Facing Coming Storms: Talking International Defence

How can NATO and its allies close capability gaps when technology iterates in weeks rather than decades?In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, Peter Apps is joined by John Ridge, Chief Adoption Officer of the NATO Innovation Fund. A former British Army Royal Engineers officer who served as Chief of Joint Force Operations before leaving in 2020, Ridge now works to get private-sector technologies into the hands of end users across the Alliance. We explore the shift from traditional requirement-based procurement to problem-led adaptation, the lessons of Ukraine for iteration and operator-technologist proximity, the economics of the cost curve, and the challenges of deterrence.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

How did the industrialisation of blood supply transform the battlefield of the Second World War, and what can it teach us about modern conflict?In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, Peter Apps is joined by Dr Roderick Bailey, a historian at the University of Oxford and former British Army reservist most recently tasked by the MOD to investigate mass casualty treatment – and specifically blood supplies – during the Second World War to learn its modern lessons.Roderick's latest book, The Lifesavers, uncovers the monumental, almost industrial effort by the Royal Army Medical Corps to deliver refrigerated blood directly to the front lines. From the muddy trenches of the Somme to the deserts of North Africa, this conversation explores how civilian doctors in uniform revolutionised military medicine and saved countless lives.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

What does it really take to deter a modern adversary at sea when the old rules of the Cold War no longer seem to apply?In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, Pete Apps is joined by Professor Jim Bergeron, a former US Navy nuclear submariner and long-time political advisor to NATO's Maritime Forces. They explore the shifting realities of naval warfare, from the high-stakes cat-and-mouse games of the 1980s to the modern, AI-driven surveillance of the Baltic and the High North - a great listen that explores what is really going on behind the headlines.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

What does the rapidly evolving face of modern warfare mean for the future of global conflict and Western military strategy?In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, we sit down to discuss the global face of land warfare with Ruben Stewart, Senior Fellow for Land Warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Ruben shares his unique journey from serving as a New Zealand infantryman to working on the front lines of humanitarian crises while they both discuss conflicts from Ukraine to Sudan and the changing impact of technology.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, we talk varying multinational approaches military ethics with CHACR director Major General Andrew Sharpe, Colonel Dennis Katolin of the US Marine Corps, Colonel Matthias Strohn of the German Army Reserve (also head of historical analysis at CHACR) and Michelle Richards, former British army officer and CEO of Leadership Alchemy.What You’ll Discover- Armies and Society: The importance of maintaining higher standards and values than the societies they serve, and the challenges of separation.- Speaking Truth to Power and Ethical Leadership: The tension between following orders, mission command, and having the moral courage to question when necessary.- Lessons from Different National Traditions: British, American, and German perspectives on values, from the citizen in uniform to the warrior ethos and post-conflict behaviour.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

We're recording this from Tampa ahead of Special Operations Forces Week, and it felt like the perfect moment to dig into a world that operates mostly in the shadows but plays a huge role in how modern conflict and defence actually works.In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, we sat down with Leo Blanken, associate professor at the US Naval Postgraduate School and former New Zealand soldier now chief commercial officer for Kraken Technology Erica Dill Russell to unpack how special operations forces have evolved into a global ecosystem.We explore how these elite units have grown from small, highly specialised teams into something far more influential. Not just on the battlefield, but across alliances, procurement, and innovation. What emerges is a picture of a tightly connected global network that is quietly driving change at speed.What You’ll Discover- The Rise of a Global SOF Network: Special operations forces have evolved into an interconnected international ecosystem built on shared culture, trust, and collaboration.- Technology at the Core of Modern Warfare: From drones to cyber and space capabilities, SOF are now deeply embedded in the development and deployment of cutting-edge tech.- Speed vs Scale in Military Innovation: The rapid, agile approach of special forces is now influencing how conventional militaries and industry develop and deploy new capabilities.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

