Latest news with #BlytheCrawford
Daily Mail
10-08-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
'Gag' on top brass after RAF chief claims UK could not fend off Russian onslaught in the event of war
Labour has been accused of 'gagging' military chiefs after being embarrassed by an RAF officer's claims that Russia could overwhelm Britain's defences. Earlier this summer there were complaints of 'unprecedented' interference by Downing Street to ensure that key announcements on defence were made by politicians, not military figures. The move prompted accusations of 'micro-management' by the Labour Government when senior officers were also restricted at one key conference to only speaking 'off the record'. But now sources have told The Mail on Sunday that No 10's move came after senior RAF officer Blythe Crawford lifted the lid on the weakness of UK air defences. Speaking at a Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) conference in April, Air Commodore Crawford revealed the results of a special war-game simulation based on the first day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It showed the UK could not successfully fend off a similar Russian attack made up of jets, drones and missiles. Air Comm Crawford also warned that the UK, despite being on the western edge of Europe, can no longer make 'assumptions that we are safe', adding: 'We need to assume that we're under threat.' A few weeks later, ahead of a major land warfare conference it was hosting, RUSI alerted the military chiefs attending to a 'late change in reporting rules' which meant most speeches and panel appearances by officers 'will not be for reporting'. Now there are claims that officers attending next month's Defence, Security and Equipment International show in London have received a directive reminding them that they could not speak to the media without Downing Street's permission. Tory Armed Forces spokesman Mark Francois branded the Ministry of Defence 'a real mess' under Labour, adding: 'The MoD is not a happy ship at present.' But last night a Government source insisted there is no 'gag' on public speaking, saying: 'The process has always been on a case-by-case basis.' They added that this arrangement had been 'in place under governments of all political colours'.
Daily Mail
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
UK air defences 'overwhelmed by Russian missiles' in grim war game run after Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine
The UK's air defences were breached by Russian missiles in a grim war game, it was revealed today. A simulation run in the wake of Vladimir Putin 's full-scale invasion of Ukraine showed Britain could not prevent all strikes getting through. The scenario from 2022 was revealed by Air Commodore Blythe Crawford, head of the RAF Air and Space Warfare Centre until last week. In a talk at the Royal United Services Institute, he said before the exercise there had been an assumption that the UK homeland was safe. 'We have stood for years at the western edge of Europe feeling as though the rest of the continent stood between us and the enemy,' he said, according to The Times. 'We in the UK over the last few decades have become focused on being garrison safe and making assumptions that we are safe to operate from the home base because most of the wars we've been fighting have been overseas. The scenario from 2022 was revealed by Air Commodore Blythe Crawford, head of the RAF Air and Space Warfare Centre until last week (pictured in 2020) 'We need to reverse that thinking and assume that, from here on, we're under threat in the home base now as well.' The simulation - part of the RAF's £36million Gladiator programme - looked at how 'day one' of the conflict would unfold. The UK faced 'hundreds of different types of munitions' attacking from various directions. Air Commodore Crawford said the outcome was 'not a pretty picture', with some missiles making it through. He stressed that significant work had been done since then to bolster the defences. 'We [loaded] night one of Ukraine into that synthetic environment and played it out against the UK and, as you can imagine, it was not a pretty picture,' he said. 'It reinforced the fact that we really need to get after this.' It is thought the military has toughened some aircraft shelters and practised landing Typhoon aircraft on ice in Finland. An agreement signed with Germany in October included provisions to work on air and missile defence. There is a 'layered' approach from the RAF, Navy and Army working with Nato allies. An MOD spokesman said: 'The UK stands fully prepared to defend itself against any threat alongside our NATO allies. 'Our military is equipped with a range of advanced capabilities to provide a layered approach to air and missile defence. 'This includes the world-class Sea Viper missile system which has successfully shot down a Houthi rebel ballistic missile and attack drones in the Red Sea.'
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The UK simulated an attack on its own air defenses based on the first night of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It wasn't pretty.
