King’s College London: Major meeting of Europe’s air forces held at King’s to discuss war in Ukraine
Leaders explored how to better work together against current and future global security threats.
Conference of European Air and Space Capability Directors brought together senior air force representatives from across Europe.
Earlier this month representatives from 14 European air forces met at King’s College London to discuss how to better work together against global security threats including the war in Ukraine.
Hosted by the Freeman Air & Space Institute (FASI) in partnership with the Royal Air Force, the Conference of European Air and Space Capability Directors brought together senior air force representatives from across Europe.
The Conference was called for by European Air Force Chiefs as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As such, it provided a vital opportunity for air force leaders to focus on improving their interoperability and increasing collaboration in capability across the air, space and cyber domains.
The war in Ukraine has reminded us of the crucial importance of control of the air and is a rallying call for all of us as air and space specialists.”
– Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston
Workshops led by RAF experts and facilitated by academic staff from the School of Security Studies at King’s, enabled representatives of international forces to share insight and best practice on a range of issues, including information advantage, countering uncrewed aircraft systems, improving procurement and agile combat employment.
Professor Wyn Bowen, Co-Director of the Freeman Air & Space Institute said:
“It was an honour for FASI to be able to host such an important conference with much needed thinking on how we work together to meet security challenges such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Colleagues from FASI supported air force leaders from many different nations in Europe, enabling them to share their plans, challenges and opportunities for collaboration in a constructive environment.”
Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston said:
“The war in Ukraine has reminded us of the crucial importance of control of the air and is a rallying call for all of us as air and space specialists, and for those who depend on us for the decisive effects we bring to the fight.
“Our future combat air and space systems must be able to outclass, outpace, overmatch anything which our adversaries choose to use against us. To do this we must truly become a greater force than the sum of our parts, identifying genuine synergies and amplifying them among us, as well as speaking the same language, sharing operating procedures and training across the full spectrum of warfare. This Conference has been the ideal environment to start developing and delivering this critical work.”
Following the Conference a report will be circulated amongst European Air and Space Capability Directors sharing findings from the day on how to improve synergies across European air forces to better prepare and counter future threats as they arise across air and space security.