William Freer

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William Freer

William Freer

@william_freer

Research Fellow @ConGeostrategy on National Security | Associate Fellow @RoyalNavy Strategic Studies Centre | lover of Leicestershire | Views my own

Beigetreten Mayıs 2015
397 Folgt475 Follower
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William Freer
William Freer@william_freer·
An interesting read with plenty to agree on, but I think 🇬🇧 should be much more focused on working with the Norwegians on the ‘Bear gap’ rather than the GIUK gap Given the range of Russian SLCMs if Russian SSNs/SSGNs get into the Norwegian Sea they can hold sites in 🇬🇧 at risk
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RUSI@RUSI_org

'If Russia’s Northern Fleet were to tighten control over the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) Gap, the Royal Navy would face a strategic chokepoint that could sever transatlantic supply lines' writes @Anthonyheron11 in the latest #RUSICommentary. rusi.org/explore-our-re…

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William Freer
William Freer@william_freer·
As 🇬🇧 national conversation briefly (hopefully it is sustained) becomes aghast at the state of its military compared to where most of the nation thought it was, I’m always reminded of this General Slim quote I dropped into one of our latest reports on European/UK capability gaps
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Ryan M. Patrick
Ryan M. Patrick@ryanpatrickauth·
A lot of people need to be working on their apologies...
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William Freer
William Freer@william_freer·
In case anyone missed it, with a lot going on around the world today, Macron delivered his speech on French nuclear doctrine Delivering the line “To be free we have to be feared” against this setting was a quite the move from the Élysée 10/10 no notes
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Etienne Marcuz@Etienne_Marcuz

Symbole par excellence que la dissuasion nucléaire transcende tout, même la personne du Président de la République française. Un immense bravo aux équipes de com' du MinArm et de l'Elysée. La France a rayonné aujourd'hui.

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Etienne Marcuz
Etienne Marcuz@Etienne_Marcuz·
Hier j'ai eu le plaisir mais aussi le défi de parler de la dissuasion nucléaire 🇫🇷française lors d'une conférence à Londres organisé par deux think tanks 🇬🇧@ConGeostrategy et 🇩🇪@KAS_UKIRL en tant que seul panéliste français et à quelques jours d'un discours majeur du PR sur la dissuasion nucléaire qui devrait (🤞) éclaircir certains points cruciaux en matière de doctrine et de posture de nos forces. Les débats et questions ont montré une fois de plus que s'il existe un réel intérêt de nos alliés pour notre dissuasion nucléaire, son fonctionnement et ses moyens sont encore trop mal connus, empêchant de réelles discussions sur une architecture de sécurité à l'échelle européenne autonome tout en respectant la souveraineté des États contributeurs sur leurs moyens. Quelques soient les annonces du PR, il y aura très probablement un gros "service après-vente" à assurer, tant ce discours est attendu et devrait faire couler beaucoup d'encre.
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Council on Geostrategy@ConGeostrategy

Panel 2 focused on the ‘European nuclear deterrence in practice: Challenges, trade-offs and opportunities’ 🗣️ Peter Watkins CB CBE, our Honorary Fellow 🗣️ Dr Karl-Heinz Kamp, @dgapev 🗣️ @DDolzikova, @RUSI_org 🗣️ @Etienne_Marcuz, @FRS_org 🗣️ Moderator: @william_freer, our Research Fellow

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William Freer
William Freer@william_freer·
Was great to chair this panel, which brought together an excellent array of nuclear expertise. It was especially fantastic because panelists offered suggestions as well as identifying problems A special shout-out to @Etienne_Marcuz tackling some assumptions on the 🇫🇷 position
Council on Geostrategy@ConGeostrategy

Panel 2 focused on the ‘European nuclear deterrence in practice: Challenges, trade-offs and opportunities’ 🗣️ Peter Watkins CB CBE, our Honorary Fellow 🗣️ Dr Karl-Heinz Kamp, @dgapev 🗣️ @DDolzikova, @RUSI_org 🗣️ @Etienne_Marcuz, @FRS_org 🗣️ Moderator: @william_freer, our Research Fellow