The UK ran a simulation of its air defenses as if Russia's invasion of Ukraine had been an attack on the UK. Air Commodore Blythe Crawford said the result "was not a pretty picture." He also said the concept of air superiority has significantly changed over the last three years. The UK ran a simulation of a Russian attack to see the strain on its air defenses if the invasion of Ukraine had been aimed at the UK instead, a senior air force official said. The result "was not a pretty picture," Air Commodore Blythe Crawford said at a Royal United Services Institute conference in London on Thursday. Using Gladiator, a £24-million ($32 million) simulation system, the UK's Air Battlespace Training Centre loaded up "Night 1 of Ukraine" — February 24, 2022 — and watched it play out against the UK, according to Crawford, the center's former commandant. He did not detail the exact outcomes of the simulation, which took place in 2022, but it's understood that the UK's air defenses were breached. The simulation was a stark lesson, Crawford said. "We've stood for years at the western edge of Europe feeling as though the rest of the continent has stood between us and the enemy," he told those in attendance. But "Ukraine has made us all sit up and that drove some of the work we were doing in the warfare center to get after how we would solve a problem like that if a similar scenario was pitted against the UK." Russia pummeled Ukraine with missiles during the opening salvo of its full-scale invasion. The UK has improved its air defenses since 2022 and uses an approach that integrates aircraft, ships, and land-based systems — a network critical to defeating any attempt to land invasion forces in the UK. There are also notable differences between how Russia attacked Ukraine and how it might challenge the UK's air defenses, and — given that ground-launched missiles would need to pass through European airspace — if Russia were to attack the UK it might opt to mobilize its Northern fleet and launch an attack from the Atlantic. Crawford also said that "over the last three years, the scenario has become much more complex, in terms of the types of systems that we need to be able to counter, but then also the mass as well." "When you see swarms of hundreds of drones now operating in Ukraine, some of them decoys, some of them with munitions on board, the challenge is how do you tackle them all or do you tackle them all?" he added. "That is a challenge we have right across the West." Crawford described Ukraine as a wake-up call, "where you have two countries with very capable integrated air defence systems going head to head, with neither side really achieving any form of air superiority, which has been a cornerstone of air operations for decades." He added that this had been made more complex by the rise of drones and autonomy, where you can have "swarms of several hundred munitions — not just drones but combined with rockets and ICBMs, at all levels and in all spheres." The concept of air superiority has significantly changed, he said. "We tended to think of it as theater-wide and something you achieved over time. Now we see air superiority being from trench to trench and from zero to 50 feet, rather than necessarily being something that's done right across the theater." While the attack on the UK that Crawford described was just a simulation, he said that Western countries need to learn from what is happening in Ukraine, and can't assume their home bases are safe. "We in the UK over the last few decades have become focused on being garrison safe and making assumptions that we are safe to operate from the home base because most of the wars we've been fighting have been overseas. We need to reverse that thinking and assume that from here on, we're under threat in the home base now as well." Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Business Insider
The UK simulated an attack on its own air defenses based on the first night of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It wasn't pretty.
The UK ran a simulation of a Russian attack to see the strain on its air defenses if the invasion of Ukraine had been aimed at the UK instead, a senior air force official said. The result "was not a pretty picture," Air Commodore Blythe Crawford said at a Royal United Services Institute conference in London on Thursday. Using Gladiator, a £24-million ($32 million) simulation system, the UK's Air Battlespace Training Centre loaded up "Night 1 of Ukraine" — February 24, 2022 — and watched it play out against the UK, according to Crawford, the center's former commandant. He did not detail the exact outcomes of the simulation, which took place in 2022, but it's understood that the UK's air defenses were breached. The simulation was a stark lesson, Crawford said. "We've stood for years at the western edge of Europe feeling as though the rest of the continent has stood between us and the enemy," he told those in attendance. But "Ukraine has made us all sit up and that drove some of the work we were doing in the warfare center to get after how we would solve a problem like that if a similar scenario was pitted against the UK." Russia pummeled Ukraine with missiles during the opening salvo of its full-scale invasion. The UK has improved its air defenses since 2022 and uses an approach that integrates aircraft, ships, and land-based systems — a network critical to defeating any attempt to land invasion forces in the UK. There are also notable differences between how Russia attacked Ukraine and how it might challenge the UK's air defenses, and — given that ground-launched missiles would need to pass through European airspace — if Russia were to attack the UK it might opt to mobilize its Northern fleet and launch an attack from the Atlantic. Crawford also said that "over the last three years, the scenario has become much more complex, in terms of the types of systems that we need to be able to counter, but then also the mass as well." "When you see swarms of hundreds of drones now operating in Ukraine, some of them decoys, some of them with munitions on board, the challenge is how do you tackle them all or do you tackle them all?" he added. "That is a challenge we have right across the West." Crawford described Ukraine as a wake-up call, "where you have two countries with very capable integrated air defence systems going head to head, with neither side really achieving any form of air superiority, which has been a cornerstone of air operations for decades." He added that this had been made more complex by the rise of drones and autonomy, where you can have "swarms of several hundred munitions — not just drones but combined with rockets and ICBMs, at all levels and in all spheres." The concept of air superiority has significantly changed, he said. "We tended to think of it as theater-wide and something you achieved over time. Now we see air superiority being from trench to trench and from zero to 50 feet, rather than necessarily being something that's done right across the theater." While the attack on the UK that Crawford described was just a simulation, he said that Western countries need to learn from what is happening in Ukraine, and can't assume their home bases are safe. "We in the UK over the last few decades have become focused on being garrison safe and making assumptions that we are safe to operate from the home base because most of the wars we've been fighting have been overseas. We need to reverse that thinking and assume that from here on, we're under threat in the home base now as well."
