Flying Start To The Combined Naval Event 2025

Is it that time already? So much has been packed into a spectacular first day at the Combined Naval Event 2025 that it seems difficult to believe we’re already at its end.

The morning was dominated by the twin plenary sessions running in our surface fleet and underwater theatres.

Surface fleet chairman and former Commander U.K. Maritime Forces Vice Admiral (Ret’d) Duncan Potts did an excellent job of setting the scene for what followed. He described the U.K.’s just-announced reset with the EU — with the topic of defence front and centre for the first time — as “a step forward.”

But he noted that despite talk of ceasefires in the Ukraine there was “no end in sight” to the conflict with Russia, and pointedly observed that recent transatlantic developments meant “Europeans need to step up more,” adding: “We cannot rely on the U.S. to spend more on defence than we do.”

Meanwhile in the underwater theatre Vice Admiral (Ret’d) Jeffrey Trussler, the U.S. Navy’s former Deputy Chief of the Naval Operations for Information Warfare was keeping everyone on point with his trademark lively delivery style and liberal use of chairman’s gavel!

It would be impossible to summarise here the plethora of content available across the two morning sessions alone, let alone the six separate streams laid on for the afternoon. Here are just a few highlights:

• Attendees listening to talks on the Royal Navy’s 2040 vision can’t have missed tangible evidence of it on their way in: Leonardo is showcasing the force’s helicopter-sized Proteus UAS demonstrator outside the main entrance alongside its new AWHero platform;

• “Get real, get better” was the main message given to those learning about America’s approach to building capacity and capability for undersea warfare: examples given including cooperating with industry to double torpedo production, and adopting a “fail fast, learn fast SpaceX approach” on underwater drones;

• A focus on shipbuilding in the Republic of Korea noted the nation was now ranked second in the world in terms of global output; delegates heard about plans for its next-generation destroyer with integrated mast and electronic silent running propulsion system, a MUM-T carrier, MUM-T command ship, plus USVs, UAVs, AUVs, and UUVs that will together constitute a “fundamental change in naval operations” and a “new chapter in Korean defence technology”;

• Information warfare’s growing importance was stressed to attendees, with the U.S. Navy’s Vice Admiral Karl Thomas, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare, pointedly noting: “Increasingly, every warrior is an information warrior to some extent,” and explaining “...searching at volume, detecting at range… it’s always about sensing the shooter”; and

• The presentation on the ROKN’s KSS Block III submarine programme was notable not just for its all-round excellence and insightful content — more on this in our forthcoming Insights report — but also for its ingenious drawing of parallels demonstrating just what submarines and James Bond had in common.

Day Two tomorrow will feature six presentation streams running all day: stay tuned for more updates from the biggest annual naval event in Europe!