RUSI Integrated Air and Missile Defence Conference 2026

Professor Steven Barrett

CEO, Cambridge Aerospace

Steven Barrett is the Founder and CEO of Cambridge Aerospace, a UK-headquartered defence technology startup building low-cost advanced interceptors to address critical gaps in air and missile defence. The company is growing across Europe and is also developing a solid rocket motor programme to establish a sovereign propellant supply chain.

Barrett was appointed to the Regius Professorship of Engineering at the University of Cambridge in 2024. Before returning to the UK, he spent 14 years as an aerospace engineering professor at MIT, ending as Head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Professor Barrett holds BA, MEng, and PhD degrees in engineering from the University of Cambridge.

Sam Cranny-Evans

RUSI Associate Fellow

Sam Cranny-Evans was a Research Analyst at RUSI in C4ISR between October 2021 and December 2022. During his time at RUSI he focused on multi-domain integration, electronic warfare, and the war in Ukraine. He co-led the establishment of the Red Team project, which provides analysis of the Russian and Chinese militaries. He has also spent time researching lethal autonomous weapons and their proliferation risk. He now works at Helsing, a defence AI company providing thought leadership and in government affairs.

Previously, he worked for five years at the Janes Information Group where he finished as a lead analyst in land warfare platforms. His primary role was the creation and maintenance of the Janes Armoured Fighting Vehicles yearbooks and online content set. His research in this area encompassed a range of topics from armoured vehicle design to their interaction with UAVs.

Alongside this he contributed to the Janes news and analysis publications, and assisted with or wrote more than 500 news articles during his time with the company. His research has included the development and modernisation of China’s People’s Liberation Army, artillery tactics in Ukraine and Russia’s concepts of escalation management.

Sam has a degree in War Studies from the University of Kent, where he graduated with first class honours in 2012 having written a dissertation on the morale of the Russian population during the Second World War. His studies included conflicts throughout history from the Punic Wars to the Falklands.

Eben Frankenberg

CEO, Echodyne Corp

Eben Frankenberg is CEO of Echodyne Corp which he co-founded in 2014 to bring metamaterials-based radar products to market. Before Echodyne, Eben held executive leadership positions at Intellectual Ventures (IV) which included creating and incubating new companies like Echodyne, founded in 2014, Evolv Technologies, Inc., founded in 2013 to deliver security imaging products, Kymeta, founded in 2012 to deliver metamaterials-based satellite communication terminals, and TerraPower, founded in 2008 to deliver next generation nuclear power reactors. Eben was COO of Intellectual Ventures as it grew from 50 to 550 people, and from $250M to >$5B of capital under management. Prior to joining Intellectual Ventures, Eben spent 9 years at Onyx Software Corporation in various executive leadership roles. From 1995-2000, he led sales and marketing as the company grew from $2M to $160M annual run rate and went from basement start-up to 800 person publicly traded NASDAQ company. Eben has a B.A. from Dartmouth, and a M.S. from Stanford.

Colonel Stuart Hay

Commander of 7th Air Defence Group, British Army

Since commissioning in 2003, Col Stuart Hay’s service has centred around both planning and executing the integration of the Air and Land Components, at brigade and divisional levels.

Operationally, he has deployed to Iraq twice; as a Multiple Commander on OP TELIC, conducting Security Sector Reform in Basra in 2005 and as ADC to the 3* DCG Multi-National Force-Iraq in Baghdad in 2009. He deployed as a Fire Support Team Commander in Afghanistan in 2007, on Op HERRICK 6, supporting both the Grenadier Guards and Royal Anglian Regiment Battle Groups. In 2022, he was Director Plans for the Special Operations Joint Task Force-Levant on Op SHADER.

His service on the Staff has included delivering joint operational medical capability for the Surgeon General, largely to Afghanistan at the height of the conflict. He was also SO2 J5 in the 1st Artillery Brigade, and a Chief of the Joint Air Ground Integration Cell (JAGIC), with HQ 3^rd (UK) Division.

At Sub-Unit he commanded both a Close Support Tac Gp Bty (137 (Java) Battery) and an MLRS Bty (132 Battery (The Bengal Rocket Troop)). As Second-in-Command of 26^th Regiment Royal Artillery, he controlled both the rebasing of the last British Army Close Support artillery regiment from Germany, and the reformation of the divisional deep fires regiment in Larkhill.

In 2022, he took command of 16^th Regiment Royal Artillery (The London Invicta Gunners). Over the next two years the regiment conducted the first operational deployments of the UK’s first beyond-visual-range GBAD system for 50 years (Sky Sabre), to both the Falkland Islands and eastern Europe and the Land Environment Air Picture Provision capability returned to readiness supporting 3(UK)XX, the LABCT and the ABCT.