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William Freer
William Freer@william_freer·
Turns out there are a few artillery fans out there, so here’s a couple more fun facts from the book: BAOR expected 85% of a division logistics to be art ammunition needs! When M270 MLRS entered service the salvo of 1 battery could drop as many bomblets as 33 btns of artillery!
William Freer@william_freer

UK/European efforts to ramp up shell production have been very impressive, but for context the BAOR in the 1980s assumed a division with 4 art btns would need 35,000 155mm rounds per day… More than 12 million over a year, for a single division’s consumption in peer conflict

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William Freer
William Freer@william_freer·
@Anglo_Japan45 Very true! Merely illustrative. Suppose a better comparison would be that European NATOs total annual shell production today is what a Cold War Corps could expect to get through in c.4 weeks Didn’t want to make myself do anything but the simplest of maths if I could avoid it 😆
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William Freer
William Freer@william_freer·
UK/European efforts to ramp up shell production have been very impressive, but for context the BAOR in the 1980s assumed a division with 4 art btns would need 35,000 155mm rounds per day… More than 12 million over a year, for a single division’s consumption in peer conflict
Bricktop_NAFO@Bricktop_NAFO

“Rheinmetall Germany alone will soon be able to produce 1.5 million 155mm artillery shells a year, more than the combined U.S. defense industry.” - Wall Street Journal That would suggest that Europe, the UK and Ukraine will be producing 2.8-3 Million 155mm artillery shells a year. However this number maybe significancy higher as the majority of the EU have constantly surpassed the output forecast numbers.

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William Freer
William Freer@william_freer·
Data from my current read:
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William Freer
William Freer@william_freer·
This was a great event to participate in, bringing a suite of academic, operational, political and industrial experience into the room to talk about how the next generation of the maritime community can support and sustain the Royal Navy’s move towards warfighting readiness
Council on Geostrategy@ConGeostrategy

Yesterday, we were delighted to host the final session of our Maritime Leaders' Programme! We were joined by: ⚓ @william_freer, our Research Fellow ⚓ The Rt. Hon. Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Minister of State for Indo-Pacific, @FCDOGovUK (2022-2024) ⚓ Richard Powell OBE DL, @QinetiQ@alessionaval, @KingsCollegeLon For a panel session, Q&A, and workshop focused on the @RoyalNavy’s move towards #warfightingreadiness The #MLP is kindly sponsored by Wallenius Lines

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William Freer
William Freer@william_freer·
Some thoughts on implications for 🇬🇧: the good, directional & concerning Good: reduced risk of attack on 🇬🇾 & potential release of oil to global market Directional: further evidence of a hard power world, someone please tell Treasury Concerning: re-emphasised 🇺🇸 desires on 🇬🇱
Council on Geostrategy@ConGeostrategy

What are the strategic implications of the 🇺🇸 operation in 🇻🇪? We asked 6 experts in the first #BigAsk of 2026! ✍️ @william_freer, @joshuachuminski, @RJohnsonCCW1, @kennedycdog, @james_rogers, @GraySergeant #BritainsWorld britainsworld.org.uk/p/the-big-ask-…

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William Freer
William Freer@william_freer·
Both parts of my piece on Atlantic Bastion now out I make the case for a more forward vision, one which requires deeper integration both with allied regional plans & between branches of 🇬🇧 armed forces As you can tell from my pinned, a view I’ve been passionate on for a while
Council on Geostrategy@ConGeostrategy

⚓ ‘In the battle of the bastions, the @RoyalNavy will play the leading role in containing 🇷🇺 High North capabilities,’ argues @william_freer and Matthew Palmer in part 2 of the analysis of ‘#AtlanticBastion#Memorandum #BritainsWorld britainsworld.org.uk/p/the-memorand…

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William Freer
William Freer@william_freer·
Was a pleasure to contribute to this timely discussion The Baltic Sea is vital to the prosperity/security of countries in the region. With Baltic Sentry some great work to tackle threats is underway but more can be done & deepening 🇬🇧🇵🇱 relations will be key to these efforts
Polish Embassy UK 🇵🇱@PolishEmbassyUK

Protecting critical undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea 🛡 Together with @ConGeostrategy, we hosted a discussion on protecting European underwater infrastructure from sub-threshold threats after an increased number of ‘incidents’ damaging subsea cables and fuel pipelines.

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