Thread by @shashj

General Nick Carter talking at @IISS_org says under IR/command paper, defence attaché posts "no longer a backwater". Ouch to all existing defence attachés?

Carter says UK will conduct series of exercises, "Agile Stance", which will test readiness, ability to "outload", ability to disperse, and to protect and look after critical national infrastructure. (More details: theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2020…)

Carter: "we're learning a bit about future battlefields from what's playing out in recent months...competition between hiding and finding", recently in Nagorno-Karabakh. "Showing us that mass, potentially, can be a weakness–as potentially are single points of failure"

Carter on "sunrise" capabilities: "smaller & faster. Reduced physical protection for increased mobility. observe-able and stealth tech. Depending increasingly on EW & passive deception. Mix of crewed, unscrewed and autonomous platforms: "getting that mix right can give you mass"

Carter talks of "sense that we're backing a single horse" from reactions to command paper. "That's our failure in terms of the narrative". Don't lose sight of the analogue; we also don't know precisely what the future looks like, so need systematic campaign of experimentation.

Carter: "in the future data scientists will be found at every level in our armed forces ... they will be our new Afghan interpreters, which gives you the turn-key capacity to maximise that adaptability and innovation". (Not sure that's the analogy I'd have gone for ...)

Carter says Reserves Forces 2030 policy will provide UK armed forces with operational reserve at 180 days' readiness, but "will also be home for expertise and skills that we can't necessarily afford to have in full-time service"

Carter, asked about UK and the Quad: "We'd need to be invited to the Quad, and have not yet been invited". But says UK leaning into Five Power Defence Arrangement, and bilaterally with others. Says UK wants "close maritime relationship" with India focused on western Indian Ocean.

Carter says the technology he's most hopeful about, and the one keeping him up–"in the wrong hands"–is quantum computing. 🤔