News & Comment

The announcements about drones and setting up this centre of excellence and testing in Swindon is pretty good news. It's the right direction of travel. We've seen in a range of conflicts recently how these sorts of technologies are changing some of the ways in which war is fought, and so it's absolutely necessary...There has been some reporting that much needed repair work to service families accommodation for example is going to be delayed for a lack of money, so whilst the drone thing looks great on the surface and we absolutely need to do it - there's a whole load of this other stuff – if you like fixing the handle of the sphere not just the tip, because as I'm fond of saying, if you think the tip of the spear is the only important component of that weapon, then you don't understand how spears work."

Not only has Tehran demonstrated that it can follow through on a decades-old threat to effectively close the Strait, but it may now be in a position to negotiate a permanent way to claim sovereignty over it and demand ‘fees’.”

These vehicles are entering military sites and their cameras are recording to facial recognition-level quality. Logistics patterns are being recorded that a hostile state could potentially exploit...The idea that staff will sit on a journey and not discuss work is for the birds. No one could expect a senior officer or minister to sit with his or her staff and not talk about work. Do we really think that all MoD personnel on a long journey will not charge their phones?"