What can be done to punish Russia's illegal war against Ukraine? How extensive are the war crimes being committed by Russian forces? These are just some of the questions that Dr Frank Ledwidge (University of Portsmouth) answers in this episode. Frank is a former barrister and military intelligence officer, who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, and has also been involved in the prosecution of Serbian War criminals. He’s also been out to Ukraine to speak on the issue of International Law, so he's the perfect person to have on the show!

In today’s show we have Dr Jim Beach talking about the role aircraft played in intelligence gathering during the First World War. From as early as September 1914, aerial reconnaissance was playing a significant role in finding the German army on the Western Front, and by 1918 aerial photography was capturing around 20,000 images per month, which is a truly staggering figure. Dr Beach previously served as an Officer in the Royal Marines, before ending his military career as an Army Education Officer. Jim now works as senior lecturer in history at the University of Northampton. Jim’s research focuses on military intelligence during the First World War, so he’s ideally placed to tell us about the early uses and significance of aerial ISR.

In today's show, we have Dr Pablo Brauer talking about information operations and how they’ve been employed during the war in Ukraine. With the prevalence of disinformation and misinformation, information operations have never been more important than there are today. We'll be asking Pablo how information operations are employed, what types of info ops exist, and how Russia has been utilising the information environment to aid their military efforts in Ukraine and beyond. Dr Brauer has an extensive background in cyber security and information technology having served in the US Navy. His tours included the U.S. Special Operations Command, the National Security Agency, U.S. Cyber Command, Combined Forces Command Afghanistan, and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. He has also taught at the US Naval Academy, the California State University at Monterey Bay, and Carnegie Mellon University. Dr Brauer also founded the DISARM foundation which aims to combat the spread of disinformation. You can find their work here: https://www.disarm.foundation/

In this episode, we're exploring the limitations of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in making or advising on command decisions in war. With many advocates of AI suggesting that it will transform war, it's worth going back Clausewitz and what he teaches us about the nature of war. War cannot be reduced to algorithms, says Clausewitz, and so AI will only ever have a limited role in war - unless there's a major paradigm shift in how AI is developed. To explain this argument further, we have Dr Cameron Hunter (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) on the show to tell us that, at present, AI can only do deductive and inductive reasoning, and so will never be able to grapple with the nuances of policy, strategy, and command. Because AI can only look for patterns in the available data, it cannot predict how the enemy might adapt and respond, nor can it account for chance or other intangible factors that shape war.

Today we have Dr Harry Raffal on the show to tell us all about the role of air power during Operation Dynamo, more commonly known as the evacuation from Dunkirk, in 1940. Harry is the resident historian at the RAF museum, and did his PhD on this very subject. The role of the merchant navy rescuing the trapped soldiers has become the defining image of Dunkirk, for obvious reasons. But air power played an important, yet somewhat forgotten, role. So we'll be asking Harry how both the Royal Air Force and Luftwaffe were used during the operation, the challenges of employing air power in northern France, and the effect that air power had for both British and German forces in May 1940.

UN Peacekeeping missions have a long history. Although these operations play a vital role in international security, there have been various mistakes and failures associated with them. In today's show, we have Dr Margot Tudor (City University London) explaining the origins of Peacekeeping, what the UN's early objectives looked like in relation to these missions, and what often constrained their effectiveness. Dr Margot Tudor has just published a book on the early history of Peacekeeping missions, so she is the ideal person to give us an introduction into the history of these operations and their contribution to international security.

In this show, we ask Aleix Nadal about what the UK is doing in the space domain. It's no secret that the UK isn't exactly a major player in terms of space power, so we'll be asking Aleix about the types of capabilities the UK has access to, the strategies and structures that govern UK space power, and what the future of UK space power looks like. Aleix is currently doing his PhD on the history of space thought and policy within the UK armed forces at Kings College London, where he is also part of the Freeman Air and Space Institute. And he has also worked at the European Space Policy Institute in Vienna.

In today’s show, we'll be discussing why Russia has resorted to using an attritional approach against Ukrainian forces given the huge costs that attritional warfare often incurs. Such a strategy is completely unlike how a NATO army would choose to fight – they would preferably use what the British Army refers to as the manoeuvrist approach. Given that NATO hasn’t fought any major conflicts for sometime now, the difficulties in manoeuvre warfare – even despite the major technological developments of recent years – needs to be fully understood. And so there is much to learn in looking at how these two sides have been fighting this war. We have on the show with us today Professor Mark Galeotti, an honorary professor at University College London and senior associate fellow at RUSI. Professor Galeotti is an expert on Russian affairs, and has written over twenty books covering Russia's recent political and military history.

Welcome to series three of the Air Power and International Security Podcast! Today we have a fantastic episode dedicated to General Giulio Douhet, one of the most important figures in the conceptual development of air power, and his ideas regarding the employment of strategic bombing. General Douhet is known for his advocacy of bombing civilians, so we're asking how these ideas were formed, and how this extreme approach was justified by Douhet. Professor Thomas Hippler (University of Caen) joins us on the show today. Professor Hippler is a renowned scholar who has published widely on the use of strategic bombing. He has also written the most authoritative book on Douhet to date. Thomas' extensive research examining Douhet's early work means that he is ideally placed to discuss Douhet's thinking about warfare during the 20th century and the role of air power within it.

On this show we’ve talked a lot about strategy – whether that’s national strategy, military strategy, or how air, space, and cyber power contribute to strategy. But we’ve not really addressed the issue of strategy itself, which is as complex as it is important. Today we’ll be tackling some of this complexity with Paul O’Neill (RUSI), who talks us through the different types of strategy that exist, the purpose of strategy, how strategy can be developed and implemented, and how all this relates to the conduct of war and the running of military organisations. Paul has extensive experience in the world of strategy making. He retired from the RAF as an Air Commodore and was part of the team that wrote the SDSR in 2015. He also served as the Senior Advisor on strategy and policy to the Afghan Ministry of Interior. Paul is currently the Director of Military Sciences at the Royal United Services Institute.