Project Wavell

Determining the British Army’s theory of victory

Project WAVELL will determine from first principles – grounded in adversary and real-world considerations – how the British Army offers most significant value to Defence and its allies against the challenges we will likely face over the next decade. 

WAVELL will produce a revised foundational concept, which will explore how the Army of 2035 can make the most telling contribution in deterring adversary aggression and, when necessary, warfighting; fostering stability; ‘sub-threshold competition’ and protecting the homeland – in short, how we fight and how we operate.

This ‘theory of victory’ for UK land power will be fit for the age of autonomous machines, artificial intelligence, ubiquitous digital connectivity and abundant information; one that is capable of meeting the challenges presented by competing states both above and below the threshold of conflict, and by ever more sophisticated violent extremists.

WAVELL will define how the Army best helps the nation win in competition and conflict, operating at the heart of an integrated, joint, coalition and multi-domain effort. The resulting foundational concept will drive the design of the Future Force (i.e. the Army of the 2030s). As importantly, it will also inform the implementation of Future Soldier, and its subsequent iterative optimisation during the remainder of the 2020s.