Shows / BFBS Sitrep
Episodes
BFBS SitrepEXTRA – Minister explains new shake-up for buying military hardware
British servicemen and women rely on having the right kit to do their jobs, and protect their lives at the front line, but MPs says the process of buying that…
- BFBS Sitrep
Russia’s new push in Ukraine
Troops and hardware which Russia’s been holding in reserve have been moved to the 600-mile-long front line, and handful of local armoured offensives point to…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA – A view from Ukraine’s front line
Sitrep hears from Kupiansk, celebrated as a significant victory when it was liberated a year and a half ago, but in Russian sights once again as Moscow tries a…
BFBS SitrepThe new Wider Service Medal – good or bad idea?
From submariners at sea for months at a time, to soldiers living and working on Russia’s doorstep, the new Wider Service Medal is intended to recognise…
- BFBS Sitrep
Inside the Navy’s ‘999 centre’ for the Red Sea
Emergency calls from any vessel under attack in the Red Sea are handled thousands of miles away, in Portsmouth, by a Royal Navy supported control centre…
- BFBS Sitrep
Wargaming to win
Wargaming is about as old as war itself, but in a time many describe as “pre-war” how can it help us be ready for the worst, if it happens? Sitrep talks to the…
- BFBS Sitrep
Germany’s embarrassing leak – could it happen to us too?
Russia has published the recording of a meeting between senior German air-force officers, revealing military and political secrets about British, French and…
- BFBS Sitrep
Extra – The world’s only female Chief of Defence Staff
Every single country in the world allows women to serve in at least some military roles, but only one has a woman at the very top of its Armed Forces…
- BFBS Sitrep
Wargames under the waves
Six NATO submarines, accompanied by ships and aircraft, are playing a giant military game of hide and seek in the Mediterranean. NATO’s Commander Submarines…
- BFBS Sitrep
Getting UK arms to Ukraine
Britain has spent seven billion pounds over the last two years, equipping Ukraine’s armed forces to help keep them in the fight against Russia. On the second…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA – Can we rely on the Trident nuclear deterrent?
For the second time in a row a Royal Navy test firing of an unarmed Trident missile has ended in failure. The government says it was an “anomaly” and that it…
- BFBS Sitrep
Trump-proofing Europe – could it win a war without US help?
Donald Trump’s talk of telling President Putin to “do whatever the hell he wants” to NATO allies who “don’t pay” has been called unhinged, but he could be…
- BFBS Sitrep
Inside the secret world of Defence Intelligence
Sitrep gets unprecedented access to the heart of the UK’s military spying operation. Sian Grzeszczyk tells all, including the crashed Russian drones being…
- BFBS Sitrep
Could National Service fix the forces recruitment crisis?
Boris Johnson has called for the UK to bring back National Service. Sweden did just that seven years ago to solve its military recruitment crisis, and…
- BFBS Sitrep
What is Strategic Command?
Strategic command, like the three single services, is deemed important enough to our defence to merit its own Chief of Staff. General Sir James Hockenhull…
- BFBS Sitrep
The £25m minehunter mishap
Tens of thousands of people around the world have seen the moment one Royal Navy minehunter reversed into another in Bahrain, doing millions of pounds worth of…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA – Sir Iain Duncan Smith on China, conscription and his own time in the Army.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith has been a Conservative MP for more than 30 years, and led his party from 2001 to 2003. In parliament he’s a vocal contributor on…
- BFBS Sitrep
A new world order
The Defence Secretary warns of tough times ahead...we look at those warnings but also hear from another of Britain’s most senior military chiefs who has a more…
- BFBS Sitrep
New questions about the future of the Royal Marines.
The First Sea Lord has been asked for a plan to “take forward” the work of the Royal Marines, as ministers effectively confirm they’re again reconsidering the…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA - Life lessons from ‘The Perisher’ submarine command course.
