RUSI Combat Air Power Conference 2026

Registration will take place between 08:30 and 08:55. Please take your seat at least 5 minutes before the start of the conference.

Speakers:

• Lieutenant General André Steur, Commander, Royal Netherlands Air Force  
  'Royal Netherlands Air Force Plans and Operational Priorities' 

• Lieutenant General Jamie Speiser-Blanchet, Commander Royal Canadian Air Force
  'Royal Canadian Air Force Plans and Operational Priorities'

• Major General Ireneusz Nowak, Deputy Commander, Polish Armed Forces 
  'Polish Air Force Structure and Capability Evolution' 
• Major General Jonas Wikman, Commander, Swedish Air Force
  'Swedish Air Force Plans and Operational Priorities'

Chair:  Dr Justin Bronk, Senior Research Fellow for Airpower, RUSI 

Tea, coffee and refreshments will be available for conference delegates.

Speakers:  

• Dr Jack Watling, Senior Research Fellow for Land Warfare, RUSI
  'The Outlook for Ukraine, Russian Force Growth and Long-Term Threat'
• Dr Ulrike Franke, Senior Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations
  'European Rearmament and Geopolitical Trends'
• Douglas Barrie, Senior Fellow for Military Aerospace, IISS
  'PLAAF Capability Growth and Trajectory'

Lunch will be provided for conference delegates.

Speakers:

• Jason Hawker, Branch Chief, NATO Flight Training Europe
  'Options for an Integrated NATO Flight Training Architecture'
• Ian Gale, Draken Chief Growth Officer
  'European Operational Readiness Training – Opportunities and Challenges'
• Dr Justin Bronk, Senior Research Fellow for Airpower, RUSI
  'Risk and Cost Trade-off Options for Flight Training Recapitalisation'
• Nev Kingdon, Head of Next Generation Training Integration, BAE Systems
  'Modernising our Training Systems – Preparing the Next Generation'

Chair: Lieutenant-Colonel Adrien “Gollum” Gorremans, French Air and Space Force ODSACEUR Command Group

Refreshments will be available for conference delegates.

Speakers: 

• Group Captain Mike Searle, Assistant Head Force Development, Air Capability Futures.
  'Latest developments, including operationalising Tier 2 ACPs'
• Dr Dan “Animal” Javorsek, Chief Engineer - Aviation, Applied Intuition
  'Optimising Combat Air through Applied Autonomy'
• David Arthurton, Managing Director Combat Air UK & Europe, Anduril UK
  Closing Operational Capability Gaps with a Unified Autonomy Stack'
• Johan Segertoft, Head of Business Unit Gripen, SAAB AB 
  'Next-Generation Uncrewed Concepts and Operational Analysis Results'

Chair: Matthew Savill, Director of Military Sciences, RUSI 

Keynote speaker: Air Chief Marshal Harv Smyth, Chief of the Air Staff, Royal Air Force