Lords Committee hears from leading warfare and security experts in first evidence session of new inquiry
Monday 4 April 2022
On Wednesday 6 April the House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee will hear from two leading experts in the field of warfare and security as it begins hearing evidence in its new inquiry; Defence concepts and capabilities: from aspiration to reality. The inquiry will explore the Government’s ambitions for defence set out in the March 2021 Defence Command Paper, and how these relate to the ambitions of the Integrated Review
The session will start at 10:30am and will be available to watch live or on demand at Parliament TV or attend in person in Committee Room 4A, Palace of Westminster.
Giving evidence will be;
10.30am
- Professor Michael Clarke, Professor at Kings College London, and Professor at University of Exeter and;
- Professor Malcolm Chalmers, Deputy Director-General, RUSI.
Questions may include:
- 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?
- 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?
- Does the assessment of what the UK can and should be able to do outlined in the Defence Command Paper match with the UK’s current and forthcoming military capabilities? Are these capabilities adequate for the current and likely future challenges the UK faces? (taking into consideration lessons learned from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine)?
