Special operations move up the agenda for RN

17th March 2021 - 12:06 GMT | by Tim Fish in Auckland

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Special operations are moving ‘from the memory bank to the frontal lobe’ of UK naval strategic thinking, says the incoming Assistant Chief of Staff for the RN Special Operations Cell.

The strategic trend towards engaging in great power competition, as noted in the announcement of the Integrated Review (IR) on 16 March, means that the UK RN is looking to prioritise maritime special operations.

The IR recognises that the persistent global threat posed by hostile state actors, or enemies backed by hostile states, means that the UK armed services must enhance their capabilities to operate in conditions below the threshold of war and operate more effectively at the point of conflict.

This requires not only a change in resource allocation but also a shift in thinking at government level to ...