Facing Coming Storms: Talking International Defence

What do war films really teach us - not just about conflict, but about who we think we are, and what we believe we’d do when it matters?In this Christmas episode of Facing Coming Storms, we step slightly sideways from our usual focus on geopolitics and defence technology to explore war movies and popular culture and what they reveal about society’s relationship with conflict.We’re joined by Robert Hutton and Duncan Weldon from the War Movie Theatre podcast, alongside Patrick Bury, former British Army officer and now Professor of National Security Studies. Together, we talk about the films we grew up with, the ones that still resonate, and the striking absence or difficulty of telling stories about more recent wars.What We Explore - Why War Movies Matter: We reflect on how war films act as a cultural classroom - teaching generations what courage, leadership, sacrifice and loyalty are supposed to look like.- Generations, Memory and Distance: We compare how different generations encountered war through cinema - from Second World War films shown on Sunday afternoons, to Vietnam-era classics, to the far thinner cultural record of Iraq and Afghanistan.- Action Films vs War Films: We draw a clear distinction between spectacle and substance, asking why the most enduring war films are rarely about explosions and almost always about people under pressure.- Failure, Defeat and Groupthink: From A Bridge Too Far to Kajaki, we explore why some of the most powerful war films are about mistakes, moral ambiguity and institutional failure and what they teach us about leadership and decision-making.- Modern Wars and the Storytelling Gap: We ask why Iraq and Afghanistan have produced relatively little mainstream cinema, and whether proximity, political discomfort, or unresolved outcomes make these conflicts harder to process.- War, Preparation and Deterrence: The conversation widens to the present day - how societies prepare for conflict, why deterrence depends on credibility, and why the goal of preparation is often to ensure war never happens at all.- Culture, Identity and the Information Space: We reflect on how narratives, myths and memory interact with today’s information environment and why misremembering past wars can be as dangerous as forgetting them.As we close, one theme keeps resurfacing: war stories endure because they are never just about war. They are about character, pressure, loss, loyalty, and the choices people make when there are no good options left.In a moment where the idea of conflict feels uncomfortably close again, these stories remind us that preparedness is not bravado, and reflection is not weakness. Understanding how we’ve told these stories before may be one of the ways we avoid having to live them again.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

What happens when the speed of modern warfare outpaces the systems designed to manage it?In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, we are joined by Eva Sula, Estonian defence advisor and mentor at NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator (DIANA), and Robert Fetters, former U.S. Army paratrooper and special operations officer now working in defence technology. Together, we explore how defence innovation is colliding with institutional barriers and what that means for NATO, Europe, and the future battlefield.What We Explore- Why Ukraine Changed Everything: We reflect on how the war in Ukraine has redefined innovation cycles, battlefield learning, and the brutal reality of contested environments and why lessons from even last year are already outdated.- Estonia’s Frontline Perspective: Eva shares how Estonia’s history, geography and digital-first mindset have shaped its defence posture, innovation culture, and sense of urgency and why small countries often adapt faster than large alliances.- Drones, AI and the Pace of War: We examine why drones dominate modern conflict, why counter-drone systems struggle to keep up, and how AI is being applied unevenly across defence - often more in PowerPoint than in practice.- Procurement vs Reality: Robert explains the gap between what operators need and what procurement systems deliver, including how budgets, incentives and bureaucracy lead to duplicated effort, wasted money, and capabilities that never reach the field.- Training for the Wrong War: We question whether conventional forces are still being trained for a battlefield that no longer exists and why a special operations mindset is becoming essential for all units.- Collaboration as Deterrence: We return again and again to the same conclusion: real deterrence comes not from isolated innovation, but from genuine collaboration - across borders, services, industries and institutional barriers And it’s never easy Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

