There's never been a better time to join the Armed Forces, insists SDR co-author Barrons
There's never been a better time to join the Army, Navy, or Air Force, says General Sir Richard Barrons, a former commander of Joint Forces Command.
He's also one of the authors of the Strategic Defence Review, which has outlined the Government's plans for military spending to help meet the threats posed to the UK in the coming years.
Gen Sir Richard spoke to BFBS Forces News reporter Rosie Laydon about the implications of the review.
Three key reasons for change
"The first reason this is different is that we live in a much more threatening world, and so you probably don't have the luxury of trying to stay the same," said Gen Sir Richard.
"You've got to change to stay safe and deter effectively.
"The second thing is we have experience of Ukraine, and Ukraine is an illustration of war in the digital age.
"It's not a perfect template for how we fight, but we've learned lessons in military technology and also the industrial arrangements that you need to make that work.
"And the third thing is this technology is maturing.
"If you look at data in the cloud, or robotics and autonomy, they are in use in civil society now, so we're not asking the Armed Forces to invent this stuff.
"We're asking them to identify the good bits and bring it in to how you make the Armed Forces work well."
What should serving personnel expect from the review?
"I'm really excited by the transformation that we've put in the review," said Gen Sir Richard.
"It's about not just the revitalisation of our Armed Forces, but also transforming them to be ready for the drama of our times and – in my view – I'm really jealous because there's never been a better time to join the Army, Navy, or Air Force.
"There's so much to play for and it's so important.
But the recommendations are not going to be implemented overnight.
"It's a profound change," explained Gen Barrons. "It will take time, and not everything gets thrown away at once.
"You're still going to need, in the Navy, ships with people on them – it's just they'll come in the future with autonomous platforms that collaborate with them – with more drones, autonomous submarines and satellite capability, and it's that mix which will be transformative."
How can the military adapt to the digital age?
"Our Armed Forces have to be ready for war in the digital age," said Gen Barrons.
"It is a massive transformation and it will take time to invest in and resource and make work.
“[But] most of the people in today's Armed Forces… they are of the digital age and so when we talk about AI and data in the cloud and autonomy, they get it because they're seeing it in many other ways in their lives," he added.
"The challenge for today's Armed Forces is those that are going to win – and therefore deter – will be those that can grasp this transformation, and that means they're going to not just equip differently, they're going to organise differently and they're going to find new ways of working.
"We're going to have a common digital foundation in which everything else in defence plugs into.
"It will take some time to build it, but it's the right way to go.
"It's a process that will unfold for years, at pace and scale, and it ought to be where British ingenuity is at its very best."
How might the military deliver these changes?
"We're not asking the Armed Forces to invent this stuff," said Gen Barrons. "We are asking them to identify the good bits and bring it into how you make the Armed Forces work well.
But that also means changing how the services traditionally collaborate, with a common digital foundation.
"We're talking now about an integrated force, where there will be a single top-down plan, directed by the Chief of Defence Staff.
"And the final thing that makes a big difference... we've created a new industrial partnership, so industry will want to do this.
"The whole thing is wrapped up by a government that has seen our reports, agreed it, endorsed the recommendations, set out a plan and will now insist that it happens."
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