Under the sea, in charge of a multi-million pound boat, and the safety of your crew, there is a lot that can go very wrong. Ryan Ramsay has lived it all, then…
- BFBS Sitrep
The Sitrep Crystal Ball 2024
Could more British troops be sent to Eastern Europe, or as peacekeepers in the Middle East? Will Donald Trump return to the White House, and would it guarantee…
- BFBS Sitrep
To beard or not to beard? The Army’s big question.
The Defence Secretary has called the Army’s ban on beards for most soldiers “ridiculous and outdated”, as the Chief of General Staff reviews the rules. Kate…
- BFBS Sitrep
The UK increases its Middle East military presence – what can it do?
HMS Diamond has been sent to the Red Sea after missile and drone attacks against British owned cargo vessels, and RAF spy-planes have been deployed to search…
- BFBS Sitrep
What does Ukraine need to win the war?
Sitrep’s Simon Newton has just returned from Ukraine - he reports for Sitrep from a drone testing centre where new models are trialled before being used in…
- BFBS Sitrep
Can Ukraine avoid being trapped in a frozen war?
As winter sweeps across Ukraine the ideal window for its counter-offensive is now closed, with seemingly minimal gains from five months of hard fighting. So…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA – The National Cyber Force explained
Cyber-warfare was is no longer simply science-fiction, it is now a military fact that hits hard. Military communications, power systems and nuclear processing…
- BFBS Sitrep
Up close with Ajax
The Army’s future is built around the new Ajax armoured fighting vehicle. After years of delays, faults, and even injuries to troops, ministers say the Ajax…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA – The laws of war explained
Every single country in the UN is signed up to the same laws of war, but Israel’s military campaign in Gaza is reminding us interpretations of those laws often…
- BFBS Sitrep
How Napoleon changed warfare forever
He’s been called a strategic and tactical genius – but he also abandoned tens of thousands of his soldiers to their deaths. Sitrep goes behind the Hollywood…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA – Japan’s big military ambitions
Japan is one of the world’s third biggest economic power, but until now its military power has come nowhere close to matching that. That’s changing though…
- BFBS Sitrep
Could Georgia be dragged into the Ukraine war?
Russia is planning a new naval base in territory it occupies on Georgia’s Black Sea coast, because of Ukraine’s strikes against Russian ships near Crimea…
- BFBS Sitrep
Mosul’s urban warfare lessons for Gaza
Israel’s mission to destroy Hamas has some parallels with the battle to liberate Mosul from the Islamic State terror group – tens of thousands of fighters…
- BFBS Sitrep
British forces moved for ‘dangerous moment’
British ships, planes, and personnel have been sent to Mediterranean, tasked with waiting and watching as war rages between Israel and Gaza. Professor Michael…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA – ‘Conflict – The evolution of warfare’
General David Petraeus commanded multinational forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, wrote America’s handbook on counter-insurgency, and went on to lead the CIA. Now…
- BFBS Sitrep
Explaining the war between Israel and Hamas
Israel declared war because of a Hamas terrorist atrocity, invading from Gaza, killing more than a thousand people, and seizing more than 150 hostages. But…
- BFBS Sitrep
The Army tests its ability to get to a war
Iron Titan is the Army’s largest land exercise in more than 20 years, involving 8000 troops across more than 40,000 square miles of South-West England and…
- BFBS Sitrep
Ukraine breaches Russian defences, but is it a breakthrough?
