BFBS Sitrep

The Prime Minister's decision to temporarily suspend parliament and have a new Queen's Speech means the Chancellor is planning his spending.  Defence analysts Francis Tusa and Professor Michael Clarke discuss whether defence could lose out. We track the Iranian tanker formerly known as Grace 1.  It's now called Adrian Darya 1 and is trying to find somewhere to refuel in the eastern Mediterranean, but this is more than a story about a ship as Professor Michael Clarke explains. What happens at BATUS, the British Army's training unit on the prairie in Canada? Our reporter Sian Grzeszczyk talks to BATUS Commander Colonel Mark Ellwood. And Churchill established his war rooms in a bunker beneath Whitehall 80 years ago this week. Imperial War Museum Curator James Taylor has some stories from that time. Presented by James Hirst with Christopher Lee.

Talks between the US and the Taliban on a peace deal in Afghanistan are said to be close to completion — with the White House keen to get American troops home before Donald Trump seeks re-election next year. We hear from a correspondent who’s been talking to the Taliban’s chief negotiator in Qatar. The latest figures on UK military personnel numbers again show the forces are under their target strength. But the Chief of the Defence Staff has claimed that doesn’t matter, in an age of autonomous and unmanned equipment. We’ll ask whether he’s right. Donald Trump and Boris Johnson head to the G7 summit this weekend, and the tension with Iran is likely to dominate — we’ll look ahead. And we’ll ask why Donald Trump was so keen to buy Greenland, and so offended when his bizarre suggested was rejected out of hand.

On the 14th August 1969 the British Army deployed to Northern Ireland in response to sectarian riots on the streets of Londonderry and Belfast.  Op Banner, as the Army came to call it, was the longest ever continuous operational deployment of troops in the history of the British Armed Forces. In this programme, 50 years on, you'll hear from: Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defence.  General Sir Mike Jackson who served as a Captain with the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday and went on to become Chief of the General Staff. Baron Caine, a former government advisor to the Northern Ireland Office. Richard White, a former Royal Marine who served in Northern Ireland. Presented by James Hirst with Christopher Lee 

Please also plug listen again/podcast   In today’s Sitrep with Kate Gerbeau and Christopher Lee… The UN hears pleas to intervene in Syria, but why the is the west is seemingly so reluctant to intervene? As Britain’s stand-off with Iran continues, is there a diplomatic way to end it?  One week into Boris Johnson’s premiership, what have we learned about his commitment to the forces? And are the repeated comparisons to Winston Churchill really justified? Plus, as an American teenager wins $3-million playing the video game Fortnite, how the military views gamers as a potential source of new recruits PROGRAMME TX THURSDAYS at 4:30pm UK TIME on BFBS RADIO 2 and at 6:30pm UK TIME on BFBS & UK Bases You can listen on BFBS Radio 2 at 1630 (UK time) and at 1830 (UK time) on BFBS (via web & App in the UK and on FM in Scotland, Colchester, Salisbury Plain, Aldershot, Catterick & Blandford Forum).  On Sky Channel 0211. Alternatively - listen again on-line, www.forces.net/sitrep or download the Sitrep Podcast.

In today’s Sitrep with Kate Gerbeau and Christopher Lee… We have a new Prime Minister and now a new Defence Secretary, so who is Ben Wallace? The UK wants to put together a European-led maritime protection mission in the Gulf – but what ships are needed and how will it work? Britain is going to deploy troops to Mali in Africa, but what will they be doing? And Sitrep’s summer reading list:  delve deep into military history and foreign affairs with Sitrep’s reading list. PROGRAMME TX THURSDAYS at 4:30pm UK TIME on BFBS RADIO 2 and at 6:30pm UK TIME on BFBS & UK Bases You can listen on BFBS Radio 2 at 1630 (UK time) and at 1830 (UK time) on BFBS (via web & App in the UK and on FM in Scotland, Colchester, Salisbury Plain, Aldershot, Catterick & Blandford Forum).  On Sky Channel 0211. Alternatively - listen again on-line, www.forces.net/sitrep or download the Sitrep Podcast.

In today’s Sitrep with Kate Gerbeau and Christopher Lee…

In today’s Sitrep with Kate Gerbeau and Christopher Lee… The controversy surrounding the Royal Marines capturing an oil tanker off Gibraltar. Hong Kong riots - has the UK gone too far in condemning China? Putin says it's time the West changed its liberal ideas. The British Ambassador to the United Nations who wanted to be a fighter pilot. And why Trump won't let the generals rain on his parade.

In today’s Sitrep with Kate Gerbeau and Christopher Lee…

In today’s Sitrep with Kate Gerbeau and Christopher Lee…

13th June 2019 This week on Sitrep: No more street-fighting. The RAF tracks down IS to the Iraqi mountains.  Air Commodore Justin Reuter talks to Simon Newton Why two oil tankers were on fire in the Gulf. Pressure builds in Sudan.  Michelle Gavin, senior fellow for Africa Studies at the Council for Foreign Relations says the country is on a knife edge. British Forces lead Exercise Baltic Protector. And what do the Tory Leader hopefuls think about Defence?  Robert Fox from the London Evening Standard has the low-down. Sitrep is presented by Kate Gerbeau and Christopher Lee.