Royal United Services Institute

'UKDI must identify technological solutions that empower not just the few, but the UK Armed Forces as a whole.' write Dr Pia Hüsch and Dr Linus Terhorst in the latest RUSI Commentary.

New RUSI report, ‘The Role of Dissimilar Rearmament in Allied Deterrence’ edited by Dr Sidharth Kaushal and Paul O’Neill CBE is out now! The paper explores how NATO’s European members can affordably achieve scale in their armed forces in peacetime. The paper argues for "dissimilar rearmament" as a crucial strategy for NATO's European members to achieve scale and resilience in their armed forces, particularly in the face of challenges posed by adversaries with significant combat mass, such as Russia. Relying solely on expensive "first-tier" capabilities is unsustainable for protracted, high-intensity conflicts due to financial and industrial limitations, as well as the vulnerability of such systems to adversary adaptation. Instead, our paper proposes a "middle tier" of "smart, cheap, and many" functional equivalents and substitutes that can be mass-produced, leverage commercial technologies, and be absorbed by adapted defence enterprises. This approach aims to fill critical capability gaps until a full wartime economy can be established, and to impose significant costs and dilemmas on adversaries.

Drone warfare has revolutionised the battlefield – it is urgent that regulatory barriers to training are modernised, writes Sir Julian Brazier in the latest RUSI Commentary.

'As Russia makes incremental territorial gains in Ukraine . . . it must invest and stimulate the local economy, if it is to be anything other than a drain on resources' writes Emily Ferris in the latest RUSI Commentary.

🎙The latest episode of our Talking Strategy podcast explores strategy in the commercial world! KornFerry’s Khoi Tu discusses similarities and differences between defence and industry approaches. Tune in now: https://bit.ly/4nXcMi4

🚨 Our report, 'Raw Materials for Potential Chemical Warfare Agents: Technical Assessment 1' by the Project Anthracite Team details the chemical processes needed to create essential precursor chemicals for chemical weapons. It examines the entire production chain, from initial raw materials like coal, to determine how North Korea could potentially obtain these chemicals. Head over to our website to learn more!

In the latest RUSI Newsbrief, Soňa Muzikárová argues that for EU to strengthen both its military power and its economic standing globally, it should aim to become a leading force in quantum technologies.

The Strategic Defence Review places cyber and electronic warfare centre-stage but it remains unclear how ambitions on the digital battlefield will be resourced, writes Robert Tollast.

Russia could go beyond acts of sabotage in Europe this decade to secretly deploy solar geoengineering technologies, stoking disorder by destabilising the region's climate, warns Matt Ince.

'The most desirable scenario for a global war for Russia would be a war between the United States and China, which would not only weaken these two countries, but also allow Russia to more confidently focus on the European theatre' writes Oleksandr V Danylyuk.