Spring 2011 Issue 12


9


“The conference usually contributes by giving oxygen to the problem, from which


some solutions will later emerge


Prof Christopher Elliott, Director – doctrine & strategic analysis General Dynamics UK


”


Dynamics UK’s competitors – each seminar starts by laying out the issues, to establish a common level of understanding, followed by an analysis of any contentious areas and then a debate about how issues might be resolved. And there is always an attempt to provide an outcome – perhaps an adjustment to policy or a way forward for a difficult issue.


For example, the third in the series provided Air Marshal Sir Malcolm Pledger, then Chief of Defence Logistics, with an opportunity to put across his plan for transforming the defence logistics chain, which at the time was meeting with stiff resistance. At the same time, he heard from those who felt strongly that he was wrong. Once all of these ideas were distilled through debate at the conference, both sides came to realise that the gaps were not as broad as they thought. “At the end of it, we’d achieved a generally accepted idea of how the defence logistics organisation could move towards becoming a much more efficient organisation,” says Elliott. “It was a huge success.”


Achieving an outcome is also helped by encouraging the maximum participation from all delegates. Where possible, the debate is furthered through break-out groups, to discuss individual issues, before reporting back to a plenary session.


Military history The next Whither Warfare seminar – the 15th in the series – will take place on 5-6 May 2011. Entitled ‘Past Lessons, Future Conflicts: the challenge facing military education in the 21st Century’, it will be co-hosted by the War Studies Department at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. There couldn’t be a more appropriate setting: the Academy has always held to the idea that the study of conflict is critical to the concepts and doctrines that underlie the development of military organisations, training and equipment. And while this has always been true, the nurturing of intellectual debate and imaginative responses is ever more crucial to the delivery of military capabilities today, as conflict assumes ever more unpredictable forms.


From left to right – MG Tony Raper, LtGen Sir Scott Grant, Prof Christopher Elliott, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Johns, Air Marshal Sir Malcolm Pledger, General Sir John Reith, Admiral Sir Nigel Essenhigh, Lt Gen Sir Rob Fry


The Whither Warfare conferences regularly attract more than 150 attendees who wish to participate


The May seminar will take as its starting point the Government’s Strategic Defence and Security Review that set out the future character of conflict and the anticipated roles and tasks of the British Army. And given the setting, there will be a highly appropriate examination of how the UK and other major powers have benefited from hindsight and applied the lessons of military history.


At the same time, the seminar will emphasise the philosophy of the Whither Warfare concept in inviting comment in order to learn rather than preach. Attendees – especially those with recent operational experience – will be encouraged to challenge the ideas and attitudes of the war studies community and offer their ideas on how the Army could better prepare itself for an uncertain future.


> For more information


www.generaldynamics.uk.com/ media-centre/whither-warfare


One of the unique elements to the Whither Warfare approach is the participation of its ‘greybeards’, senior commentators whose role is to observe, comment and have the last word.


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