Host Peter Apps is joined by US Naval War College Professor Nikolas Gvosdev and CHACR director Major General Andrew Sharpe to unpack “Operation Epic Fury” and what it tells us about modern warfare. What starts as a discussion about Iran quickly turns into something much bigger. This is about how wars actually unfold today, why they rarely go to plan, and why the systems we’ve relied on for decades might not hold up anymore.

Discussion points include:

- Why You Can’t Bomb Your Way to Victory: Tactical success means little without a clear strategy or political endgame to back it up.

- The Shift from Alliances to Fragile Coalitions: Long-standing global alliances are being tested, replaced by more fluid and uncertain partnerships.

- Modern War Is Faster, Messier, and Less Predictable: From drones to disrupted supply chains, today’s conflicts evolve in ways no war game fully captures.

Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, we are talking to NATO expert Sten Rynning, Professor of War Studies at the University of Southern Denmark and Eva Sula, a former Estonian government official turned defence industry adviser also as a mentor for NATO tech innovation hub DIANA.

Following the fallout of January's Greenland row, we are looking at the complex role of the US – now watched uneasily by many on the continent, but still at the centre of military planning. We look at institutional and geographic challenges, politics, supply chains and logistics – and what nations really need to do to keep the peace in Europe.

What We Explore

- Trump 2.0's NATO Shock: How a second term could force Europe to step up on defence spending and capabilities and the risks if we don't.

- Hybrid Threats Evolving: Russia's info ops and China's subtle influence - why the alliance needs a unified playbook to counter them.

- Deterrence Reimagined: Why NATO's future hinges on credible threats, stronger partnerships, and learning from Ukraine's fight.

Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

In our first episode of 2026, we couldn’t have asked for a stronger panel – three experts who’ve spent their careers wrestling with the grey-zone threats reshaping global security.

In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, I bring together Major General Andrew Sharpe (Director of CHACR), Colonel Mietta Groeneveld (Director of the NATO Command & Control Centre of Excellence), and Professor Nikolas Gvosdev (U.S. Naval War College) for a look at hybrid warfare today: Russia’s evolving playbook, China’s patient influence ops, and why the West’s responses still feel one step behind.

We dig into disinformation, cyber disruption, economic coercion, and the quiet power shifts happening far from any battlefield.

What We Explore

- Russia’s Hybrid Evolution: How Moscow blends kinetic force with info ops and disruption and why NATO’s coordination still struggles to keep pace.

- China’s Long Game: The subtler, multi-domain strategy Beijing uses to reshape perceptions and alliances without ever firing a shot.

- Grey-Zone Deterrence: What it really takes to rebuild credibility when adversaries probe limits every day.

This conversation is a sharp reminder: the next big conflict won’t start with tanks rolling – it’s already underway in the spaces between war and peace.

Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.