You’ll be bombarded with reading lists this year.  Most from far more reputable organisations than this one.  But hopefully you’ll enjoy our offerings a little more.  The team of volunteers that make the Wavell Room work are absolutely passionate about improving defence through PME.  We asked them to put forward...

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Ambushers  In the storeroom below the shopping centre, it is stifling. The Echthros Marines are packed against each other squatting on the floor of the storeroom or sitting on benches with their backs to the concrete wall. They don’t just hear the steam-whistle like screeching and mechanical grinding echoing down...

The post Der Verlorne Haufen: Chapter 19 appeared first on Wavell Room.

Penetration  Like most others in the control room the One-star stares up at the map display on the big screen. In a glance the viewer registers the blue dots representing the uncrewed systems and charting their flow from the beach through the forest and well into the town. There, the...

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When warfighting, formation level ground mounted crewed reconnaissance (GMCR) has never been more important. This has been clearly indicated by the successful development of the Divisional Reconnaissance Battle Group (DRBG) since 2017 reinforced by The Royal Lancers’ experiences on recent major exercises such as Ex CERBERUS 20 and WARFIGHTER (WFX)...

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Sheltering in the Urban  In the control room back in Darwin all eyes are on the big screen. There is consternation. Two CUAS MAVOC are showing the off-line symbol and an alert is flashing on the border of the display. The officer standing behind the air defenders, turns to the...

The post Der Verlorne Haufen: Chapter 17 appeared first on Wavell Room.

Valiant defenders  The Echthros Colonel of engineers stands, scanning the expectant eyes of men seated uncomfortably on the concrete floor, surrounded by weapons, satchels, ammunition containers and tripods. He waits for complete silence to settle across the hundred odd Marines in the underground car park.  “Marines. Your comrades of the...

The post Der Verlorne Haufen: Chapter 16 appeared first on Wavell Room.

Uncrewed into the urban  Just offshore, Sublanders silently waiting on the seafloor begin to hum and stir as electric pumps force water out of tanks, and as they begin to rise the silt beneath their hulls is swirled and stirred. As the first submersible breaks the surface, the pumping continues,...

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Waiting for Admiral Radakin to speak at his first RUSI Annual Chief of the Defence Staff lecture, I couldn’t help but reflect that it has been a tough year for Defence.  Perhaps every year is tough and this is just a truism we tell ourselves to defend a lack of...

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Thinking about major war is back in fashion as forever wars shuffle off and near-peer conflicts become considered plausible.  Counter-insurgency is giving way to postulated high intensity wars between technologically advanced great powers.  The operational level concepts that describe in an abstract manner how military forces might be used in...

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A briefing in Darwin  500 m metres away from the Darwin control room is another large room full of people. But in this amphitheatre no one in the audience wears a uniform. The presenter does. As he steps up to the podium the buzz of conversation amongst the assembled international...

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