UK defence, from the people inside it.
Wavell Room Podcast puts UK defence questions to the people who hold the jobs. The Military Secretary covers careers, an Army Headquarters officer explains the future operating concept, and the Minister for Armed Forces discusses policy. A second strand, A Soldier, A Sailor and A Scientist, talks with guests from DSTL about space, futures research and urban combat.
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Wavell Room Podcast is a UK defence interview show whose guests do the work they describe. An officer explains a concept he has been working on. The Military Secretary talks about how the Army manages careers. A minister talks about what defence is short of. Titles such as 'Army Future Operating Concept', 'A Soldier, a Sailor and a Scientist – Futures' and 'A Soldier, A Sailor, A Scientist – Future Urban.' all carry the word future, and the question of what British forces will need next runs through much of the talk. Gordon Muir, SO1 Concept Development in the Futures Directorate at Army Headquarters, sets out how the Army's future operating concept came together. His case rests on speed and on an expeditionary, nimble Army, which he argues is more employable and easier to shift onto new strategic problems as they emerge. It is not a one-sided briefing. The conversation asks whether the idea is actually new and raises a 2020 example involving 16th Brigade as a precedent. 'Interview with the Military Secretary and Head Programme CASTLE' pairs Major General Bill Wright, Military Secretary for the Army, with Brigadier James Cook, Head of Programme Castle. They cover how job specs are written, why an annual report can work almost like a yearly exam result, and an individual aptitude testing project built around online psychometrics. The closing advice is short: take ownership rather than leave a career to chance. James Heappey MP served in the British Army before politics, with deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland. As Minister for Armed Forces, his portfolio covers Ukraine and Russia, Europe and Africa. He talks through critical supply chains and which manufacturing may need to come back onshore or nearshore, and he names the shortfalls plainly, including tank transporters and medics. He also has a message for the most junior listener: the IR refresh shows that defence is being thought about urgently at the top of government. A Soldier, A Sailor and A Scientist runs as a separate strand inside the feed and turns to defence science. Vic Martin, Deputy Director of DSTL's Futures Programme, covers camouflage, offshore science labs and DSTL's igloo immersive environment. Martin's favourite example is research into gut bacteria. It began with anecdotal evidence that soldiers from Gurkha units were less likely to get traveller's diarrhoea than British soldiers living in the UK. Stuart Lyle, a Principal Analyst in DSTL's Land Analysis Group, discusses future urban combat and gets a pointed question: does an investment decision come down to a numerical score, or to military judgment on top? The space episode with Mike O'Callaghan covers space debris, a defence ISR constellation, the mix of sensors it might need, and how commercial providers optimise their sensors to sell their own products. Both strands use the working vocabulary of the trade, such as SO1, ISR and the IR refresh. For careers, start with the Castle interview. For policy, try the Heappey one. For science, any of the DSTL conversations.
Made for: Suits a listener who follows UK defence and wants the reasoning behind Army concepts, career management and ministerial priorities straight from the people responsible. It also suits someone curious about what people at DSTL actually work on.
What sets it apart: Instead of commentators, it questions people who hold the posts under discussion, from the Military Secretary to the Minister for Armed Forces. It pairs those interviews with a separate strand of conversations with guests from DSTL.
We attempt to cover issues facing the military and wider defence community with a focus on UK defence. Relevant to all and in spoken English. This podcast series covers all of our podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
An Army aptitude test meets its hardest examiner: what would you actually do with the result?
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A clear account of why the Army is shaping its operating concept around readiness, speed and credible follow-on force.
The British Army's future operating concept is presented as a way to restore direction to force development after the Army went without an endorsed concept since 2012.
Army leaders weigh psychometrics carefully while making the case for deliberate career ownership.
Army career management is treated here as a living system rather than a tidy policy exercise. Major General Bill Wright and Brigadier James Cook move from APC's shift away from paper records into digitised products and digitalised processes, then into job specifications,…
A ministerial view of defence policy, linking the Integrated Review Refresh to the kit and systems needed to sustain forces.
Defence policy feels concrete here as the Minister for Armed Forces moves from the Integrated Review Refresh to the machinery needed to turn policy into capability.
A clear look at why defence may still need its own orbital choices alongside commercial and allied data.
Space is treated here as a defence responsibility shaped by strategy, budgets, and technical choices, not as distant science fiction. Mike O'Callaghan, who oversees DSTL's space programme, explains how work on a defence ISR constellation is testing what data and sensor mix might…
A grounded defence-foresight conversation that turns gut bacteria into a serious operational question.
Public-sector foresight is at its most revealing when a strategic question starts with an upset stomach. Wavell Room's conversation with Vic Martin, from DSTL's Futures Programme, follows work to spot emerging science and technology, weigh its opportunities and threats for…
Defense buying, explained from the inside.
Defense management, explained from the inside.
Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Muir says the British Army's future operating concept exists because the Army has had no endorsed concept since 2012.
Major General Bill Wright says the Army is a business on the Wavel Room podcast, using that frame to argue that operational output can override personal preference.
["James Heapy says the MOD is deliberately running 'four or five weeks of slight chaos' before the command paper is written.", "He says 25 years without a 'big fight' pushed Defence into just-in-time logistics, separate warehouses, and heavy risk aversion.", "He points to a Wavell Room example of a 740-page JSP on pay and allowances, versus the 300-page Singapore tax code, as proof the system has become overgrown.", "He wants 'vanilla' platforms with open architecture and rapid spirals, while the Integrated Review refresh sharpens attention on China, Ukraine, semiconductors, and supply chains."]
["Mike O'Callaghan says DSTL's space work has moved from a niche effort to core defence planning around GPS, satellite communications, ISR, and debris.", "Pete pushes him on geostationary debris at 36,000 kilometres, 10-centimetre fragments, and a University of Warwick/JAXA project that reuses astronomy telescopes.", "O'Callaghan then lays out ISTARI, a defence ISR programme running to 2031 with demonstrator satellites and mixed commercial, allied, and UK-controlled data.", "He keeps returning to one constraint: space has to deliver timely, taskable, and shareable information, not a promise of constant 24/7 coverage."]
Wavell Room Podcast's "A Soldier, a Sailor and a Scientist" talks with Vic Martin, Deputy Programme Manager on DSTL's Futures Programme, about work that ranges from traveller's diarrhoea to teleexistence.
The Wavell Room Podcast interviews Stuart Lyle, a Principal Analyst in DSTL’s Land Analysis Group, about how the British Army should prepare for urban combat beyond five years.
Stephen Mears of DSTL explains why 80% of his AI work concerns data and defines AI as a system that learns to complete a task.
Martin Jones, a sport and exercise psychologist who joined the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory four years ago, explains how human performance supports military personnel in difficult environments.
Peter Roberts interviews Natia Soskouria, a Tbilisi-based security analyst, about Georgia's experience of Russian aggression and its relevance to Ukraine.
Host Peter Roberts introduces a podcast series analyzing contemporary conflicts and their implications for the future of warfare.
This episode explores the language of change in defence, featuring an interview with Professor Peter Roberts on military innovation.
An informal chat with a military officer about commanding cavalry and infantry soldiers, comparing tactics and experiences.
A tactical-level military podcast discussing British Army practices with a company commander from the Parachute Regiment.
A tactical-level military podcast discussing British Army experiences and improvements, featuring a company commander from the Parachute Regiment.
Brigadier Sarah Sharkey discusses her role in UK defence digital, including cloud hosting and DevOps, and the challenges of her job title.
Interview with Dr.
Admiral Tony Radikin discusses the Naval Transformation Programme and the future of the Royal Navy.