BFBS Sitrep

In less than a week, the United States chooses its next President. In this week’s Sitrep, we get the latest on the race for military votes, and ask what four more years of Donald Trump, or a new start under Joe Biden, would mean for the UK, and for Nato.

In the week special forces raided an oil tanker in trouble off the Isle of Wight, we ask whether the military could dragged into the ongoing Channel migrant and refugee crisis.

We’ll find out how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted Gurkha recruitment, and hear from a former head of GCHQ who says we could all learn a lot by thinking the way spies do.

Plus the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, tells us about his own relationship with the military, and why he thinks MPs should spend time with the forces learning how they work.

The future of the Integrated Security and Defence Review. 

Why is NATO planning to open a new Space Centre?

How will Drone technology change combat?

And what impact did GCHQ have in the Falklands War? 

 

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How has Army recruitment been impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic?  Sitrep speaks to the Assistant Director of Army Recruiting.

What lies behind North Korea’s decision to showcase its latest missile?

The RAF has welcomed the arrival of the first of the P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft to its permanent home at RAF Lossiemouth.

And the campaign to honour armed forces personnel from the Caribbean with a new monument at the National Memorial Arboretum

 

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A new report from the IISS think tank says the Russian armed forces are significantly smaller than their Soviet predecessors, but better equipped with more professional personnel. 

We mark thirty years since women were first deployed operationally at sea with the Royal Navy... 

And why the Gurkhas are doing ‘wet gap crossing’ training in Northumberland.

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The Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nicholas Carter, has set out the 'Integrated Operating Concept' this week. It's been described as the most significant shift in military thinking in generations. What is it and what impact could it have on the armed forces in the future?

The new carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, is to join a major NATO exercise from this weekend. We hear from a former Naval commander.

What’s the best way to improve NHS services for serving armed forces families and veterans?

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Lord Sedwill, the former National Security Adviser and Cabinet Secretary who stepped down this month, talks exclusively to Sitrep about chemical and biological weapons, the changing nature of threats and the Integrated Defence Review.

Why a new institute has been set up to study air and space power issues in defence and security and - out mortar training with the Duke of Lancaster’s regiment.

 

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NATO’s Assistant Secretary-General talks exclusively to Sitrep about the possible long-term extreme threats to the UK and other NATO members

And remembering the Battle of Britain 80 years on - we hear about the letters written by a Pilot Officer about the battle to his wife in occupied France.

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Where are the Cyber threats to the UK coming from? The former head of the National Cyber Security Centre, Ciaran Martin, on Russia, China and the impact of Covid 19.

More than two thousand US troops are to leave Iraq but is it the right time to draw down forces? We speak to the Chair of the Commons Defence Committee Tobias Ellwood.

More than a million British soldiers have lived and served in Germany over the past 75 years. A new exhibition at the National Army Museum opens on Saturday looking at this unique deployment . 

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Germany says that Novichok has been used on a rival of President Putin - how will the international community react this time?

What’s behind the recent tensions between Greece and Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean?

Plus, Sitrep looks at how the Gurkhas are changing their recruitment process. We join the Royal Marines on training exercises and how some of Britain’s rarest reptiles are thriving in a military fuel site.

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We look at the options facing the government as part of their Integrated Review of foreign policy, defence and security. Lord Dannatt, former Chief of the General Staff, tells us that the government must find more money for defence. 

We ask what will be the impact of the recent coup in the West African state of Mali on plans to send 250 British troops there as part of a UN mission?  

Sitrep reports on how German soldiers are using the British run Sennelager training area to prepare for a mission in Afghanistan next year - and we hear how the last surviving landing craft from D-Day has finally reached its new home.