Mark Urban

London

Writer and Columnist at The Sunday Times

Writes for Sunday Times, BBC 1990-2024, author; Big Boys Rules, Generals, Rifles, TF Black, The Tank War, The Edge, Skripal Files, Red Devils, trustee @I_W_M

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Articles

Four Ways to Deal With Fordow

1 week ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

First, and most obviously there is the question of whether the Israelis can do it on their own, using airpower. This same conundrum applies to underground storage facilities at Esfahan and elsewhere believed to house Iran’s stock of uranium enriched to 60%. The conventional wisdom is that the Israeli air force lacks bombs powerful enough to penetrate these deep targets.
Israel's Sledgehammer

1 week ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

Does any country in the world have a more capable air arm than Israel? Certainly, when it has been combined with excellent intelligence and attainable objectives, it has had a dramatic effect on the Middle East during the past 18 months. The power of this air force allows Israel a more equal relationship with the US than many of its other allies. But at the same time, its use without a coherent political strategy for the region might result in chaos rather than security.
Russia's Dizzying Drone Offensive

2 weeks ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

It’s been another testing week for Ukrainians, with records set just a fortnight ago for Russian drone launches against them already broken. There are important pointers here not just for the embattled citizens of Kyiv or Kharkiv but for western countries and their plans for rearmament. We are reminded of that centuries old principle of the Russian way of war that ‘quantity has a quality of its own’.
Tanks And The Dream of Victory

3 weeks ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

To mark the publication of my latest book I’m posting this essay on why from the Somme in 1916 to Ukraine today, these war machines won’t go away. A tank is the ultimate symbol of warfare in the machine age. Immoral, inexorable in its progress, like any machine it serves dictatorships and democracies alike.
Back to the Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier

3 weeks ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

Anybody who has worried about the hollowed-out state of the UK armed forces in an age of global crises should welcome the ambition and intent of this Strategic Defence Review. After decades of decline and pretence, it marks the beginning of meaningful change. It is driven by adversity. “For the first time since the end of the Cold War”, it notes, ‘the UK faces multiple, direct threats to its security, prosperity, and democratic values”.
Ten tanks that changed the world

3 weeks ago | thetimes.com | Mark Urban

When he was invited to a demonstration of a new secret weapon at Hatfield Park, Hertfordshire, in February 1916, the secretary of state for war was distinctly underwhelmed. Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, having watched the prototype tanks chugging along at walking pace, left early, dismissing what he had seen as “a pretty mechanical toy, but without serious military value”. To its advocates this new machine was an answer to the prayers of those fighting and dying in the trenches.
Show Me The Money!

4 weeks ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

The UK will publish its Strategic Defence Review or SDR next week and those who follow the topic have been waiting the best part of a year for this. It will be a weighty work, designed to reverse decades of post-Cold War military decline, while getting the country to think seriously again about possible conflict with other states – a big change requiring an equally seismic shift in the national mentality.
Our Secret Afghan Allies

1 month ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

On Thursday (22nd May), lawyers fighting a case for a former Afghan commando seeking to come to Britain obtained papers that showed, among other things, that a single officer in UK Special Forces HQ vetoed 1,585 Afghan applicants coming to this country. These Afghan soldiers faced torture and death at the hands of the Taliban if the British authorities refused them asylum.
The UK/EU Defence Deal

1 month ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

Earlier this week the UK hosted a summit with leaders of the European Union in London. Among the headline items was a new defence pact, something nearly everyone has agreed would be a good idea post-Brexit. Why not get closer working ties in our democratic neighbourhood when we have not just Putin but Trump to worry about now? After all fear of Russia and that the US security guarantee may not be reliable are spurring a big defence spending splurge across Europe.
Israel Prepares to Reoccupy Gaza

1 month ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

The big Israeli operation in Gaza is well underway now and as had been clear for some time, could go as far as to reoccupy the strip. According to the Israeli Ministry of Defence the aim of, ‘Operation Gideon’s Chariot’, is to meet the country’s objectives “including the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas”. It's a terrible outcome for the Palestinians.