Committee launches new inquiry with oral evidence session hearing from academic experts
The House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee will be holding its first oral evidence session on its new inquiry, “Defence concepts and capabilities: from aspiration to reality”, with two leading experts in the field of warfare and security.
The Committee will ask questions on the current and future defence capabilities of the UK, from “sub-threshold” to nuclear, particularly in light of the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the challenges it poses. The Committee will set these questions in the context of the Defence Command Paper published by the Ministry of Defence last year.
Meeting details
Possible questions:
What do you consider to be the main messages of the Defence Command Paper, and were any of these unexpected? To what extent does the Defence Command Paper respond to the goals set by the Integrated Review?
The Defence Command Paper sets out a reduction in the overall number of military personnel, including a commitment to reduce the size of the regular Army to 72,500 by 2025. Is this an adequate size for the challenges the UK faces?
How well placed is the UK to develop and deploy ‘sub-threshold’ capabilities, and what should be their weighting vis-à-vis conventional and/or nuclear capabilities?
Has the Russian invasion of Ukraine changed the assessment of the risk of conventional threats versus ‘subthreshold’/‘grey-zone’ threats? In this light, are the priorities set out in the Defence Command Paper still sensible?
How well placed is the Ministry of Defence as an organisation to deliver on the ambitions of the Defence Command Paper? In what areas, if any, might cultural, institutional, or procedural change be necessary?