How can NATO and its allies close capability gaps when technology iterates in weeks rather than decades?

In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, Peter Apps is joined by John Ridge, Chief Adoption Officer of the NATO Innovation Fund. A former British Army Royal Engineers officer who served as Chief of Joint Force Operations before leaving in 2020, Ridge now works to get private-sector technologies into the hands of end users across the Alliance.

We explore the shift from traditional requirement-based procurement to problem-led adaptation, the lessons of Ukraine for iteration and operator-technologist proximity, the economics of the cost curve, and the challenges of deterrence.

Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

How did the industrialisation of blood supply transform the battlefield of the Second World War, and what can it teach us about modern conflict?

In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, Peter Apps is joined by Dr Roderick Bailey, a historian at the University of Oxford and former British Army reservist most recently tasked by the MOD to investigate mass casualty treatment – and specifically blood supplies – during the Second World War to learn its modern lessons.

Roderick's latest book, The Lifesavers, uncovers the monumental, almost industrial effort by the Royal Army Medical Corps to deliver refrigerated blood directly to the front lines. From the muddy trenches of the Somme to the deserts of North Africa, this conversation explores how civilian doctors in uniform revolutionised military medicine and saved countless lives.

Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

What does it really take to deter a modern adversary at sea when the old rules of the Cold War no longer seem to apply?

In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, Pete Apps is joined by Professor Jim Bergeron, a former US Navy nuclear submariner and long-time political advisor to NATO's Maritime Forces. They explore the shifting realities of naval warfare, from the high-stakes cat-and-mouse games of the 1980s to the modern, AI-driven surveillance of the Baltic and the High North - a great listen that explores what is really going on behind the headlines.

Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.