28 June 2024
Air, space and defence professionals attended the Freeman Air and Space Institute’s 2024 summer event, ‘Defence Question Time’, at King’s College London.
Air, space and defence professionals attended the Freeman Air and Space Institute’s 2024 summer event, ‘Defence Question Time’, at King’s College London.
Chaired by former Defence Correspondent and BBC broadcaster Caroline Wyatt, the panel included the President of the Air and Space Power Association, Air Marshal (Ret'd) Greg Bagwell, Managing Director of MDA Space UK, Hon. Gp Capt. Anita Bernie and Director of UK in a Changing Europe, Professor Anand Menon.
Panellists were questioned on the current issues facing the UK defence and security sector, including the falling levels of military recruitment and the Conservatives Party’s pledge to introduce mandatory national service for 18-year-olds.
When asked how the next government could encourage young people to join the military, the panel concluded that it comes down to better communication and fair compensation.
I think that there is something in the communication that we need to do, not just with our young people, but with all of our citizens, about the importance of the defence enterprise and what it is that we're doing and how important it is.
Hon. Gp. Capt. Anita Bernie
Air Marshal (Ret'd) Greg Bagwell agreed that there is a need to improve communication and encourage more young people to enter the sector, but he noted that this can’t be solely based on instilling “a sense of duty”.
It's going to take the realism of the threats you face for you to genuinely feel like, okay, this is serious, and then… the offer has got to be worth having. You're not going to do it for nothing. You need to get a fair recompense and you need to be looked after.
Air Marshal (Ret'd) Greg Bagwell
Professor Menon added that recruiting young people via “an appeal to duty” would be a struggle, “it’s going to have to be via interests and that might be via pay and conditions. It might be subsidising university education for people who go into the armed forces like they do in the United States.”
Air Marshal (Ret'd) Greg Bagwell highlighted that recruitment for the armed forces is not about “sheer mass”, but ensuring the UK retains a “professional force”. When asked about investing more in people than capital, the panellists agreed on the need for skills development programs as people are the military’s most important asset.
I think one of the challenges of that capital equation is that ultimately people, MPs, procurement folk, they want to see something tangible… Talent, it's essential, but you can't put your hands on it and it's really tricky for people to kind of value it or evaluate it in the same way. So, we've got to find a better way of assigning value to our talent.
Hon. Gp Capt. Anita Bernie
Aryamehr Fattahi, MSc Security Studies student at UCL, asked whether there needs to be a “reform” in education to ensure that young people entering the defence and security sector have the right practical skills as well as academic background. Professor Anand Menon noted that this issue “is far broader than just military and defence”:
More than 50% of young people don't go to university. And we are utterly rubbish both at valuing and at funding tertiary non-university education and its tertiary non-university education that will provide practical skills that this country's in desperate need of.
Professor Anand Menon
Coming from the space industry, Anita Bernie added that “it's not just for astronauts and people who've got a PhD in astrodynamics, it's for everybody. And we need people that have had experience not just on the academic side, but in how to apply that. As you get hands-on, you learn how to innovate more quickly.”
Defence Question Time came to a close with a question on what the priority for investment for the new government should be. For Air Marshal (Ret'd) Greg Bagwell, “It's more about thickening what we've got, than growing in size. Thickening our resilience, thinking about our infrastructure, our spares, our people. Those are fundamental building blocks that we've got to get right first.”
You can watch 'Defence Question Time' in full here:
The Freeman Air and Space Institute (FASI) sits within the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, providing independent and original research and analysis of air and space power issues.
To keep informed about the latest research, opportunities and events from FASI, subscribe to their mailing list or contact the team at FASI@kcl.ac.uk.
Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs
This will be an engaging and informative evening dedicated to understanding the current issues facing the defence and security...
