BRITISH ARMY
“ Conflict is frightening , it is visceral , and it is bloody – and nothing that technology brings to bear will ultimately take that away ”
CHRIS TICKELL LT GEN , BRITISH ARMY
10 years may look very different from even a decade ago , but some fundamentals remain .
If you look at conflict through two prisms , one is the character of conflict and one is the nature of conflict . The nature of conflict is constant , whether you are a soldier in the 21st century or the 18th .
“ Conflict is frightening , it is visceral , and it is bloody – and nothing that technology brings to bear will ultimately take that away ,” says Lt Gen Tickell . “ But what is changing is the character of conflict . In the land environment specifically , it
is no longer an issue about tank versus tank . It is absolutely about bringing capabilities to bear at a single point in time and need whereby the soldier will be able and will be required to integrate those different effects at the same time . And when I say those different effects , I ' m talking about electronic warfare , I ' m talking about offensive cyber , I ' m talking about longrange fires . And of course , I ' m then also talking about close combat .”
One popular conception of the changing face of conflict , and threat , is the increasing impact of cyber attacks – and these are usually not openly linked to state actors , but to shadowy groups and individuals that are harder to track , trace , and ultimately beat . We often hear of state or non-state actors , but in reality is the situation actually that clear cut ? The lines are usually blurred , certainly if we are to take media reports into consideration . The recent ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline in the US was the latest by a group called DarkSide , believed to be from Eastern Europe , according to the FBI . Whether that gang had any state backing or political agenda is impossible to know .
The SolarWinds attack which also caused data breaches at several branches of the US federal government , including the Department of Homeland Security , has since been blamed by the FBI and the NSA as being perpetrated by Russia .
There are no easy , or clear answers , so how does the British Army prepare for such attacks ?
“ When one looks at the threats that we face , there is a temptation to put them in boxes whereby they describe state actors as
58 December 2021