Warfighter Podcast

The Warfighter Podcast is back for very special mini-season looking at FPV (First Person View) drones and their impact in the modern battlefield.Even the most casual observer of recent conflicts will be aware of the impact that low-cost, consumer drones and home-built FPVs have been making across conflict zones. It’s likely that their impact is here to stay and militaries are mobilising for the use of these drones, as well as working out how to counter them.Karl Eze formally served with the British Army and is now the founder of a company that specialises in the development and deployment of unmanned systems.Karl provides a background to the evolution of FPV drones and discusses how the skills and capabilities are being developed through drone racing, and events such as MIDRT - Military International Drone Racing Tournament, which is being held in London this month.We cover as much as we can is a short period, as the evolution of FPV drones is clearly a fascinating area, which we hope to uncover over the next couple of episodes.Hosts:Tom Constable: www.linkedin.com/in/tom-constable/ Colin Hillier: www.linkedin.com/in/colinhillier/Guests:Karl Eze: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karl-eze/Links:MIDRT: https://www.midrt.com/Website: www.warfighterpodcast.com/LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/warfighter-digital/YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCkgiH-cwmyc2I2Iyc8MLYtgTwitter: twitter.com/WarfighterPodEpisode Sponsor: MiDRT 24 (Military International Drone Racing Tournament)The Military International Drone Racing Tournament (MIDRT) 2024 is a major event in London from September 16-20, bringing together military personnel, skilled in first-person view (FPV) drone racing. The event includes a tournament, mini-conference and exhibition, attracting top experts in UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) technology. It serves as a platform for allied military forces, industry leaders, and innovators to exchange ideas on the future of battlefield drone applications. MIDRT aims to advance military drone racing as a vehicle to train remote pilots and enhance STEM knowledge.Email: [email protected]

We are pleased to invite two heavyweight guests for our final episode of the season.Coming out of the shadows, we speak to Matt Chuter - our sponsor at Babcock. We were keen to learn more about how the latest evolutions in the battlefield are shaping the Crucible Teams thinking about the future design for Army collective training. Matt also reflected on some of his personal highlights from this season, including Jenny McArdle on the future of Land Training, Andy Gales discussing TES, and Ethan Wilson on the Grey Zone. (Links to the episodes below)And who better to invite back than Col Arnel David. Now in a new post, and overachieve as per usual, we were keen to hear about his latest challenge and works.The discussion is wide ranging, and we couldn’t do the subject of his PhD justice in a short time, but we do cover the following:Exploration of ‘Prototyping Warfare’ and its benefits over traditional strategies.The impact of clinging to comfortable but outdated assumptions on military effectiveness.How militaries cling to comfortable assumptions.How do we make a case for change in the absence of a significant credible threat?What role government procurement plays in facilitating the rapid conversion of new ideas into capabilities.Key recommendations for military leaders and policymakers to ensure their strategies are adaptable and effective in a fast-changing strategic landscape.We suggest listening to this on ¾ or ½ speed, as Col Arnel likes to talk at the speed of his thinking!Hosts:Tom Constable: www.linkedin.com/in/tom-constable/ Colin Hillier: www.linkedin.com/in/colinhillier/Guests:Col Arnel David: www.linkedin.com/in/arnel-david/Matt Chuter: www.linkedin.com/in/matt-chuter-7bb1878/Links:Episode with Jenny McArdle: www.warfighterpodcast.com/s2-e1-the-future-of-land-training/Episode with Andy Gales: www.warfighterpodcast.com/s2-e8-tesmiles-definitely-not-laser-tag/Episode with Ethan Wilson: www.warfighterpodcast.com/s2-e9-grey-zone-conflict/Website: www.warfighterpodcast.com/LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/warfighter-digital/YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCkgiH-cwmyc2I2Iyc8MLYtgTwitter: twitter.com/WarfighterPodEpisode Sponsor: Babcock InternationalBabcock has always operated hand in hand with our customers because their mission is our mission. Our people support the British Army by contributing to front-line support, delivering the capability they need, available to them wherever,...

