Sitrep: We're not at war but we're not at peace either, so where is the line drawn?

Drones buzzing airbases and HMS Queen Elizabeth. Undersea cables cut. Mysterious parcel fires at air-freight depots. 

These have all been described as hybrid, grey zone or sub-threshold attacks against the UK and its allies.

But if they are all below the threshold of an act of war, where does that threshold lie?

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The latest Sitrep podcast explores such deniable attacks, from disruption and disinformation to assassination and bomb plots.

Sitrep, which analyses the top defence stories of the week and is available wherever you get your podcasts, asks the question how do we defend against them, deter our enemies from even trying and stand up to international bullying?

Grey zone expert Elisabeth Braw discusses the threat of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure with Kate Gerbeau and Professor Michael Clarke.

Ms Braw, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said: "There have been successful cyber attacks, including against the NHS, Irish Health Service and hospitals elsewhere that have resulted in the loss of life.

"Just the mere threat of cyber attacks against critical national infrastructure is enough to cause people, citizens, to lose faith in our institutions.

"And that's why it's so powerful."

'Real vulnerabilities'

Sitrep podcast is also joined this week by former military intelligence officer Colonel Philip Ingram who was hands-on with addressing these types of sub-threshold actions for many years.

The Former Commander of 1 Military Intelligence (MI) Battalion emphasised that there has been a "massive increase" in this sort of activity.

He said: "Because it's a disruptive activity, it's threatening the West, it's threatening our very critical infrastructure.

"It's also given hostile organisations and countries the ability to monitor how we react and therefore give them a better understanding of our real vulnerabilities should they want to turn these sort of operations into the precursor for a larger conflict which is something the UK has got a history of."

You can listen to Sitrep wherever you get your podcasts, including on the BFBS Forces News YouTube channel.