In this episode of MWI’s Urban Warfare Project Podcast , John Spencer is joined by Brig. Gen. Robert Wooldridge. He is the Deputy Commanding General for Support of the 40th Infantry Division, California Army National Guard—which just held the Army’s first urban warfare planners course. Listen as he explains the gaps that drove the division's leaders to create the course, the challenges in designing the course, the lessons they learned executing the course, and what comes next as the team works t...
Oct 29, 2021•38 min
In this episode, the second in a two-part series, John Spencer continues his conversation with retired Brig. Gen. Yom Tov Tamir. In the previous episode, he reflected on his long career as an armor officer in the Israel Defense Forces, in which he held positions from tank commander to division commander. Part two picks up with a description of his experiences during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, including the last battle of the war, the Battle of Suez, which ended disastrously. Based on his experienc...
Oct 15, 2021•27 min
In this episode, the first in a two-part series, John Spencer is joined by retired Maj. Gen. Yom Tov Tamir. He served a long career in the Israel Defense Forces as an armor officer holding positions from tank commander to division commander. In 1973, he was an armor battalion commander during the Yom Kippur War. In part one of the conversation, he reflects on his career as an armor officer—from a secret trip to Germany in 1964 to learn about American tanks, through his service in the 1967 Six-Da...
Oct 01, 2021•44 min
In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Dr. Anthony King, a professor of war studies at the University of Warwick and the author of a new book, Urban Warfare in the Twenty-First Century . He talks about his book, including an important conclusion: because of discernible trends in urbanization, weapons development, and the size of modern military forces, Western militaries will be unable to avoid fighting in cities in the future....
Sep 17, 2021•37 min
In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Ze’ev Orenstein, director of international affairs at the City of David Foundation. He explains the history of ancient Jerusalem and the discovery of the City of David—the lost and original city of Jerusalem and a place of importance to billions of people today. Over its four-thousand-year history, the city has been deeply shaped by a variety of forces, including urban planning, warfare, and underground operations—the conversation even includes the stor...
Sep 03, 2021•41 min
In this episode, John Spencer is joined by retired Colonel Kevin Felix. He served 30 years in the US Army, with his last assignment as chief of Army Capabilities and Integration Center's Future Warfare Division. He describes the Army’s different approaches for thinking about and studying the future of warfare, including major efforts beginning in 2014 to focus on global urbanization, including by incorporating it into wargames like Unified Quest . The discussion highlights the complex challenge ...
Jul 23, 2021•34 min
In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Staff Sgt. Nicholas Garner, an instructor for the Urban Mobility Breacher Course, which is a part of the US Army Engineer School. As a tactical task, breaching can be challenging. That becomes especially true in the unique conditions of dense urban terrain. Staff Sgt. Garner explains how the course trains soldiers to understand and overcome those challenges, and the importance of having urban breaching capabilities in units.
Jul 09, 2021•32 min
In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Colorado Springs Police Chief Vince Niski to discuss urban policing. In the conversation, Chief Niski explains the basics of urban policing, how the size of the police force and frequency of patrols in dense urban areas is determined, technologies that can be used to assist in urban policing, and recommendations for the military about advising police forces.
Jun 25, 2021•40 min
A few episodes ago, John Spencer spoke to retired Colonel Leonard DeFrancisci about his Marine Corps civil affairs detachment's role during the Second Battle of Fallujah. He joins the Urban Warfare Project Podcast once again to continue the conversation, this time describing the massive coalition effort to rebuild the city after intense fighting and major destruction of the urban battle.
Jun 11, 2021•41 min
During the recent outbreak of fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, many of the Israeli strikes targeted Hamas tunnels. That raises a range of important questions. What advantages do subterranean environments lend to combatants? What military challenges do tunnels pose? More broadly, why is underground warfare occurring increasingly frequently? Dr. Daphne Richemond-Barak—author of the book Underground Warfare and creator of the International Working Group on Subterranean Warfare—joins this ...
May 28, 2021•44 min
In this episode, Canadian Army Major Jayson Geroux joins to discuss the 1943 Battle of Ortona. Sometimes called the “Italian Stalingrad,” the battle took place in the town of Ortona, on Italy's Adriatic coast, during World War II. Maj. Geroux walks listeners through the battle, which pitted a Canadian infantry brigade against German paratroopers, and highlights lessons from the fighting that should inform the way we think about urban warfare and the potential for peer conflict in dense urban ter...
May 14, 2021•45 min
In this episode, John Spencer speaks to retired Colonel Leonard DeFrancisci. In 2004, he was a civil affairs detachment commander for the Marine Corps' Regimental Combat Team 1 during the Second Battle of Fallujah, Iraq. He describes the role of civil affairs in the lead-up to that battle and the activities undertaken by civil affairs forces during the fighting. His story highlights the special capabilities civil affairs soldiers and Marines can bring to even a high-intensity urban battle....
Apr 30, 2021•42 min
In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Major General Ross Coffman, director of Army Futures Command's Next Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team. He describes the team's objectives and the projects it has underway as it works toward a replacement for the M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle—actually a family of manned and unmanned robotics that will shape the future battlefield. He also discusses the different environments in which future combat vehicle capabilities are tested—from...
Apr 16, 2021•35 min
The Army has three "dirt" combat training centers that are focused on training units at the brigade combat team level and below. A fourth, the Mission Command Training Program, is geared toward training higher echelons—Army divisions, corps, and component commands. In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Col. Shane Morgan, commander of the MCTP, who described the MCTP mission and how they work to train units at these echelons for the challenges of the future operational environment—including ...
