The Long War Conference 2026

Recent conflicts have demonstrated that military advantage depends on more than the forces and equipment available on day one. A state’s ability to mobilise its society, adapt faster than its adversary and sustain political and public support are vital to success in any protracted conflict.

Returning for its second year, RUSI’s Long War Conference will bring together senior policymakers, military leaders, parliamentarians, industry figures and leading experts to examine how Britain and its allies can prepare for the demands of protracted, high-intensity conflict. The conference will move the debate beyond readiness for the first battle to consider how national power can be regenerated and sustained once initial inventories, force structures and peacetime assumptions come under pressure.

The conference will focus on three interconnected challenges:

• Mobilising people: how the Armed Forces can recruit, retain and develop the talent they need, regenerate combat power following attrition, and make effective use of reserves and successive force echelons.
• Mobilising industry and the adaptation loop: how government, the military and the defence sector can expand production, shorten the adaptation loop between the battlefield and the factory, and use dissimilar rearmament to deliver capability at the speed and the scale required.
• Democracy at war: how political leadership, public consent and societal resilience can be sustained through the disruption, costs and uncertainty of a long conflict.

Through keynote addresses and expert panel discussions, the conference will test whether Britain and its allies possess the institutions, industrial capacity and political will needed to endure. RUSI will provide a forum in which leaders from government, the military, industry and wider society can examine the choices that must be made now if long-war resilience is to become a credible foundation for deterrence.

Ticket Pricing

• Standard Conference Ticket: £360.00 (+ vat)
• RUSI Organisation Members Conference Ticket: £216.00 (+ vat)
  (You need to be a current RUSI Organisation Member Nominee to be eligible for this ticket.)
• Military Services Concession Conference Ticket: £288.00 (+ vat)
  (You need to be serving military personnel (including foreign military) to be eligible for this ticket.)
• Academic Institution Concession Conference Ticket: £288.00 (+ vat)
  (You need to be studying at or working for an academic institution to be eligible for this ticket.)