You can't defend a country abroad if it's just about holding it together at home. Security is energy. It's industry. It's whether a kid in Aberdeen still believes hard work gets them somewhere. That's the foundation to build everything else on. telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/06…

I’ve now read it. And we will never agree. Your view is that air power is but a support to Land and Naval forces. How they inch towards Berlin on a 2D canvas was all that mattered I’d argue that winning the air war and generating air dominance allows the others domains to operate much more effectively and with reduced losses. Look at overall wartime casualties. As Phillips’s O’Brien put it. Land battles won don’t decide who is wining the war, who is wining the war decides which land battles will be won.

.@Dom_Hallas is right. These aren't normal times. The £1.1bn AI Hardware Plan is a serious first step. It backs the layer underneath the models with the national infrastructure to deliver it, and engineers to run it. Own that layer and you're much harder to cut off, which is what long-term resilience looks like. But a plan like that takes years to pay off, and we are exposed now. So we need to go hard at the ground we hold. Fix planning rules. Get energy costs down. Up-skill our people and get the infrastructure built in places that benefit most. This is ours to deliver and every month we wait is a month we don’t get back. And I hope this will be part of the conversation with @bbclaurak tomorrow...

We need to get out of this mindset that wars are won by soldiers alone. They're won by supply chains, factories and the country behind them. That's the conversation we need to have.

Why Programmes like GCAP and AUKUS Should Be Treated as National Endeavours, Not Solely MoD Programmes Views my own, comments and corrections welcome Short Saturday Morning Essay (hopefully one per week) 1/5 The Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) and AUKUS represent some of the most strategically important and technically ambitious defence projects the UK has undertaken in decades. To deliver them successfully, on time and within reasonable cost, they must be elevated from departmental initiatives to genuine national endeavours. This means removing them from exclusive Ministry of Defence (MoD) control, while retaining the MoD as the Senior User responsible for defining military requirements and operational needs. The rest of the programme — industrial strategy, innovation exploitation, international partnerships, skills development and economic returns — should be directed at the national level, with cross-government leadership and deep integration with the civil sector.

I seem to be on the “national endeavour” mission this morning We require a sustained national endeavour in the field of autonomous systems – often referred to as “drones” – that extends well beyond the defence sector. Like the AUKUS partnership and the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), this initiative should adopt a whole-of-nation approach. It would foster a vibrant ecosystem of companies, ranging from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to prime contractors, all collaborating to innovate, design, build, and deliver autonomous solutions. These technologies would benefit a wide range of industries, rather than remaining confined to the narrow domain of defence.(see Swindon on Friday). The defence sector itself is frequently hampered by the dominance of a small number of large prime contractors, vested interests, and overly elaborate requirements. These specifications are often unaffordable and tend to emerge only after conflicts have concluded, limiting their practical value. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) faces significant structural challenges. While efforts to address these issues are underway (and no one is holding their breath), meaningful reform will not occur overnight and may be influenced by institutional self-interest. In the meantime, it is essential to open these technological challenges to broader participation. We should avoid confining them exclusively within the MoD and the traditional defence industrial complex, which has incentives to maintain opacity in order to protect revenue streams and shareholder value. By pursuing a more inclusive and ambitious national strategy, the United Kingdom can accelerate innovation in autonomous systems, strengthen its industrial base, and deliver benefits across both defence and civilian sectors. Isn’t that what government is supposed to do @AlistairCarns

Noel Mooney will be explaining he understands people are questioning the breaks but the FAW's hands are tied, it's a FIFA directive, our water carriers wouldn't be eligible for European duties without it.

Meanwhile, the groups representing defence industry are also done with smiling and pretending there is something nice at the end of the interminable waiting. linkedin.com/posts/joint-sta…

Civil servants are usually cheaper than their military equivalent. What we need to look at is how to cut the costs of the back office functions. The bureaucracy of the MoD is the problem we need to get after.

A proud day for all the @RoyalNavy personnel whose outstanding achievements and contributions have been recognised in the King's Birthday Honours List. I would like to offer my warmest congratulations to each and every one of you. royalnavy.mod.uk/news/2026/j…

My point was more about institutional inertia than the core idea - we all agree on that… But if an incoming SofS has done deep policy development over years, made very specific commitments in the manifesto, and then comes in on a landslide, surely that must change things, right?

Don’t disagree with a word here. But similar words have rattled around the MOD for over a decade. We are still buying Ajax and Leonardo Hels. So how to ensure that we finally build that rapidly evolving drone ecosystem, and don’t spend 10 years buying ‘WATCHKEEPER Mk2’?

The interesting aspect to this common-place, now obvious assertion is its tipping-point. Many Cassandras have been ringing this alarm for years (one worried JEF Defence Attaché shared his analysis with me 5 years ago). But systemically we agreed to keep looking with Nelson’s eye.

This week the most advanced AI model on the planet got switched off by a foreign government. British researchers were studying it. British companies were testing it. British hospitals were piloting it. Not any more. This isn't an AI story. It's the story of every industry we used to lead. Britain has some of the best AI talent in the world. DeepMind was built here. Our AI Safety Institute writes the rules other countries follow. We have the researchers, the universities, the standards. What we don't have is the power stations to run the data centres, the planning system to build them, or the industrial base to make the chips. So the work happens here and the value lands somewhere else. We invent. Others build. Others decide. Then we read about it on Saturday morning. Same story as the kit our soldiers don't have. Same story as the factories we used to. I spent nine months in government making this argument inside the room. I'll make it louder from outside.

A British drone industry would not be a cost. It would be a renaissance. British kit, designed here, built here, used by our forces and sold to our allies. War has already changed. Britain needs to as well. dailymail.com/debate/article…

Good morning world! Looks like Maverick has been eating too many hamburgers

The ‘Balanced Force’ was taken apart here, in 2022 (👇). Healey bought into the idea of a joint MSHQ to direct the creation of an ‘Integrated Force’. It made Labour’s manifesto. Landslide=mandate. Yet the institutional inertia of ‘UK Defence’ resists it. policyexchange.org.uk/wp-con…

EXCLUSIVE: Leading industry groups including defence body ADS, TheCityUK and MakeUK, will release a joint statement tomorrow accusing the government of "crippling" confidence in the defence sector by delaying and curtailing, the Defence Investment Plan. news.sky.com/story/mark-klei…

Another great resigning - good to see so many of the squad commiting to the club. Going to be a special season.

George Nott signs up for more in Blue & Black! #YmlaenCaerdydd | 🔵⚫ | 18 Gamble Aware