FROM REAR ADMIRAL RICHARD COBBOLD

It is with much regret that I have to inform you that the Force Protection conference planned for this Thursday, 29 March, has been postponed.  I understand that this is very short notice, especially after the announcement last week of the change to the programme.

When RUSI was made aware of the MoD change  in circumstances last week citing military sensitivities as the reason why they did not want their representatives with the exception of one to participate in the event, I felt that a successful and useful conference could still be convened.  However, we have now learned that neither DSTL nor QinetiQ can take part on the planned date.  I have therefore decided to postpone the conference.

This is clearly an extremely important subject and RUSI will look to address the issue of Force Protection at a later stage.  I believe it is necessary to have a balanced debate on such topics at the unclassified level, albeit without risk to the lives of front line troops, which naturally was not, and never would be, the intention of the conference.

I must apologise for the nuisance that the late postponement of this conference may cause.   We plan to address this same subject later in the year and are considering the week beginning 12 November 2007.

The conference aims to address ‘protection’ in the widest sense, from the will and understanding of the concept, to the activities in current effects based operational environments.  This will encompass an understanding of the vulnerabilities of threat, from national to tactical and individual levels, and consider the risk management approach which is being focused on currently.  The conference will also delve into more specific areas of force protection.

Panels will include:

• Keynote & Introduction
• Protection of Operational Bases
• Platform Protection
• Countering Irregular Activities

Speakers Include:

• Lieutenant General Sir Anthony Piggot
  Senior Defence and Security Advisor, QinetiQ
• Colonel Jon Mullin
  Assistant Director, Directorate of Joint Capability, Force Protection, MoD
• David Beckett
  Counter IED Capability Manager, L3 Communications
• Lieutenant Colonel (Res) Shlomo Levy
  Marketing Manager for Litening & RecceLite, Rafael, Israel
• David Widerker
  Manager, Electrical Defence Programs and Ordnance Division, Rafael, Israel
• Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Garth Whitty MBE FRGS MIMCSE
  Operational Threat Analyst, Explora Security Architects and Engineers

For registration details please contact Lisa Muxworthy.

For booking forms please click here.

For sponsorship enquiries please contact Louise Heywood, +44 (0) 207 747 2630.