BFBS Radio Sitrep BFBS Radio

The US claims Russia plans a ‘false flag’ operation in Ukraine to justify an invasion. The UK’s defence secretary speaks out against ‘false narratives’ from President Putin.

BFBS Sitrep explains the information war being fought over Ukraine, and asks a former NATO spokesman if sending British weapons to the country hands ammunition for disinformation to Moscow.

Why are just 5 of the 1500 most senior Armed Forces officers Black-Caribbean or Asian?

And BFBS Reporter Simon Newton takes us on a journey to the Antarctic with Defence’s climate-change champion.

Decorated former bomb-disposal operator Kim Hughes talks at length to Kate Gerbeau about how Hollywood portrays the job, and what it’s actually like.

Since leaving the Army in 2020 he’s worked as a consultant on films, and has written two thrillers “Operation Black Key” and “Operation Certain Death”

He tells BFBS Sitrep about his three tours of duty in Afghanistan – how you defuse a bomb, what you do if a firefight breaks out, and when you decide to walk away.

And he tells us why films like The Hurt Locker are ‘horrendous’ on detail, but would look like ‘watching paint dry’ if they were realistic.

Moscow is demanding NATO admits absolutely no new members – but could that demand be backfiring?

We hear from Sweden and Finland, where after years of staunch ‘non-alignment’, they’re now seriously considering joining the alliance.

James Hirst fact checks President Putin’s claim, and NATO’s denial, that the alliance promised decades ago not to move ‘one inch to the East’.

What’s the difference between bomb-disposal in Helmand, and in Hollywood? A decorated former soldier tells us how he’s swapped his body armour for books, film and TV.

And a former deputy head of the Army tells us how service charities are coping with the pressures of Covid, and extra demand because of Afghanistan.

What’s going to happen in 2022, where and why?
Will Ukraine be invaded or can big talks next week dial down the tension?
Why has Russia sent troops to Kazakhstan and will it become the first new international crisis of the year?
Does China really want to use its growing military, or is it just for show?
Professor Michael Clarke, and Dr Melanie Garson will help navigate us through the potential trouble spots of the next 12 months.

2021 – the year that Joe Biden replaced Donald Trump, took international troops out of Afghanistan, and the Taliban swept back to power.

The final Sitrep of the year examines the key events of the last twelve months, and what they mean for the UK and the world.

Britain’s first carrier strike group deployment in a decade, HMS Defender’s run-in with Russia in the Black Sea, and the defence review that shrinks the Army again but promises new high-tech planes and vehicles in years to come.

So who has had a good year, and who’s had a bad one? And what can the world expect in 2022? 

Four months since the Taliban marched back to power in Afghanistan Sitrep hears from three interpreters who had worked with UK forces, but who couldn’t get on evacuation flights.
After a whistleblower alleged chaos in the Foreign Office has cost lives, a Conservative MP has branded it a ‘failure of statecraft’, but has it done lasting damage for future military operations?
Domestic abuse accounts for around one in eight cases handled by the Army Welfare Service – they tell us how they can help turn things round.
And author Toby Harnden lifts the lid on how the CIA and SBS laid the groundwork in Afghanistan for the 2001 US-led invasion.