From volunteering in March 2022 to whispering in the ear of Ukraine’s High Command and authoring the paper that birthed an entirely new branch of the military, Ukrainian-born Canadian national Illya Sekirin has been at the heart of Ukraine's drone revolution rewriting the rules of warfare.We explore the thinking that led President Zelenskyy to create the Unmanned Systems Forces as Ukraine’s fourth armed service, the impact that has had on wider existing frontline forces and the future of “drone blitzkrieg" in which an overwhelming assault of unmanned systems might deliver history.What You’ll Learn- Drone Blitzkrieg Defined: How cheap, massed drones have replaced traditional artillery and armour as the new kings of the battlefield.- Birth of a New Military Branch: The inside story of the paper Illya wrote that convinced Zelenskyy to spin drones out into their own service (and why traditional commanders are furious). - The China Dependency Crisis: If the next war cuts Western supply lines, Russia keeps flying while NATO stalls - unless we act now.Illya Sekirin isn’t just watching the drone revolution - he’s one of the people who built it. His book Rise of the Machines – Drone Warfare in the Russia-Ukraine War: Tactics, Operations, Strategy is out in January.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

What happens when the West stops writing the rules and every middle power starts playing its own game at the same time?Peter Apps reunites with Samir Puri, Director of the Centre for Global Governance and Security at Chatham House. From Trump’s transactional peace pushes to China’s mineral land-grab and the growing power of emerging middle powers, they map a world where old empires fade and new ones rise - often in the same contested spaces.What You’ll Learn- The Middle-Power Free-for-All: Why countries from Indonesia to Kazakhstan now hedge between Washington, Beijing, and Moscow and what that means for tomorrow’s battlefields.- The Real New Scramble: It’s not colonies this time; it’s lithium, cobalt, rare earths, Arctic shipping lanes, and the infrastructure deals that lock in influence for decades.- Climate + Tech + Geopolitics: The triple storm quietly redrawing the global map faster than any single war ever could.Samir Puri’s big-picture clarity cuts through the noise: we’re not sliding into a new Cold War - we’re stumbling into a hotter, messier, multipolar scramble where everyone wants a seat at a table that keeps getting bigger and less predictable.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

We talk with neurologist Dr Nicholas Wright – adviser to the Pentagon Joint Staff and US nuclear strategists amongst others on the functioning of the brain – about his new book "Warhead", which dissects modern conflict and military history from the perspective of spent their career studying how our brain structure, cognitive biases, stress, and human decision-making will shape and potentially derail modern warfare, from Ukraine’s trenches to potential flashpoints in space and cyber domains.What You’ll Learn- Importance of Training: How rigourous and challenging training can both deliver the instincts to survive in challenging crises, while also building the flexibility to adapt when situations change.  - Stress and Snap Decisions: Why fatigue and cognitive biases turn even trained leaders into high-stakes gamblers and the lessons from history that keep repeating in today’s battlefields.  - Tech Changes, Humans Remain: Drones and AI walls may redefine tactics, but the unpredictable human element – shaped by our our neurology – remains a solid constant. Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

As winter grips Ukraine's frontlines and Chinese warships circle Taiwan, the shadows of escalation stretch across two hemispheres, testing alliances and resolve.In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, Peter Apps convenes experts from the Institute for the Study of War - George Barros (Russia & GEOINT Team Lead) on Moscow's grinding push toward Pokrovsk, Matthew Sperzel and Daniel Shats (China Analysts) on Beijing's intensifying grey-zone pressure around Taiwan. They explore Russian tactical gains amid Ukrainian shortages, China's blockade rehearsals, and the dangerous interplay between these crises as Western resolve wavers.What You’ll Learn- Pokrovsk Under Threat: Russia's assaults exploit Ukrainian manpower and munitions gaps, risking a key logistical hub just as corruption crisis hits the Kyiv government.- China's Creeping Coercion: Escalating patrols, simulated blockades, and military pressure are designed to isolate Taiwan and influences politics without firing a shot.- Linked Destinies: How weakness in Europe signals opportunity in Asia, underscoring the need for unified deterrence against coordinated authoritarian revisionism.This exchange is a stark reminder that today’s battles are fought on parallel fronts and the outcome in one may well decide the fate of the other.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

