S2. E9: Grey Zone Conflict

Yet another guest that we’ve been dying to get on since last season. We are pleased to welcome Ethan to the podcast to talk about the work he’s been involved in to understand and model the ‘grey zone’ in modern warfare. Ethan previously served as an Intel Analyst with the US Navy, and now works for Plexsys Interface Products, supporting the simulation and modelling of complex environments.

Defined as ‘activities by a state that are harmful to another state and are sometimes considered to be acts of war, but are not legally acts of war’, this subject proves to be both fascinating and broad ranging.

We start by discussing the challenge of conducting multi-domain training, especially the space components and the exponential nature of the problem, which in turn presents computational and processing challenges.

The discussion turns to the rapidly evolving nature of warfare, with most recent conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, especially the prevalence of low cost drones and persistent surveillance.

While we don’t come to any firm conclusions, the discussion proves how much we have yet to do, and how quickly we might need to develop training systems in the near future to prepare for these emerging threats.

Hosts:

• Tom Constable: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-constable/ 
• Colin Hillier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinhillier/

Guests:

• Ethan Wilson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanwwilson/
• Link to the Cyber Effects tool mentioned in the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maHzPPSY7SY

Links:

• Website: https://www.warfighterpodcast.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/warfighter-digital/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkgiH-cwmyc2I2Iyc8MLYtg
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/WarfighterPod

Episode Sponsor: Babcock International

Babcock has always operated hand in hand with our customers because their mission is our mission. Our people support the British Army by contributing to front-line support, delivering the capability they need, available to them wherever, whenever and however they need it. We ensure the British Army can focus on their missions safely by supporting their vehicles, both armoured and white fleet with skilled engineers and capability backed by long-term through-life engineering expertise.

We enable our defence and emergency services customers to do their job with our technical training programmes. We combine deep understanding and long-term commitment with constructive challenge. An embedded partner, focussed on outcomes. Globally, new defence and resilience equipment programmes and asset modernisation programmes are seeing a resurgence. Training personnel is a critical component to support these programmes.

Whether it’s applying engineering excellence or the latest technology, we combine our expertise with a practical mindset. Alongside our deep engineering experience, digital and data technologies will allow us to better understand, predict and enhance the performance of the assets we manage, make better engineering decisions to reduce risk and improve service delivery.