The Modernising Defence Programme Review In Focus

  In December 2018, the Secretary of State for Defence, Gavin Williamson, released the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) long-awaited Modernising Defence Programme (MDP) review. In just 28 pages, the document examines the evolving nature of the threats facing the UK since the publication of the 2015 SDSR and addresses budgetary problems in the MoD's equipment programmes.  While encouraging, the report appears to reinforce the government’s shifting strategic focus towards countering state-based threats, particularly Russia, despite the fact that remote warfare is likely to dominate British military engagement in the foreseeable future. Given that the MDP process was put in place as a means to resolve spending problems, this is a problematic oversight. Presented by Abigail Watson, the Remote Warfare Programme's (RWP) Senior Research Officer, the RWP team critically discuss the MDP.