REVELATION AND ASPIRATION OR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND COMMITMENT? CHACR COMMENTARY // JUNE 2025
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BY: Major General (Retd) Dr Andrew Sharpe, Director CHACR
T is both gratifying and frustrating to read through the pages of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR). This is a report that has come with a fanfare of revelation, after multiple delays and adjustments in fast-changing circumstances, as if a Damascene light has just been shone upon the place of Britain in this bewildering world, cutting through the fog of confusion and obfuscation to provide, at last, a clear view of where we are and what needs to be done to keep us safe. It is gratifying because it is hard to find anything in this Review that does not make eminent sense, and that has not been said by those who have worked with, collaborated with, or written for the CHACR over the last ten years or more. (And, I’m
sure, think tanks like RUSI, IISS, Chatham House, et al will be saying and feeling the same thing.) So, it means that we have been on the right track in our musings as we try to help the British Army to think its way through the problems that face it. Which is self-affirming (although possibly in an unhelpfully smug sort of way). It is also gratifying because the deep level of consultation with the practitioners – the programmers and force development staffs in the three Services and Strategic Command – is evident in every aspirational page. A larger more modern Navy is welcome (although the buzz-phrase of ‘a new Hybrid Navy’ offers little other than a plea for more (and more modern) warships and submarines, with
some drones). An upgraded Royal Air Force with a balanced mix of crewed and autonomous platforms is equally welcome. And a (slightly) re-enlarged Army, balancing its modernised ‘heavy metal’ with modern capabilities, including a varied drone and anti-drone arsenal, is the obvious way ahead.1 A cutting-edge cyber capability and a realistically equipped space capability are long overdue. A genuine attempt to improve homeland security, for the first time since the 1970s, addressing everything from attacks from the air to sabotage, and including the training and exercising of ministers, is also clearly required. The explanations of what these capabilities need to be, how they will be procured, managed, and delivered, and how the Services propose to make best use of them
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in modern confrontation, conflict and war is clearly explained. It may all seem a little aspirational, but at least it all makes sense, and demonstrates proper consultation by the reviewers, balancing the Which affirms the Army’s Force Development and Futures programmes and also chimes with recent CHACR publications on the subject. See:
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a) Sharpe, Stewart and Strohn; Storm Proofing; Helion 2025; ISBN 978-1804517-63-5. b) Ares & Athena No 25; Human Fundamentals of Organisational Design; chacr.org.uk/2024/07/15/ares-athenaissue-25-human-fundamentals-oforganisational-design c) Ares & Athena No 26; Fundamental Military Formation; chacr.org.uk/ wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AA-26Fundamental-Formation.pdf Ares & Athena No 27; Coup d’Oeil or Coup d’AI ; chacr.org.uk/wp-content/ uploads/2024/08/AA-Generalship.pdf