In Feb 24 he was selected for promotion to Colonel and Command of 7^th Air Defence Group, the British Army’s Ground Based Air Defence Formation, from May 24.

His advanced staff training was as a member of the Army Advanced Development Programme. He has a BSC (Hons) in Business and an MBA, with a research focus on developing the operational mindset of service personnel by optimising ‘in-camp’ organisational culture and processes.

Commodore Marcus Hember

Deputy Director Navy Capability Plans, Royal Navy

Hember joined the Royal Navy in 1996. Early sea service spanned Offshore Patrol Vessels to Aircraft Carriers, as a Frigate Navigating Officer providing fire support during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and roles as a PWO (Communications and Electronic Warfare). Shore service roles have included Commander Mobile Sea Training to FOST, the Joint Services Command and Staff College, and the Ministry of Defence Crisis team during numerous Middle East crises and the inception of Defence support and response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the UK Maritime Operations Centre, Hember lead the team developing maritime operational plans and overseeing the RN’s operating budget. Operational sea commands have included two River Class Offshore Patrol Vessels in Northern Europe and the South Atlantic, the Type 45 destroyers DARING and DIAMOND, and the Amphibious Flagship ALBION leading the Northern Littoral Response Group on operations in the High North and Baltic.  A sailor, Hember is Vice Commodore RNSA and chairs Royal Navy Sailing.  

He has been Deputy Director Naval Capability Plans, and UK Representative to the NATO Naval Armaments Group, since 2024. 

Major General Anders Jernberg

Commander, Norwegian Defense Logistics Organisation (NDLO)

Major General Anders Jernberg is Commander, Norwegian Defense Logistics Organisation (NDLO), a position he has held since 2023. As Commander, NDLO, Maj Gen Jernberg provides logistics support to Norwegian and Allied Forces in Norway and in the High North, with a primary role for host nation support in the Norwegian Armed Forces.

In a distinguished career that spans decades in uniform, Maj Gen Jernberg has served as intelligence officer with deployments in several world hot-spots, including in the Balkans and Afghanistan; as Chief of the Installations and Infrastructure Section with the Norwegian Defense Staff; and as Principal Aide de Camp to His Majesty the King of Norway.

Maj Gen Jernberg was trained a Combat Engineer, served as Army Engineer Platoon Commander and later went on to become Chief of the Army School of Engineering as well as Army Engineer Battalion Commander. As a junior officer Jernberg served in various positions in the Army and Army School of Engineering; and with the Defense Staff, Maj Gen Jernberg also served as Senior Officer in the Operations Section.

In addition to initial and juniors' education in the Army, Maj Gen Jernberg has senior officers' education from the Norwegian Defense Command and Staff College, is a graduate of the US Army Engineer School and is an alumnus of the Senior Executive Course, Norwegian National Defense College.

Prior to taking up his current position, Maj Gen Jernberg served as Commander, Norwegian Joint Logistics Support Group, the national joint logistics tactical unit. In this role he developed simultaneiously a tactical logistics capacity for the Norwegian Joint Operations Headquaters and for Joint Force Command, Norfolk - reporting, as he continues to do his current role, to both headquarters' commanders.

Dr Thomas Karako

Director Missile Defence Programme, CSIS

Thomas Karako is the director of the Missile Defense Project and a senior fellow with the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where he arrived in 2014. His research focuses on national security, missile defense, nuclear deterrence, and public law. In 2010–2011, he was an American Political Science Association congressional fellow, working with the professional staff of the House Armed Services Committee and the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces on U.S. strategic forces policy, nonproliferation, and NATO. Dr Karako received his PhD from Claremont Graduate University and his BA from the University of Dallas.

Dr Sidharth Kaushal

Senior Research Fellow, Sea Power, RUSI

Sidharth Kaushal's research at RUSI covers the impact of technology on maritime doctrine in the 21st century and the role of sea power in a state's grand strategy.

Sidharth holds a doctorate in International Relations from the London School of Economics, where his research examined the ways in which strategic culture shapes the contours of a nation's grand strategy.

Jeremy Knupp

Vice President, Global Command and Control Solutions C2 & Weapons Integration, Northrop Grumman

Jeremy D. Knupp is the vice president of the Global Command and Control Solutions (GC2S) business unit of the C2 & Weapons Integration division at Northrop Grumman’s Defense Systems sector, as well as Northrop Grumman Huntsville, Alabama, site lead. In this role, he is a trusted customer collaborator and is responsible for leading overall global growth, strategy and program execution for GC2S. GC2S delivers innovative and advanced  command and control capabilities, next-generation integrated air-and-missile defense, nuclear C2  and cutting-edge decision superiority solutions to maximize weapon systems effectiveness.

