Disorder

Ep100. Britain's Military: A Tool for Global Ordering?

Feb 11, 2025

Join Matthew Savill, Director of Military Sciences at RUSI and former national security official, as he explores Britain's military preparedness amid global tensions. He discusses the significant role of AI in modernizing defenses and the ethical implications involved. The conversation also highlights the challenges in military procurement, revealing the gaps in communication between government and public regarding foreign policy. Delve into the complexities of Britain's potential to maintain its status as a global player in an increasingly chaotic world.

50:33

Episode guests

Matthew Saville

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

The UK government faces criticism for its delayed communication on defense matters, highlighting a disconnect between priorities and public expectations.

Britain must enhance its military capabilities and align investments with strategic priorities to maintain its credibility as a global security actor.

Deep dives

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Intro

6min

UK Military Policy: Challenges and Continuities

17min

Artillery Shortages and Pre-War Concerns in Europe

4min

Strengthening Defense: Britain's Military Strategy

9min

New National Security Advisor: Pros and Cons

5min

Britain's Military AI Revolution

5min

Exploring Britain's Potential as a Global Orderer

2min

With a major war raging in Europe, a seemingly more expansionist Trump in the Whitehouse, and China’s long held desire to invade Taiwan, is Britain prepared militarily?

It’s hard to tell. The current Labour government is still refusing to set out in detail its plans for Defence, including when it might increase spending to 2.5% of GDP. Instead, we are left waiting for the publication of a new Strategic Defence Review. So are Starmer and co missing an opportunity to be mega Orderers?

To understand these issues and more, for our first episode in partnership with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), we’re joined by Matthew Savill. He’s the Director of Military Sciences at the London-based defence and security think tank. His team focusses on understanding trends in modern warfare and its impact on military strategy, capabilities and planning. Before joining RUSI he spent over 20 years in national security roles in government, starting as an intelligence analyst, and later moving on to policy and operations, working in both the Ministry of Defence and the UK Cabinet Office, and on deployments in Iraq, the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Jason and Matthew discuss on the UK's role in defense and security, the challenges faced by the UK in military procurement and capabilities, and the need for the UK to maintain its status as a major global player. They compare the approaches in France and the UK, and whether we’re in a potential pre-war era, and whether Britain needs to maintain independent military capacities.

As they Order the Disorder, they look at whether AI could be the way Britain becomes Mega Orderers, and Matthew leaves with a message for Starmer: invest in people.

Producer: George McDonagh

Executive Producer: Neil Fearn

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Show Notes Links

More on our partnership with RUSI - https://www.rusi.org/news-and-comment/rusi-news/rusi-announces-partnership-disorder-podcast

Read Matthew’s analysis, Starmer’s New National Security Adviser: A Consequential Choice

- https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/starmers-new-national-security-adviser-consequential-choice

Read Matthew’s piece, A Hollow Force? Choices for the UK Armed Forces - https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/hollow-force-choices-uk-armed-forces

Read The Disintegrated Review? Britain and the Ukraine Crisis by Matthew https://wavellroom.com/2022/03/14/the-disintegrated-review/

Our episode on AI with Marc Warner - https://pod.link/1706818264/episode/3f615a6ab068a88f5dcd8d444dbbb60f

Our episode with Jonathan Powell - https://pod.link/1706818264/episode/94c9f3ec23902d3f606bffb43dc39928

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