Organised by the British Commission for Military History, and hosted by the RAF Museum, this conference will explore recent technological and geopolitical shifts to consider how innovations are shaping the battlefields of the future.
An exciting range of speakers, including a keynote address by the RAF Director of Defence Studies, will consider how innovations are changing the battlefield and influencing conflict across all-domains.
There will be opportunities to debate with the speakers on the points raised in their presentations. This conference will be held in-person at the RAF Museum’s Midlands Site in the Lecture Theatre.
The conference will examine how technological developments drive changes in strategic, tactical, information and logistic practices, as well as the adaptations required in force structure, operations, organisations and systems.
As well as looking forward to understanding current trends, the conference will consider how historical innovations changed the battlefield and the lessons available for practitioners today.
The Keynote address will examine military innovation through the lens of air power, and in particular , control of the air, arguing that success depends on balancing technological ambition with operational necessity. Using the Battle of Britain and the 1982 Falklands Conflict as case studies, it will demonstrate how effective innovation combines technology, people, doctrine, and organisational culture within an integrated system. The keynote identifies five enduring lessons. Applying these lessons to today’s strategic environment, it argues that the RAF must modernise for contested air operations, integrating crewed and autonomous systems to create a credible sixth-generation air force capable of securing future control of the air.
Attendance in-person is £25 and registration is required via Digitickets. The ticket covers coffee and lunch during the programmed breaks.
Location
This conference will be hosted in-person at the RAF Museum’s Midlands Site in the Lecture Theatre. Attendance in-person is £25 and registration is required via Digitickets.
Conference Schedule:
10.00-10.25 – Registration – Coffee and Tea
10.25-10.30– Welcome and Introduction to the day
10.30-12.00 – Session 1: Where we are today – Drones, Asymmetric and Cyber-warfare
Andro Mathewson – The Machine Gun of Our Age? First-Person View Drones and the Search for a Twenty-First-Century Breakthrough
Deniz Ergin – Operational Dependence and Strategic Autonomy: Turkish Drone Exports in Contemporary Warfare
Nathan Homer – A World we Cannot Trust – How cyber is inevitable in warfare
12.00-13.00 – Lunch
13.00-14.15 – Keynote Address
Group Captain John Shields, Director of Defence Studies (RAF) – Innovation in Control of the Air: Be More Charlie and Play the Trump Card?
14.15-16.05 – Session 2: Lessons from history, and emerging trends to watch
Christine Whittaker – Warsaw 1944: Control, Adaptation and the Urban Battlespace
Zack Liao – Imagining the Deep: China’s Construction of the Undersea Domain as a Future Battlespace
Linda Parker – “The Questions That Keep Us Human” – The role of military chaplains in War Fighting involving Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Weapon Systems
Aadil Huque – Algorithmic Accountability in Coalition Air Warfare: Targeting, Interoperability and Responsibility under International Humanitarian Law
16.05-16.15 – Closing Remarks