Jeremy previously served as vice president and chief information and digital officer for Northrop Grumman. In this role, he led all aspects of the company’s information technology (IT), digital transformation, and data intelligence strategy. Before that, he served as vice president of digital transformation where he was responsible for the company’s digital transformation initiatives across the full lifecycle digital thread ranging from digital engineering and manufacturing to supply chain and project execution.

Prior to his digital transformation role, Knupp served as vice president, engineering and sciences, for the Airborne Multifunction Sensors (AMS) division and site engineering lead for Baltimore, Maryland, within Northrop Grumman’s Mission Systems sector. Knupp joined Northrop Grumman in 2011 after holding engineering and leadership positions at Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems on various intelligence programs. With more than 25 years of  experience in the intelligence and defense industry, Knupp has worked on a broad set of programs and functions encompassing engineering, manufacturing, program management, and capture on offensive and defensive cyber systems, aircraft survivability systems, and intelligence, 
surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems. He served in the United States Air Force as an intelligence analyst. Knupp earned his bachelor’s in management information systems from Sentinel University.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global aerospace and defense technology company. Our pioneering solutions equip our customers with the capabilities they need to connect and protect the world and push the boundaries of human exploration across the universe. Driven by a shared purpose to solve our customers’ toughest problems, our employees define possible every day.

Paul Livingston

Chief Executive & Chair, Lockheed Martin UK

Paul Livingston was appointed Chief Executive & Chair, Lockheed Martin UK, in April 2021 – he is responsible for all operations of Lockheed Martin UK and it’s subsidiaries, in October 2024 he was additionally appointed as the Senior Executive for NATO within Lockheed Martin.

Paul began his career as an engineering apprentice working in simulation and has since spent more than thirty eight years in the defence sector.

Since joining Lockheed Martin in 2001, Paul has held a number of executive roles across the global corporation in the UK, the Netherlands, Brazil and South Korea. He has also served as Managing Director of Ascent, a 50/50 joint venture with Babcock International delivering the UK’s Military Flying Training System.

Paul serves His Majesty’s Government as a Member of the Defence Industrial Joint Council. He previously served on the MOD’s “Raising Our Standards” External Challenge Panel and as a member of the United Kingdom Investment Council and the Defence Suppliers Forum Executive Board. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a former Strategic Advisor to the Women in Defence organisation.

In the June 2025 King’s Birthday Honours List, Paul was appointed an Ordinary Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for Services to the Defence Industry.

Paul is a Non-Executive Director of Thames Freeport.

Air Cdre Paul O’Neill

RUSI Senior Associate Fellow

Paul O’Neill's research interests cover national security strategy, NATO, and organisational aspects of Defence and security, including organisational design, human resources, professional military education and decision-making. He was the editor of the national security council compendium ‘Securing the State and Its Citizens’ (Bloomsbury, 2022) and co-hosts the RUSI Talking Strategy Podcast series with Professor Beatrice Heuser.

Previously, Paul was a Royal Air Force officer working in strategy and human resources roles across Defence including in the Ministry of Defence Head Office. His career included commanding the Defence School of Personnel Administration, leading the military team working on the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review and latterly as the Head of Defence People Strategy. He has undertaken operational tours in Iraq, Northern Ireland, Oman, Turkey and Afghanistan where he was the Senior Advisor on Strategy and Policy to the Afghan Ministry of Interior.

Paul has a Bachelor’s in Laws, a post-graduate diploma in Personnel Management and Master’s degrees in Laws, Defence Studies and International Relations. He has been a Chief of the Air Staff Fellow at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford and is a visiting professor at the University of Winchester. He is a Companion of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

He was appointed a CBE in the New Year’s Honour List 2021.

Frank A. Rose

President of Chevalier Strategic Advisors

Frank A. Rose is President of Chevalier Strategic Advisors, a strategic advisory firm focused on the intersection of geopolitics, national security, and defense technology. He advises companies, investors, and institutions on strategic risk, government engagement, and emerging defense and dual-use technologies.

Previously, Rose served as Principal Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (2021–2024), where he helped oversee the U.S. nuclear security enterprise. He also served as Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Space and Defense Policy (2009–2017), leading U.S. policy on nuclear deterrence, arms control, missile defense, space security, and allied defense cooperation. Earlier in his career, he was a Professional Staff Member on the House Armed Services Committee and a policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Defense.

Rose is a frequent commentator and author on national security and strategic technology issues, with appearances across major media outlets and policy forums.

He holds a B.A. in History from American University and an M.A. from King’s College London.

Pierre Roty

Head of Air Defence – Sales & Business Development, MBDA France

Pierre Roty is the head of Air Defense department for the Sales and Business Development Directorate at MBDA France.

