BFBS Sitrep

Exercise Spring Storm may be an annual event for NATO, but this time there’s no playing nicely with words. The troops taking part say they are “rehearsing for war”, just miles from Russia.
BFBS Forces News Reporter Rosie Laydon tells why this exercise feels different to the many she’s visited before, and talks us through the new tech being tested out by 2 Scots.
We explain what other tech is in the pipeline for the Army, and how it could change soldiering, as Kate talks to two senior officers driving the Land ISTAR programme.
And Professor Michael Clarke assesses reports that the US will slash the combat capability it promises to NATO, including all submarines, and explains why it might not be as worrying as it looks.

Sitrep dives into the future of the Army and explains how a new generation of battlefield sensors and worldwide connectivity could transform British soldiering.
The Land ISTAR programme will gather unprecedented battlefield insights and share them in real time, informing soldiers just a few metres away and at the same moment an HQ on the other side of the world.
It won’t be a big bang event, it’s a long process, but its already connecting some existing systems with new cutting edge kit.
Brigadier Matthew Birch, Senior Responsible Owner of the Land ISTAR Programme, and Colonel Kieran Phillips, Commander Multi-Domain Operations Group, explain what’s already out there, what lies ahead, and how they plan to avoid data overload.

From invasion, through stabilisation and counter-insurgency to training Iraqi forces, Operation Telic involved more than 135,000 British servicemen and women from 2003 to 2011
Fifteen years since the last troops left Sitrep talks to three veterans of Iraq to reflect on the jobs they did, the sacrifices made, and how the legacy looks today with more distance and time.
In a special edition from the National Memorial Arboretum James Wharton, Duane Gardner, and Kevin Robinson share their stories and compare their experiences.
And they explain how, despite the complex legacy of the Iraq war, it continues to shape todays armed forces from transformed kit to sharpened doctrine.

The Royal Navy, already thinly stretched, is now sending HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Duncan to the High North, while HMS Dragon heads in the other direction to loiter for a possible mission in the Strait of Hormuz.
Both high profile deployments come with some big questions.
Is an aircraft carrier the best way to deter Russian submarines? And if Dragon is waiting for an end to fighting between the US and Iran, what job for it to do there?
Retired Commodore Steve Prest explains the likely tasks for each vessel and their crews, while Professor Michael Clarke assess how the Royal Navy will manage the workload just as it’s at the toughest point of a long term transformation.

Ukraine has amassed so much battlefield footage from drones that it would take more than 200 years to watch. Now it’s using that footage, with machine learning, to teach drones to become more lethal.
Simon Newton explains how the country has made breakthroughs that allow the devices to identify not only potential targets, but also their most vulnerable spots.
The work could also have benefits for the UK with talk that massive pool of training data could be shared with allies.
But does this put us on an unstoppable path to machines making life and death decisions on the battlefield? Dr. Matthew Powell, from the RAF College Cranwell, explains the practical and ethical dilemmas.