What if the UK's defence future hinges not on its own capabilities, but on bridging gaps in an unpredictable US partnership?In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, Peter Apps speaks with Matthew Savill, Director of Military Sciences at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), about his two decades in the MOD - from Iraq intelligence to Ukraine support and the evolving US-UK relationship amid Trump's return. They discuss hybrid threats, rapid tech shifts in Ukraine, procurement pitfalls, and Europe's uneven readiness for escalating conflicts.What You’ll Learn- US-UK Dynamics: How unpredictability in US policy challenges shared interests, from deterrence ambiguity to public spats on defence spending.- Ukraine's Tech Battlefield: The interplay of drones, electronic warfare, and tactics reshaping combined arms, with lessons from rapid iteration amid industrial-scale losses.- UK Defence Realities: Why procurement delays, force specialisation, and whole-of-society readiness must evolve to deliver coherent power beyond small-scale contributions.Matthew’s insights underscore that in a world of rising confrontations, honest self-assessment and swift adaptation aren't optional - they're the keys to credible deterrence.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

What if the real frontline of modern conflict isn’t on the battlefield, but in the minds and screens of everyday people?In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, Peter Apps is joined by Simon Paterson, former British Army Intelligence officer and head of strategic partnerships at Boon Global, and Margot Fulde-Hardy, investigator at Graphika and ex-French government official. Together, they unpack the evolving world of information operations - from Russia’s hybrid tactics post-Crimea to China’s sophisticated influence campaigns - exploring how AI, social media, and state actors are reshaping global narratives, sowing division, and challenging democracies.What You’ll LearnThe AI Supercharge: How large language models and autonomous tools are amplifying disinformation volume and sophistication, from poisoning narratives to fully automated campaigns.State Actor Playbooks: Insights into Russia’s aggressive hybrid warfare and China’s subtler, network-driven approaches targeting diaspora communities and global perceptions.Building Defences: Why cross-sector partnerships, rapid fact-checking, and societal resilience are key to countering manipulation without eroding free speech.This conversation highlights that in an era of cognitive warfare, awareness and collaboration aren’t just tools, they’re essential shields for safeguarding truth and stability.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

Power without a plan: what happens when the world’s strongest military hits pause?In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, Pete Apps sits down with Nikolas Gvosdev, Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Professor of National Security Studies at the U.S. Naval War College, to unpack the geopolitical and strategic turbulence surrounding the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.From unpaid federal workers to the future of American global posture, they explore how domestic political deadlock collides with an increasingly unpredictable international landscape. Nikolas sheds light on how this uncertainty ripples across alliances, procurement, and operations from the Caribbean to Eastern Europe and why questions about U.S. reliability are reshaping how friends and rivals alike see America’s role in the world.What You’ll LearnShutdown Shockwaves: How a lapse in funding disrupts U.S. military operations, civilian workforces, and global confidence.Strategic Drift: Why political instability is creating unpredictable shifts in U.S. defence posture and alliance planning.New Power Models: How Washington’s turn towards private-sector security and external funding could reshape future military commitments.This episode is a reminder that strategy doesn’t exist in a vacuum - it’s forged in the space between politics, power, and perception.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

As the balance shifts beneath our feet, new maps are drawn - not on paper, but in power itself.In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, Peter Apps is joined by Dr Peter Layton, retired Royal Australian Air Force officer and visiting fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute, to unpack how changing power dynamics are reshaping security in the Indo-Pacific.From China’s rapid military expansion and the future of Taiwan, to the evolving roles of Australia, the US, and regional players like Japan, India, and Southeast Asia, together they explore the tensions, alliances, and strategic calculations shaping the decade ahead.What You’ll LearnStrategic Shifts: How alliances, basing decisions, and military postures are changing across the Indo-Pacific.Economic Power Plays: Why China’s manufacturing strength and strategic signalling are as influential as its military might.Uncertain Futures: How regional hedging, accidental escalation, and innovation will shape how nations respond to rising tensions.This conversation is a timely reminder that the future of global security may be decided far from Europe’s borders. Understanding the dynamics of the Indo-Pacific is no longer optional, it’s essential.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.