Pierre joined MBDA France early 2021 after 25 years of service in the French Navy where he assumed various positions and commands in naval operations, international relations and capability development to include the future programs of Extended Air Defence and forces protection weapons systems.

After four years in MBDA France, focused on Business Development for the ASTER and HYDIS programs, his new scope is now enlarged to Sales and Business development for the Force protection and Aera protection portfolio namely Direct Energy and Laser Systems, Counter UAX, VSHORAD (Mistral), SHORAD (VL MICA), ASTER and HYDIS.

Matthew Savill

Director of Military Sciences, RUSI

Matthew Savill is the Director of Military Sciences at RUSI, focussing on developments and trends in modern conflict, and the use of force in the 21st Century.

Before joining RUSI he spent over 20 years as a civil servant working on defence and security, predominantly in the Ministry of Defence. He joined the MOD in 2003, starting his career in Defence Intelligence as an Iraq analyst before moving to intelligence coordination and support to operations, and later roles in private office, approvals and scrutiny of major procurement projects, before a return to analysis and a secondment to the Cabinet Office. 

He has also specialised in strategy and policy, with roles in: Defence Strategy and Priorities, working on the Integrated Review; the MOD’s Operations Directorate, where he was responsible for operational policy for the Middle East and overseas counter-terrorism; the Cabinet Office National Security Secretariat, to cover intelligence oversight and then Middle East policy; the MOD team responsible for the deployment of the UK Carrier Strike Group in 2021; and operations and crisis team responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. His final role in the MOD was responsibility for Special Operations policy, covering oversight of UK Special Forces and intelligence operations.

He attended the Advanced Command and Staff Course at the Defence Academy Shrivenham in 2010-11, and the Higher Command and Staff Course in 2020, and has a Masters in Defence Studies from King’s College London. He has had articles published in Defence Studies and on The Wavell Room website.

He has deployed on operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and across the Middle East for the military campaign against Daesh.

Matthew was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2008. 

Radoslava Stefanova

Head of IAMD Section, NATO Defence Investment Division

Radoslava Stefanova is the Head of the Integrated Air and Missile Defence Section in NATO’s Defence Investment Division. Until September 2020, Radoslava was Head of the Russia and Ukraine Relations Section at NATO’s Political Affairs and Security Policy Division, where she worked for 16 years.  

Her earlier professional experience was teaching international and Trans-Atlantic relations at the American University of Rome. Prior to that, she did field work in Kosovo with the International Crisis Group. In the preceding years, she was a research fellow at a Rome-based think tank, Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), where she worked on Trans-Atlantic relations, the Balkans, Russia, deterrence and defence, nuclear non-proliferation and conflict management. Radoslava has published a number of articles and book chapters on these topics, and co-edited two books, The New Transatlantic Agenda: Facing the Challenges of Global Governance (Ashgate, 2001, republished by Routledge, 2017) and Promoting Conflict Prevention and Human Security: G8, UN, and Global Governance (Ashgate, 2003).  

Radoslava holds graduate degrees in international affairs/strategic studies from the Johns Hopkins Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), US and in conflict analysis from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) of Carleton University, Canada. She is currently in the process of finalising her Ph.D. thesis on conflict prevention at the European University Institute in Fiesole, Italy. Her undergraduate degree in international affairs was granted by the American University of Paris, France summa cum laude.  

Radoslava is a dual Bulgarian and Italian national. In December 2007 she was granted the title of Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Solidarietà Italiana by the President of Italy.

Lincoln Taylor

Managing Director, LT-X Group Ltd

With over 35 years of experience in the aerospace and defence sector, and having led the Royal Air Force's Capabilities and Programmes Branch, Lincoln Taylor has had the privilege to work with our most inspiring and exciting companies to offer strategic advice, mentoring and support. From team and individual through to Board-level, he advises on their strategies, plans, innovation and to scale and adapt what they have, to broader outcomes.

Lincoln has a strong background in innovation having founded and led the RAF's Rapid Capabilities Office. He has also developed and applied skills in C-suite and Major Programme leadership, organizational culture and design, operational planning, and risk-management.

By focussing on exponential change, he is convinced that by applying modern technologies and digital applications to what we already do, we can advance, by magnitudes, our effectiveness and performance and significantly reduce associated time and costs.

Dr Jack Watling

Senior Research Fellow for Land Warfare, RUSI

Dr Jack Watling is Senior Research Fellow for Land Warfare at the Institute. Jack works extensively with the British and allied militaries on force development and operational analysis. Jack has worked extensively in Ukraine during Russia’s invasion, in Iraq during the campaign to defeat Daesh, in Mali, Rwanda and further afield. He is the Co-author alongside Nick Reynolds of War by Others’ Means: Delivering Effective Partner Force Capacity Building (2021).

: https://rusi.org/people/jack-watling