Exercise Agile Warrior and the Future Development of UK Land Forces

UK land forces have become mission specific and bespoke as a result of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the international community starts the process of transition in Afghanistan and following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the British Army needs to look at how to transition to meet a wider range of future tasks.

To understand the demands that will be placed on the army post-2015, and the resulting people, force structure and capability requirements, Force Development and Training Command has started to develop an evidence base upon which to base decisions on the future development of land forces.

This occasional paper contributes to that evidence base by reviewing the emerging findings of the army's process of experimentation and operational analysis, and in particular: the 'understand' requirement for future operations; the 'combined arms manoeuvre' thesis; the level of medical support for future operations; and countering risk aversion on operations.