Host Peter Apps is joined by US Naval War College Professor Nikolas Gvosdev and CHACR director Major General Andrew Sharpe to unpack “Operation Epic Fury” and what it tells us about modern warfare. What starts as a discussion about Iran quickly turns into something much bigger. This is about how wars actually unfold today, why they rarely go to plan, and why the systems we’ve relied on for decades might not hold up anymore.Discussion points include:- Why You Can’t Bomb Your Way to Victory: Tactical success means little without a clear strategy or political endgame to back it up.- The Shift from Alliances to Fragile Coalitions: Long-standing global alliances are being tested, replaced by more fluid and uncertain partnerships.- Modern War Is Faster, Messier, and Less Predictable: From drones to disrupted supply chains, today’s conflicts evolve in ways no war game fully captures.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, we are talking to NATO expert Sten Rynning, Professor of War Studies at the University of Southern Denmark and Eva Sula, a former Estonian government official turned defence industry adviser also as a mentor for NATO tech innovation hub DIANA.Following the fallout of January's Greenland row, we are looking at the complex role of the US – now watched uneasily by many on the continent, but still at the centre of military planning. We look at institutional and geographic challenges, politics, supply chains and logistics – and what nations really need to do to keep the peace in Europe.What We Explore- Trump 2.0's NATO Shock: How a second term could force Europe to step up on defence spending and capabilities and the risks if we don't.- Hybrid Threats Evolving: Russia's info ops and China's subtle influence - why the alliance needs a unified playbook to counter them.- Deterrence Reimagined: Why NATO's future hinges on credible threats, stronger partnerships, and learning from Ukraine's fight.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

In our first episode of 2026, we couldn’t have asked for a stronger panel – three experts who’ve spent their careers wrestling with the grey-zone threats reshaping global security.In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, I bring together Major General Andrew Sharpe (Director of CHACR), Colonel Mietta Groeneveld (Director of the NATO Command & Control Centre of Excellence), and Professor Nikolas Gvosdev (U.S. Naval War College) for a look at hybrid warfare today: Russia’s evolving playbook, China’s patient influence ops, and why the West’s responses still feel one step behind.We dig into disinformation, cyber disruption, economic coercion, and the quiet power shifts happening far from any battlefield.What We Explore- Russia’s Hybrid Evolution: How Moscow blends kinetic force with info ops and disruption and why NATO’s coordination still struggles to keep pace.- China’s Long Game: The subtler, multi-domain strategy Beijing uses to reshape perceptions and alliances without ever firing a shot.- Grey-Zone Deterrence: What it really takes to rebuild credibility when adversaries probe limits every day.This conversation is a sharp reminder: the next big conflict won’t start with tanks rolling – it’s already underway in the spaces between war and peace.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

What do war films really teach us - not just about conflict, but about who we think we are, and what we believe we’d do when it matters?In this Christmas episode of Facing Coming Storms, we step slightly sideways from our usual focus on geopolitics and defence technology to explore war movies and popular culture and what they reveal about society’s relationship with conflict.We’re joined by Robert Hutton and Duncan Weldon from the War Movie Theatre podcast, alongside Patrick Bury, former British Army officer and now Professor of National Security Studies. Together, we talk about the films we grew up with, the ones that still resonate, and the striking absence or difficulty of telling stories about more recent wars.What We Explore - Why War Movies Matter: We reflect on how war films act as a cultural classroom - teaching generations what courage, leadership, sacrifice and loyalty are supposed to look like.- Generations, Memory and Distance: We compare how different generations encountered war through cinema - from Second World War films shown on Sunday afternoons, to Vietnam-era classics, to the far thinner cultural record of Iraq and Afghanistan.- Action Films vs War Films: We draw a clear distinction between spectacle and substance, asking why the most enduring war films are rarely about explosions and almost always about people under pressure.- Failure, Defeat and Groupthink: From A Bridge Too Far to Kajaki, we explore why some of the most powerful war films are about mistakes, moral ambiguity and institutional failure and what they teach us about leadership and decision-making.- Modern Wars and the Storytelling Gap: We ask why Iraq and Afghanistan have produced relatively little mainstream cinema, and whether proximity, political discomfort, or unresolved outcomes make these conflicts harder to process.- War, Preparation and Deterrence: The conversation widens to the present day - how societies prepare for conflict, why deterrence depends on credibility, and why the goal of preparation is often to ensure war never happens at all.- Culture, Identity and the Information Space: We reflect on how narratives, myths and memory interact with today’s information environment and why misremembering past wars can be as dangerous as forgetting them.As we close, one theme keeps resurfacing: war stories endure because they are never just about war. They are about character, pressure, loss, loyalty, and the choices people make when there are no good options left.In a moment where the idea of conflict feels uncomfortably close again, these stories remind us that preparedness is not bravado, and reflection is not weakness. Understanding how we’ve told these stories before may be one of the ways we avoid having to live them again.Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.