Times
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Times
Russian missiles overwhelm Britain in simulated attack
Russian missiles overwhelmed the British military in an simulated air attack, it has emerged, prompting calls for homeland defence to be beefed up. In 2022, the RAF simulated the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as if the air attack were playing out on the UK. Some of the missiles are understood to have got through the defences. Air Commodore Blythe Crawford, who was until last week head of the RAF Air and Space Warfare Centre, said the military had assumed before the exercise that the UK homeland was safe. • Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump tells Putin to 'stop!' after airstrikes He told the Royal United Services Institute: 'We have stood for years at the western edge of Europe feeling as though the rest of the continent stood between us and the enemy. We in the UK over the last few decades have become focused on being garrison safe, and making assumptions that we are safe to operate from the home base because most of the wars we've been fighting have been overseas. 'We need to reverse that thinking and assume that from here on, we're under threat in the home base now as well.' He said that in 2022, after Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the British military simulated 'day one' of the conflict. In the war games — part of the RAF's £36 million Gladiator programme — the UK tried to defend itself from 'hundreds of different types of munitions' attacking from several directions. The result, Crawford said, was 'not a pretty picture'. It is understood some of the missiles got through British defences thanks to their sheer volume. 'Ukraine has made us all sit up, Crawford said. 'That drove some of the work we have been doing at the warfare centre to get after how we would solve a problem like that if a similar scenario hit the UK. 'One of the lessons we took away from that was, how do we model and simulate something like that? We [loaded] night one of Ukraine into that synthetic environment and played it out against the UK and as you can imagine it was not a pretty picture. It reinforced the fact that we really need to get after this.' Since the war game, the military has hardened some of its aircraft shelters and practised landing Typhoon aircraft on ice in Finland in its efforts to ensure that aircraft could land in unconventional environments. It is believed that the situation has improved and if the exercise now played in real life, a lot of the missiles would be intercepted by Nato forces. However, experts believe that more needs to be done to ensure that the UK can rapidly disperse its aircraft and other critical assets across the country within an hour if it comes under attack. The Ministry of Defence has sharply reduced the number of its airfields over recent years and has stopped using hardened bunkers. The external panel leading the strategic defence review, due to be published in the coming weeks, is said to have been left deeply concerned during its evidence-gathering by the holes in Britain's missile defences. Beyond the nuclear deterrent and the air defences provided by its Nato allies, the UK is almost totally reliant on its fleet of six Type 45 destroyers to ward off the ballistic missile attacks. The Type 45 is due to be decommissioned between 2035 and 2038. The Gladiator simulation system is used for 'highly classified and ultra-realistic' computer simulations on the ground, according to military chiefs. War games can be recorded and paused, so RAF personnel can learn from exercises and adapt. The system replicates real-life scenarios, allowing American and British aircrews to experience the same environment and threats. Pilots can carry out exercises and practise tactics and procedures that would be impossible in a live environment because of airspace limitations, aircraft availability or security constraints. An MoD spokeswoman said: 'The UK stands fully prepared to defend itself against any threat alongside our Nato allies. 'Our military is equipped with a range of advanced capabilities to provide a layered approach to air and missile defence. 'This includes the world-class Sea Viper missile system which has successfully shot down a Houthi rebel ballistic missile and attack drones in the Red Sea.'
