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Chancellor @JohnHealey_MP heads into Wednesday’s Budget with less fiscal headroom and defence spending adding real pressure. @beeboileau and @MaxWarnerIFS (@TheIFS) lay out the hard choices ahead: funding further defence increases means cutting elsewhere, raising taxes, or borrowing more - now and in the years beyond.
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Should the Netherlands agree to further US export controls on ASML?
In a new #RUSICommentary, Lasse de Graaf argues it should hold the line. ASML is the world’s only maker of extreme ultraviolet machines, and further restrictions could speed up China’s own chip industry.
If the Netherlands does side with Washington, it must be mindful of its vulnerability to retaliation from Beijing.
rusi.org/explore-our-researc…
‘The time to act on this is now. We must act quickly and we must be bold.’
Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth (@ChiefofAirStaff) delivered the 2026 Lord Trenchard Memorial Lecture at RUSI, calling for the RAF to harness new technologies to rapidly develop its combat capabilities.
RUSI members can watch the full recording on our website: bit.ly/4yOCZ6L
How should the UK pay for higher defence spending?
The Chancellor must decide whether to commit to 3% of GDP on defence by 2030. Reaching it would need around £11 billion more in 2030–31 than holding spending at 2.7%.
In a new #RUSICommentary, @beeboileau and Max Warner (@TheIFS) look at the three ways to fund it: cutting spending elsewhere, raising taxes or borrowing more. All three look challenging.
“Beyond this Budget, higher defence spending will continue to reshape the British state.”
rusi.org/explore-our-researc…
Last week, the RUSI Military Technology Conference 2026 brought together experts from government, the armed forces, industry and academia to explore the theme From Policy Commitment to Capability Deployment.
Participants enabled a wide-ranging discussion, from dependencies and sovereignty in space to the technical considerations in architecting targeting capabilities.
To close the day, Dan Rodenhurst, the new Chief Digital and Information Officer (@DefenceHQ), shared his initial insights from the role and his vision for the future. He emphasised collaboration with industry and investment in the people who underpin Defence’s capabilities.
Thank you to our speakers and attendees, and to our sponsors.
Find out more about the event: bit.ly/3Wv6Mng
Aleksandar Vučić has conceded defeat to Serbia’s student-led Students’ List, ending 14 years in power in a historic, high-turnout vote. The shift matters well beyond Belgrade: @VladimirKrulj argues Israel’s defence industry has built real stakes in Serbia, and political change there could carry consequences for its arsenal.
rusi.org/explore-our-researc…
Brazil’s President Lula has won a fourth term in office - but Flávio Bolsonaro’s party made major gains in Congress. As RUSI’s Daniela Portella Sampaio argued ahead of the vote, whoever won the presidency, a right-leaning Congress and pressure from China, the US and Europe would constrain Brazil’s foreign policy either way.
rusi.org/explore-our-researc…
"Russia cannot simply build its way out of the problem through numerical expansion." New RUSI research by Dr Sidharth Kaushal finds Russia's nuclear modernisation will favour response speed and precision over mobility and arsenal size. It will see continued investment in silo-based systems, theatre-level strike capabilities, and counterspace tools, while mobile launchers and submarines see less growth, treated more as a retaliatory hedge than the centrepiece of deterrence.
rusi.org/explore-our-researc…
RUSI retweeted
PHP vulnerabilities have forced governments and businesses worldwide to preventively pull sites offline within the last 24 hours, and with AI accelerating how quickly attackers can build exploits, how do we make sense of what is required to defend and respond to critical security issues like this one?
🗣️: Dan Cuthbert and @LouMarieHSD
RUSI's @c21st_sailor spoke to @Telegraph on the UK’s subsea cable vulnerability: “The difficulty would come if there are simultaneous breaks at different geographical locations which removes the redundancy you have. And how do you respond to that if you have one or no vessels?”
Britain has only one dedicated ship to repair critical deep-sea telecoms cables.
A concerted sabotage campaign could paralyse the country, causing phone and internet blackouts and crippling the emergency services 👇
telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10…
PHP vulnerabilities have forced governments and businesses worldwide to preventively pull sites offline within the last 24 hours, and with AI accelerating how quickly attackers can build exploits, how do we make sense of what is required to defend and respond to critical security issues like this one?
🗣️: Dan Cuthbert and @LouMarieHSD
Kazakhstan didn’t pick a side in the AI race. It joined both Washington’s Pax Silica and Beijing’s WAICO. In the latest #RUSICommentary, @BitabarAssel explores why Kazakhstan is keeping both memberships, and what neither initiative provides.
rusi.org/explore-our-researc…
In 2024, Tanzania reported $5.32m in timber exports to China. China reported importing $13.97m. A new RUSI paper maps illicit miombo timber flows through Tanzania. It finds they link to wildlife trafficking, minerals crime and armed groups, while enforcement mostly targets low-level offenders.
rusi.org/explore-our-researc…
🎙️Kim Yo-jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, says North Korea will keep fortifying the border and is putting cross-border loudspeakers back on standby. In the latest #GlobalSecurityBriefing, Lt Gen Scott Winter (@UN_Command) discusses UN Command Korea’s history and the security challenges facing the peninsula today with @shetlerjones.
🎧 Listen here: bit.ly/4yvy4ak
As Beijing increases its diplomatic pressure against Taiwan, "Japan set a good example by calling out the myth peddled by the PRC [People’s Republic of China] that the Taiwan question is purely an internal matter,” notes RUSI's @shetlerjones to @FT.
Taiwanese diplomats have been blocked abroad, while foreign allies have been sanctioned for visiting Taipei and meeting government officials. What do analysts make of the intensifying pressure campaign? ft.trib.al/zPWdcpc
ALT Helicopters fly over the Presidential Office building during the National Day celebration in Taipei on October 10. Text on image reads: China steps up ‘grey zone’ tactics to isolate Taiwan and punish its allies (Credit: Lam Yik Fei/Bloomberg)
Social cohesion is the one pillar of the EU’s Hybrid Toolbox with no funding of its own. In the latest #RUSICommentary, Fleur Just explores why countering Russian hybrid warfare means building it locally.
rusi.org/explore-our-researc…
Talent competition is “as strategically significant as the competition for technology.” In the latest RUSI Defence Systems article, Lt Cdr Rhodri Humphreys explains why the Royal Navy’s Hybrid Navy ambitions hinge on its people, and what needs to change.
rusi.org/explore-our-researc…
RUSI retweeted
To Subvert the State: The Ecosystem of Russian Active Measures - Oleksandr Danylyuk and I have just published a book through @RUSI_org on the forms and methods used by the Russian Special Services to manipulate politics abroad: routledge.com/To-Subvert-the…
🎙️Why does a UN Command still exist on the Korean Peninsula, and what does it do in 2026?
On Global Security Briefing, @shetlerjones asks Lt Gen Scott Winter, Deputy Commander of the United Nations Command (UNC) in the Republic of Korea (@UN_Command), about its role in upholding the Armistice. They also discuss North Korea’s ties with Russia, drones and a divided UN Security Council.
🎧 Listen here: bit.ly/4yvy4ak
As tensions around the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Gulf continue to escalate, RUSI’s briefing on the Iran Crisis Stocktake offers essential context on where this conflict stands and where it’s heading.
RUSI members can access the full recording here: bit.ly/3VXlG5E