Strap in. For our penultimate episode of the season we tackle what might seem like a simple question, but proves to be expansive - What does it mean to deliver realism in Training? We are joined by Anthony Pittman who, as well having a lengthy service in the British Army where he lived and breathed training, is currently the Director for Development & Optimisation at Babcock.Always a contentious subject, (which we’re sure is the start of some mess brawls), we don’t hold back from the difficult questions. Anthony deals with each point elegantly, tackling diverse subjects such as:What is Realism anyway?Is there an optimum level for Realism?Could we cope with greater Realism?Doesn’t adding Realism always cost more money?Do we have enough scientific rigour to understand training effectiveness vs Realism?We knew 40 minutes wouldn’t be enough for this subject, so no doubt we will return to it in the future. Anthony wraps up the discussion with his vision for what improved realism means for the future of collective training.Excellent food for thought and very topical with all the work going on in this area at the moment.Hosts:Tom Constable: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-constable/ Colin Hillier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinhillier/Guest:Anthony Pittman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajpittman/Links:Website: https://www.warfighterpodcast.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/warfighter-digital/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkgiH-cwmyc2I2Iyc8MLYtgTwitter: https://twitter.com/WarfighterPodEpisode Sponsor: Babcock International GroupBabcock has always operated hand in hand with our customers because their mission is our mission. Our people support the British Army by contributing to front-line support, delivering the capability they need, available to them wherever, whenever and however they need it. We ensure the British Army can focus on their missions safely by supporting their vehicles, both armoured and white fleet with skilled engineers and capability backed by long-term through-life engineering expertise.We enable our defence and emergency services customers to do their job with our technical training programmes. We combine deep understanding and long-term commitment with constructive challenge. An embedded partner, focussed on outcomes. Globally, new defence and resilience equipment programmes and asset modernisation programmes are seeing a resurgence. Training personnel is a critical component to support these programmes.Whether it’s applying engineering excellence or the latest technology, we combine our expertise with a practical mindset. Alongside our deep engineering experience, digital and data technologies will allow us to better understand, predict and enhance the performance of the assets we manage, make better engineering decisions to reduce risk and improve service delivery.

We’re coming back to our favourite topic - how do we get innovative ideas off the ground and into the market for exploitation by the frontline. In past episodes we’ve discussed the ‘Valley of Death’ and the challenge described in the book ‘Crossing the Chasm’.This episode we speak to Owen Thompson, who deals with this every day in his role as CEO at Cambridge Future Tech - a Venture Builder that works with deep-tech startups across diverse markets. Owen has had two successful careers to date: Firstly as a Typhoon pilot for the Royal Air Force and then appointed to senior positions in a leading defence prime when he left the forces.. So he brings a unique perspective for defence centric technologies.The capital markets for startups have historically been slightly allergic to funding defence startups, but with the realisation that sustainability is closely related to security, attitudes are changing. We see this with investments in companies like Palantir and Anduril which have the potential to create huge change in the Defence industry.In what becomes a wide ranging discussion, Owen talks about his experience with new technology startups trying to make a difference in Defence, how they met these challenges and potential routes for funding and getting innovation to the users through the commercial maze that government procurement often is.Hosts:Tom Constable: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-constable/ Colin Hillier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinhillier/Guests:Owen Thompson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/o-thompson/Links:Website: https://www.warfighterpodcast.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/warfighter-digital/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkgiH-cwmyc2I2Iyc8MLYtgTwitter: https://twitter.com/WarfighterPodEpisode Sponsor: Babcock InternationalBabcock has always operated hand in hand with our customers because their mission is our mission. Our people support the British Army by contributing to front-line support, delivering the capability they need, available to them wherever, whenever and however they need it. We ensure the British Army can focus on their missions safely by supporting their vehicles, both armoured and white fleet with skilled engineers and capability backed by long-term through-life engineering expertise.We enable our defence and emergency services customers to do their job with our technical training programmes. We combine deep understanding and long-term commitment with constructive challenge. An embedded partner, focussed on outcomes. Globally, new defence and resilience equipment programmes and asset modernisation programmes are seeing a resurgence. Training personnel is a critical component to support these programmes.Whether it’s applying engineering excellence or the latest technology, we combine our expertise with a practical mindset. Alongside our deep engineering experience, digital and data technologies will allow us to better understand, predict and enhance the performance of the assets we manage, make better...