Ukraine has punched a new hole through Russia’s minefields, ditches, and ‘dragons teeth’ in Western Zaporizhzhia, but is it enough to start taking back big…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA - ‘Live Fight Survive’
When Shaun Pinner left the Royal Anglian Regiment, after 9 years as a soldier, he had no intention of ever returning to military life. Two decades later he was…
- BFBS Sitrep
How smartphones have become military supercomputers
The Army’s about to test software which, with the help of tiny drones, can give soldiers a 3D model of their battlefield on a phone or tablet in minutes. The…
- BFBS Sitrep
Lessons on warfare from Ukraine
This week Sitrep focuses on how the British military and defence industry are learning lessons from the war in Ukraine. Rear Admiral Andrew Betton, Director…
- BFBS Sitrep
Army Head on Future Soldier
In a special Sitrep podcast, the Head of the British Army says by the end of the decade the Army will be the most modern and the most lethal in Europe. Listen…
- BFBS Sitrep
North Korea – Holding the Line
Sitrep hears from the 3 star British General helping to enforce the uneasy armistice on the border between North and South Korea. The UK is a member of the…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA – Enforcing the Armistice
For 70 years there’s been an armistice – but no peace treaty- between North and South Korea. In this special addition, Sitrep hears in full from the 3 star…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA – The Gardener of Lashkar Gah
Shaista Gul was known to thousands of British servicemen and women over the years. He created a small oasis of peace at the UK’s headquarters in Southern…
- BFBS Sitrep
A new Defence Secretary – does it matter?
Supporting Ukraine, recruitment & retention, procurement problems and a budget to balance. The new Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has a lot to manage, but does…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA - ‘Thinking the unthinakble’ in the war for talent
Is it time for a radical rethink of who the Armed Forces allow to join, and at what rank, to fill critical skills gaps? For centuries most people have only…
- BFBS Sitrep
The Wagner group loses its leaders
Amid a swirl of questions and conspiracy theories about the apparent death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a plane crash in Russia, one fact is clear. The mercenary…
- BFBS Sitrep
After fighting the Taliban, should we now talk to them?
Two years since British troops left, and the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, millions of people are going hungry while women and girls have been stripped…
- BFBS Sitrep
Why isn’t Ukraine throwing everything into its counter-offensive?
Ukraine formed 12 brigades, each up to 5,000 soldiers strong, to take back territory from Russia. So far it’s only committed around a third of those forces…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA – Words as a weapon of war
The pen, they say, is mightier than the sword, but how? Words can be used as a weapon of war, and the right words used early enough might even save you from…
- BFBS Sitrep
Ukraine’s army of drones takes war to Moscow
Ukraine’s President Zelensky says it’s ‘inevitable’ that war is returning to Russia, and two drone strikes on a Moscow skyscraper look like an attempt to prove…
- BFBS Sitrep
The Russian mercenaries who want to ‘go west’
The President of Belarus says Wagner fighters, exiled to his country, are ‘getting on our nerves’ and want ‘an excursion’ into Poland. Sitrep examines whether…
- BFBS Sitrep
No reversal of Army cuts in defence ‘refresh’.
The UK’s ‘defence masterplan’ has been updated after just two years, because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Its conclusions are essentially to stick with the…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA – Zig-zag careers, can they help make UK forces stronger?
As the Armed Forces struggle to recruit and retain the people and skills they need, a major review is recommending a radical rethink of British military life…
- BFBS Sitrep
Preparing for the Ukraine endgame
The old military saying goes ‘winning the war is easier than winning the peace’. Sitrep explains what the NATO summit has and hasn’t done to prepare for the…
- BFBS Sitrep
How to get a tank through a minefield
Ukraine’s counter offensive is being held up, in part, by densely packed Russian minefields. Former tank commander Justin Crump explains how they avoid the…
- BFBS Sitrep
How can NATO best protect its Eastern flank?
Some Eastern European countries have called on NATO to strengthen its eastern borders following recent events in Russia. This week Germany said it plans to…
- BFBS Sitrep
Rethinking forces life for Generation Z
The armed forces need to do better at making their people feel valued to deliver military capability. So says a major review of ‘incentivisation’ for…
- BFBS Sitrep
EXTRA – An end to ‘one size fits all’ military careers?
As the Armed Forces struggle to recruit and retain the people and skills they need, a major review is recommending a radical rethink of British military life…
- BFBS Sitrep
Ukraine’s counter-offensive explained
The push to retake Ukrainian territory held by Russia has started modestly, but there is a bigger strategy behind it. Michael Clarke explains how this is…