S2. E13: Prototyping Warfare: The Art of Buying, Training and Fighting Faster

Warfighter Podcast

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• The impact of clinging to comfortable but outdated assumptions on military effectiveness.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-cwmyc2I2Iyc8MLYtg
• Twitter: twitter.com/WarfighterPod

Episode Sponsor: Babcock International

Babcock 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.