The Military Sciences group includes experts in the traditional Air, Land and Maritime domains as well as Cyber, Influence Operations and Space. Our aim is to contribute to the nuance of UK public, media and policy discussions on defence by combining research with practical experience and contextual awareness. As part of this work, Military Sciences staff engage with military, defence industrial and governmental stakeholders from the operational to the senior leadership level in the UK and overseas.
The cornerstone of the Military Sciences group’s work is the Martial Power Programme which forms a conceptual framework aimed at providing UK decision makers with a deeper evidence base to feed into defence policy.
Focus
The Military Sciences research group aims to:
Jack Watling
Governments and military planners are obsessed with how much leverage adversaries can exert with coercive measures that don’t risk all-out war. But to win in the ‘grey zone’ requires being proactive, and defining its limits.
Tags: Military Sciences, UK, Global Security Issues
Jack Watling
This paper outlines critical trends in the development of next-generation fires systems and the implications of this future battlefield for the UK’s ground forces.
Tags: Armed Forces, Equipment and Acquisitions, Military Sciences, UK, Land Forces, UK Defence
Sidharth Kaushal and Jack Watling
This paper outlines the role that littoral areas will have in the Future Operating Environment and the strategic requirements that will drive the development of the littoral strike concept and the Future Commando Force.
Tags: Armed Forces, Equipment and Acquisitions, Global Strategy and Commitments, Military Sciences, Defence Policy, UK, Land Forces, Maritime Forces, UK Defence, Europe
Airbus’s A400M Was Meant to Be the Pride of Europe’s Military. But After Years of Problems It Still Has a Screw Loose
In The News, 14 November 2019 Tags: Aerospace, Air Power and Technology, Military Sciences, UK
Peter Roberts
The competition between NATO and Russia is not going the Alliance’s way. Russia has encircled Europe and divided the Alliance. How odd then that NATO is in such a self-congratulatory mood on its 70th anniversary.
Tags: NATO, North America, Russia, Military Sciences, Global Security Issues, Europe
Jack Watling
Governments and military planners are obsessed with how much leverage adversaries can exert with coercive measures that don’t risk all-out war. But to win in the ‘grey zone’ requires being proactive, and defining its limits.
Military Sciences, UK, Global Security Issues
Peter Roberts
The competition between NATO and Russia is not going the Alliance’s way. Russia has encircled Europe and divided the Alliance. How odd then that NATO is in such a self-congratulatory mood on its 70th anniversary.
NATO, North America, Russia, Military Sciences, Global Security Issues, Europe
Peter Roberts and Sidharth Kaushal
Rumours abound that the Royal Navy is to gut its globally respected Operational Sea Training organisation in order to reallocate cash across defence. It is not simply the UK’s martial reputation that would be at stake; the evidence states that operational sea training is a crucial asset on which the Royal Navy should not skimp.
UK Defence Policy, Military Sciences, Defence Management, UK, Maritime Forces, Military Personnel, National Security
Nick Reynolds
The political and security situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina has not substantially changed in the last couple of years, but this should not be mistaken for stability. The domestic situation is likely to get worse.
Military Sciences, Europe
Peter Roberts and Seth Newkirk
Regardless of how difficult Erdogan’s Turkey may now be, it is a key state in NATO and must be treated as such.
Turkey, United States, US Defence Policy, NATO, Americas, Military Sciences, Defence Policy, International Institutions, Europe
Jack Watling
This paper outlines critical trends in the development of next-generation fires systems and the implications of this future battlefield for the UK’s ground forces.
Armed Forces, Occasional Papers, Equipment and Acquisitions, Military Sciences, UK, Land Forces, UK Defence
Sidharth Kaushal and Jack Watling
This paper outlines the role that littoral areas will have in the Future Operating Environment and the strategic requirements that will drive the development of the littoral strike concept and the...
Armed Forces, Occasional Papers, Equipment and Acquisitions, Global Strategy and Commitments, Military Sciences, Defence Policy, UK, Land Forces, Maritime Forces, UK Defence, Europe
Elisabeth Braw
This Occasional Paper examines the Scandinavian model of national service and discusses how it can be adapted by the UK to fit its national security needs and acquaint a wider segment of youth with...
Civil–Military Relations, Modern Deterrence, Occasional Papers, Military Sciences, Defence Management, Defence Policy, UK, Military Personnel, UK Defence
Sidharth Kaushal and Magdalena Markiewicz
This Occasional Paper examines China's maritime strategy by placing its contemporary evolution in context.
Armed Forces, China, Occasional Papers, Equipment and Acquisitions, Military Sciences, Asia, Maritime Forces, Military Personnel, Technology, Pacific
Jack Watling and Daniel Roper
This Occasional Paper outlines strategies for integrating European allies with the US Army's Multi-Domain Operations operating concept.
United States, US Defence Policy, NATO, Occasional Papers, Military Sciences, Defence Management, Defence Policy, Global Security Issues, International Institutions, Land Forces, Maritime Forces, Military Personnel, Europe
General Sir Gordon Messenger and Surevine founder and CEO Stuart Murdoch in conversation with Clifford Chance counsel Josh Fitzhugh.
Modern Deterrence, Military Sciences
This annual conference, jointly organised by the United Nations Association – UK, UNA-Westminster and RUSI, is the UK’s most authoritative public review of UN peacekeeping activities.
Military Sciences
This conference will seek to re-examine what the optimal survivability mix might look like in the late 2020s, 2030s, in light of current trends of both combat air systems design and emerging...
Air Power Conference 2016: Inspiration and Innovation, Military Sciences
The conference, the first of its kind, featured senior executives and government officials in charge of total defence and civil protection. It aimed to identify practical steps that can be taken to...
Modern Deterrence, Military Sciences, Defence Policy
General Stephen J. Townsend, commander of the US Army Training and Doctrinal Command will deliver the 72nd Annual Kermit Roosevelt Lecture.
United States, Military Sciences, UK
Dr Jack Watling, Research Fellow at RUSI, discusses what the new agenda might be for the new Defence Secretary, Penny Mordaunt.
Tags: Military Sciences, UK, UK Defence
Justin Bronk, RUSI's Research Fellow for Airpower and Technology reflects on the 100th anniversary of the Royal Air Force, established on 1 April 1918.
Tags: Aerospace, Military Sciences
Justin Bronk, Research Fellow at RUSI assesses the US airstrike against a Syrian airbase following the Syrian government's chemical attack in the Idlib province.
Tags: Aerospace, Military Sciences, Syria
Ewan Lawson, Senior Research Fellow examines the debate around WhatsApp encryption and whether the app should be more freely available to law enforcement.
Tags: UK Counter-terrorism, Military Sciences, UK, Terrorism
Episode 07: Missing links
We Need to Relearn How to do Deterrence
The British Public Still Believes in NATO – Even if Most Cannot Say What It Does