated launch. Where the Strategic Defence Review defines what we should obtain, the Defence Industrial Strategy explains how we’ll construct a resilient, high-growth industrial base to ship it.

For these of us within the land area, this isn’t the beginning of a brand new journey however the subsequent section of 1 already underway. Through the Land Enterprise Working Group, we routinely meet with companions to sort out shared challenges and preserve a standard understanding of priorities. The Land Campaigns Capability Office has deepened collaboration throughout authorities and trade, enabling new partnerships and export alternatives with our closest allies. We have reshaped the best way we assess worth in our funding choices — putting higher emphasis on industrial resilience and worldwide collaboration.

These efforts are already delivering outcomes. Together with trade, now we have already seen 4 new factories constructed within the UK, with additional funding alternatives now being negotiated. This is tangible progress — proof of a partnership that’s not solely equipping our forces but additionally boosting the broader financial system.

The new Defence Industrial Strategy builds on these foundations and units an formidable objective: to make the UK a Defence Industrial Leader by 2035. To obtain this, it focuses on six priorities:

• Making defence an engine for development, by means of initiatives like Defence Growth Deals, a Defence Finance and Investment Strategy, and regional STEM and apprenticeship programmes.

• Backing UK trade by directing higher funding in the direction of home suppliers and precedence sectors.

• Positioning the UK as a defence innovation chief, harnessing rising applied sciences and the power of our wider tech ecosystem.

• Building a resilient and sovereign industrial base that enhances deterrence and underpins NATO and allied safety.

• Transforming procurement and acquisition methods to cut back waste, speed up supply, and enhance productiveness.

• Strengthening partnerships with trade and worldwide allies to stay globally aggressive and operationally aligned.

For the Army, this technique carries specific weight. Ground fight methods, advanced weapons, and munitions are recognised as National Security Priorities, making certain funding aligns with the wants of the land surroundings. It is equally vital to see next-generation land capabilities recognized as key drivers of financial development, demonstrating the commercial momentum already underway. We will even lean extra closely on dual-use applied sciences — from quantum science to drones, autonomous methods, and synthetic intelligence — areas the place programmes like ASGARD are already creating disruptive options.

In quick, the Defence Industrial Strategy gives the commercial framework to ship the Strategic Defence Review’s imaginative and prescient: for the UK to be “a number one tech-enabled defence energy, with an built-in pressure that deters, fights, and wins — by means of fixed innovation at wartime

Ladies and gents, we stand at an inflection level. The character of warfare is altering. The threats we face are accelerating. But so too are our alternatives to form the longer term.

The British Army is reworking — modernising to discourage aggression, defend our nation, and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies wherever we’re wanted.

But transformation is a crew effort. It calls for the easiest of our folks, our trade, our companions, and our allies. And that’s the reason DSEI issues — as a result of it brings us collectively to innovate, to collaborate, and to organize for what lies forward.

Together, we’ll make sure that the British Army stays not solely related however decisive within the defence of the nation and the safety of our allies.