Global Security Briefing

General David Petraeus discusses autonomous warfare, drone technology and the military transformation driven by Ukraine.
Ukraine offers the clearest evidence that warfare is changing in revolutionary ways. Unmanned systems now account for nearly 90% of Russia's killed and wounded on the front line, with around eight million drones produced by Ukraine every year. Software is updated weekly and hardware every few weeks, a pace no Western procurement system matches.
Traditional armoured manoeuvre has effectively stopped, replaced by a dense zone of surveillance and strike drones along the front. For Gen. Petraeus, Senior Vice President of RUSI, this demands a complete institutional overhaul, covering doctrine, force structure, training, procurement and personnel, on a scale far beyond the changes he oversaw during the Iraq surge.
He argues the UK is unusually well placed to lead this shift, given its visibility into the Ukrainian battlefield, political continuity across governments, and a parliamentary system that can move fast, though entrenched interests in legacy platforms will resist the change required.
Key themes discussed:
The rise of drones and unmanned systems in Ukraine.
Ukraine as a laboratory for the future of warfare.
Why militaries need to rethink force structures and procurement.
The shift from remotely piloted to autonomous systems.
How artificial intelligence could transform military decision-making.
Changes needed to training, education and personnel.
Institutional and political resistance to replacing legacy systems.
Why the UK is particularly well placed to lead military transformation.
Gen. David Petraeus is Senior Vice President of RUSI, former Commander of US Central Command, former Commander of the Multi-National Force in Iraq, and former Director of the CIA.

In this episode, Tobias Ellwood sets out why he believes we are drifting towards global conflict, and what can still be done to stop it.
The order that has held since 1945 is coming apart. War in Ukraine, confrontation between the US and Iran, unresolved conflict in the Middle East and an intensifying rivalry between Washington and Beijing have produced the most dangerous strategic environment in a generation.
Recorded during a live RUSI members webinar on 19 August 2026, this special episode features RUSI Distinguished Fellow, The Rt Hon Tobias Ellwood, discussing his new book: Ten Steps to Prevent World War Three. The webinar was chaired by RUSI Senior Associate Fellow Professor Beatrice Heuser with an audience Q&A.
Key themes discussed are:
How the West arrived at this point, and why the rules-based order has broken down.
Where the risks of escalation are greatest, and how much of it would be deliberate rather than accidental.
What grey zone warfare means for deterrence and Western defence planning.
How artificial intelligence and computing will shape the speed and character of future conflict.
The full recording is available to RUSI members on the Institute's website, where you can also sign up if you are not currently a member.

Energy is no longer the preserve of the business pages and is central to questions of European Security.
Disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has left European gas prices far above where they sat at the start of 2026 and reserves are lower than where they need to be for winter.
Jet and diesel markets are tighter than at any point since 2022.
And, across the North Sea, unexplained drones and loitering vessels have become a routine feature of offshore operations.
In this episode, Andrew Gee, Director, International Security at RUSI, is joined by Amund Vik, senior advisor at Eurasia Group and former head of strategy and policy for the Norwegian Labour Party, and Petras Katinas, a research fellow in climate, energy and defence at RUSI Europe.
They discuss the following core questions:
How exposed will the United Kingdom and Europe energy markets be this winter and is more North Sea energy production any kind of solution?
Who does Europe now depend on for its energy? Is that reliance a partnership or a vulnerability?
If energy infrastructure is now a target, what does defending it require? Would a turn to civil nuclear power change the picture?

Japan's significant intelligence reforms reveal how the country's approach to security is becoming more self-reliant and autonomous. But what is being proposed, and why now?
In this edition of Global Security Briefing, host Philip Shetler-Jones, Senior Research Fellow, Indo-Pacific Security at RUSI is joined by Ken Kotani, Professor at Nihon University, Japan and James DJ Brown, Professor of Political Science at Temple University, Japan Campus, to reflect on how Japan is rebuilding its national intelligence capability.
They explore the following core questions:
Why is this important in terms of the history of the country?
What are some of the obstacles?
What does this reform tell us about how Japan is changing in terms of its self-perception and threat perception?
What are the implications for Japan's relationships with allies and adversaries?

The 2026 NATO Summit convened at a moment of fragile unity for the alliance. What did it deliver? What did it leave unresolved?
In this episode of Global Security Briefing, RUSI's Director-General Rachel Ellehuus is joined by three colleagues, each bringing with them a different perspective on the alliance: Natia Seskuria, Senior Research Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Security, Burcu Ozcelik, Senior Research Fellow for Middle East Security, and Oana Lungescu, Former NATO Spokesperson and RUSI Distinguished Fellow. Burcu and Oana join the recording from Ankara and offer their reflections on the atmosphere on the ground.
The three core questions explored in this episode are:
What did the summit tell us about how NATO as a whole – and individual members – view Russia?
Second, what does the summit and its mention of Iran mean for the Middle East, and where does the region now sit among NATO's priorities?
Third, what does the summit mean for Europe, and where does the transatlantic relationship now stand? What about the roles of Turkey and Ukraine?