Rory Stewart

And all it is, is an exquisite target for everybody's cheap mass drones to hit.

Yeah, because when I was chairing the Defense Select Committee in 2014, that was the moment at which Putin invaded Crimea.

Yeah.

And up to that point, the assumption had been that really our military was an expeditionary force connected to the US and NATO that fought wars like Iraq and Afghanistan.

So what kind of military are you talking about?

You're talking about Royal Marines or paras with armored vehicles traveling around villages in Afghanistan, and you need protection against improvised explosive devices, and you're fighting a guerrilla warfare with people with Kalashnikovs.

Fast forward, there are two completely new types of war that we're dealing with, and they are Ukraine and Iran.

Ukraine is a war with endless hovering cheap drones, now nearly 60 miles deep, freezing a front line where it's drone, counter drone strikes.

Iran is the dream of the high-tech US-Israeli planners.

most exquisite expensive equipment in the world, incredible radar, incredible targeting, incredible precision bombing, wiping out all Iranian air defenses in 24 hours.

Then we have the threat of Russia to Europe.

What are we doing with Russia to Europe?

Are we trying to be Ukraine, defense in depth, cheap drones, or are we trying to be the US and Israel?

Let's have exquisite planes and take out Russia's air defenses on day one and then be able to use our fancy planes to take out all that stuff.

When's Russia going to attack?

Because if they're attacking in 2030, having a plane delivered in 2040 is not much easier.

If they're attacking in 2040,

Then there's my final point.

Actually, we need to be investing in AI.

I'd actually scrap most of this stuff and put it into building data sensors, frontier models, because actually, what are we learning?