The Briefing Room - What's the current state of the UK's armed forces?

Download What's the current state of the UK's armed forces?

As contemporary hi-tech wars rage - Russia and Ukraine and the US-Israel war with Iran - The Briefing Room takes a hard look at the UK's armed forces. After telling his allies - including the UK - that he didn’t need them, President Trump called for them to help him open up the Strait of Hormuz, which has raised not just the question of should we, but could the UK do this? David Aaronovitch asks when it comes to big military operations what have we got? In this dangerous 21st century what do we need? Can we get it? And what about closer co-operation with other European countries?

Guests:
General Sir Richard Barrons, Senior Consulting fellow with the International Security Programme, Chatham House.
Dr Jack Watling, Senior Research Fellow, Royal United Services Institute
Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor, The Economist
Ruth Harris, Executive Director for National Security and Data Science, RAND Europe

Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Nathan Gower, Kirsteen Knight
Production Co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound Engineer: Neil Churchill and James Beard
Editor Richard Vadon

Published on Thursday, 19th March 2026.

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