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Chief of the Defence Staff Speech to the Royal United Services Institute

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin KCB ADC, Chief of the Defence Staff Speech to the Royal United Services Institute

7 December 2021

f being 'buzzword central'. The real buzzwords for all of us as Chiefs are 'win' or 'lose'. We will win because of our ethos, spirit, the real mass that comes from alliances, and the fighting edge that digitization, AI, cyber, automation all provide. There is not a technology debate. This is about:

• Just Do It;
• And do it in 5 months and not 5 years;
• And to do it quickly might mean more focus on time and less on money.
• And absolutely focus on Outcomes....

That leads me to a potential third priority which is clunky, but fundamental. It is about having formations, units, platforms, systems and people that are both more deployable and deployed more, whether at home or abroad. This follows from our conclusions about constant strategic competition. We need to be more active and engaged to achieve the deterrence, stability and prosperity at the heart of our national strategy.

This is a very significant change from the Armed Forces I joined where we talked of defence almost as if it were an insurance policy, and our focus was predominantly on 'contingent forces'. But the simple demarcation of peace and war is less prevalent today. Our forces need to be out in the world supporting British interests, deterring and shaping on a continuous basis. This is what our politicians demand, and it gets after the frustrations felt by our people when they find themselves stuck in barracks or delayed by training or equipment when they should be deployed as ambassadors for Global Britain - shaping, training and influencing. 'Winning the war before the war...' as my French opposite number calls it.

There are risks with a shift from 'contingent' to 'active and engaged'. But it makes us potentially a much stronger contributor to the National Security Architecture, to be harnessed all the time rather than 'just' called for in a crisis. And there are opportunities too, through joint projects and defence sales as well as supporting communities at home.

The fourth potential priority is the need to be far more lethal. We have to up the punch we bring across all domains. Increasingly, the need is for 'high impact and low footprint' operations. That is not to be interpreted as everything will become 'SF-tastic'. But it is to recognise that our aim must be to provide the right military tool, in the right place at the right time for just as long as it takes to complete a task.

To be more lethal, we must innovate. The answer cannot be 'more people' and 'more cash'. It means upskilling and shifting from the areas where we will need less to those where we need more. We must be willing to dispose of older equipment even earlier or adjust our existing programmes to generate the cash to take advantage of rapidly emerging and radically transforming technology. We have to overcome our risk aversion that dominates when we are in the business space and infuse some of the confidence in risk taking we always have when we are on operations. Not easy.

General Nick Carter was eloquent about the need to sunset some capabilities in order to focus on better sunrises. Let me also pay tribute to him for his work to drive a more integrated Defence that embraces cyber and space, and within NATO for an updated strategy to meet emerging risks.

As Chiefs, we all need to recognise that our risk in letting the nation down involves continuing as we are. This is not about change for change's sake. It is an imperative: to be even better; and to contribute even more in the pursuit of British interests, whether levelling up, trade, prosperity, health security, climate stability, the advancement of science, as well as defence and security.

This leads me to my fifth and final point, and probably the most important, which is why I touched on it earlier: people and culture.

We have world-leading Armed Forces, full of high-quality women and men, regulars and reservists, backed by their ever-supportive families and our civil servants, and with a precious and privileged position in the heart of the nation. We need to retain that special place.

We are making progress to better reflect society, particularly in terms of more ambitious targets, more diverse recruitment, more women in senior roles, talent programmes, uniform changes, complaints reform and so on. But we will do more, do it more quickly and more openly.

And my most passionate point about our culture is about unlocking the potential of these talented and skilled people, who are so committed they're prepared to risk injury or worse for their nation. All of them play at international level for their country. And our bureaucracies, processes, hierarchies, infrastructure, speed of response and leadership need to match their commitment across the board. We need to unlock the potential energy of the whole Department and fully exploit it in every aspect of what we do.

Conclusion

I want to conclude by reflecting what a pivotal time this is for Defence.

We are returning to a more classical model of persistent inter-state competition.

We have the clarity, ambition and increased resources of government, despite a pandemic.

And we have the obligation to fulfil that ambition in the pursuit of British national interests, with allies and partners who also share those values and aspirations.

And we have the opportunity to unlock the potential of UK Armed Forces; to be more deployable and more effective; to modernise; to be more lethal; and to be more diverse. And to become Global Forces for Global Britain.

Thank you.