Episode 4: The INF Treaty and the future of arms control

Douglas Barrie, IISS Senior Fellow for Military Aerospace, joins Dr Kori Schake for this episode of Sounds Strategic.

This new series aims to highlight the breadth and depth of analytical and intellectual talent at the IISS.

In this episode, Kori and Douglas examine recent developments relating to the US withdrawal from the INF Treaty, an agreement that has represented the ‘high water mark of arms control’. Discussion ranges from IISS analysis of the likelihood of Russia being in violation, NATO’s joint statement condemning Russian failure to comply, how to bring Russia back into compliance, and the scope for another iteration of the Treaty to include China.

IISS’s leading analysis contributed to the UK’s Combat Air Strategy, meaning Douglas is well-placed to debunk the conflation of air power with strategic power, seeing its role best used in concert with other capabilities.

Favourite data visualisation:
Henry Boyd, 2019 Military Balance wall chart
Reading recommendations:
Piotr Butowski, Russia’s Warplanes Volume I & II (Havertown: Harpia Publishing, 2015 & 2016)
Piotr Butowski, Russia Air-Launched Weapons (Havertown: Harpia Publishing, 2017)
Colin S. Gray, Understanding Airpower: Bonfire of the Fallacies (CreateSpace, 2009)
Colin S. Gray, Another Bloody Century: Future Warfare (CreateSpace, 2005)
M. Shane Riza, Killing without Heart: Limits on Robotic Warfare in an Age of Persistent Conflict (Nebraska: Potomac Books, 2013)
Date of recording: 11 February 2019

Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.
Theme music: ‘Safety in Numbers’ by We Were Promised Jetpacks.