Apr 02, 2021•33 min
In this episode of the Urban Warfare Project Podcast , from the Modern War Institute at West Point, John Spencer is joined by Col. Rich Creed, director of the Army’s Combined Arms Doctrine Directorate.
Mar 20, 2021•1 hr 3 min
In this episode Dr. Charles Knight joings John Spencer to discuss the Battle of Marawi. A senior lecturer in terrorism, asymmetric conflict, and urban operations at Charles Sturt University and a senior researcher at the University of New South Wales, Dr. Knight has researched and and written about the 2017 battle, in which the Philippine Army fought against Islamic State fighters over the course of five months. With the two sides fighting through the streets, alleys, and buildings of Marawi, it...
Mar 05, 2021•47 min
In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Rob Taylor, company director of 4GD, a UK-based organization that specializes in developing unique close-combat training facilities—what the company calls "SmartFacilities." He describes those training facilities, how the physical aspects of training can be integrated into synthetic, "integrated reality" environments, and more.
Feb 19, 2021•43 min
In this episode, Dr. Louis DiMarco, a professor of military history at the US Army Command and General Staff College, presents a short lecture on the 2006 Battle of Ramadi, Iraq. He describes the context of the fighting and many of the key players involved. He also explains the concepts that were used to turn the city of Ramadi, widely known as the “the deadliest city in Iraq,” into a comparative model of stability that guided the way counterinsurgency operations were conducted across the countr...
Feb 05, 2021•32 min
Why are subterranean environments so uniquely challenging for military forces? And why is underground warfare occurring increasingly frequently? Dr. Daphne Richemond-Barak—author of the book Underground Warfare and creator of the International Working Group on Subterranean Warfare—joins this episode to discuss these and other questions about the subterranean dimension of urban warfare.
Jan 22, 2021•44 min
In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Lt. Gen. James Rainey. He is the commander of the US Army's Combined Arms Center, and in 2004, he was the battalion commander of 2nd Battalion, 7th Calvary Regiment during the Second Battle of Fallujah. Lt. Gen. Rainey discusses the context, planning, and execution of the battle, and shares his thoughts on the unique challenges of conducting high-intensity combat in dense urban terrain and what missions the Army may be required to conduct in cities in t...
Jan 08, 2021•43 min
As the chair of urban warfare studies at MWI, John Spencer spends a lot of time thinking about the gaps between the tasks that soldiers will be required to perform in urban environments and the capabilities currently available to them. This episode features a discussion about twelve of those capabilities that he particularly would like to see the US military integrate—it's the twelve days of urban warfare Christmas.
Dec 25, 2020•59 min
In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Alex Giles. He is the chief commercial officer for ICENI Labs, science and technology research that recently won a competition—the "Seeing into the Unknown: Situational Awareness in Dense Urban Environments Online Challenge"—organized by the US National Security Innovation Network. The ICENI Labs Team Tercio’s solution involved a system of technologies, including their "sense through the wall" radar technology to build a three-dimensional volumetric loc...
Dec 11, 2020•39 min
This episode takes a slight departure from the format typical of the Urban Warfare Project Podcast . John Spencer—the podcast's regular host and a leading expert on the subject of urban warfare—joins as the guest to take a comprehensive look at the subject of urban warfare. The conversation explores why it's so challenging, why the US military struggles with those challenges, and what steps can be taken to overcome them.
Nov 27, 2020•49 min
Like many military functions, the challenges of explosive ordnance disposal are compounded by urban terrain. This episode explorse those challenges. Host John Spencer is joined by Master Sgt. Michael Kidd an experienced leader in Army EOD with over sixteen years of service.
Nov 13, 2020•27 min
In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Dr. Deane Baker, an associate professor at the University of New South Wales, Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy. He specializes in the ethics of armed conflict. He discusses his research on military ethics and how ethical dilemmas present themselves on the battlefield. In particular, he explains why urban warfare creates a context that generates unique ethical concerns—concerns that remain unresolved and are of interest to both warfighter...
Oct 30, 2020•37 min
This episode features a conversation with Col. Joseph Hilbert, who recently completed a two-year assignment as the commander of the Operations Group at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center—one of three US Army combat training centers, and the only one based outside the United States. JMRC is unique in the multinational composition of units it supports and its particular focus on Europe. Col. Hilbert discusses JMRC's special attributes, some of the challenges of multinational interoperability...
Oct 16, 2020•35 min
This is a special episode of the Urban Warfare Project Podcast . The Association of the United States Army hosts a podcasts called Army Matters , which regularly brings together a select group of thought leaders to discuss a topic of pressing interest to the Army. One recent conversation was focused on the subject of urban warfare. John Spencer, MWI's chair of urban warfare studies and host of the Urban Warfare Project Podcast , was invited to take part, along with Dr. Russell Glenn and retired ...
Oct 02, 2020•31 min
In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Samuel Bendett. An analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses, he specializes in Russian unmanned military systems and artificial intelligence. In the conversation, he discusses his work tracking Russian technological advancements. He also describes various unmanned aerial and ground vehicles Russia is experimenting with for urban combat and explains how lessons learned from Russia's recent experiences fighting in Syria is impacting Russian force develo...
Sep 18, 2020•37 min
In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Dr. Sokwoo Rhee. The Associate Director of Cyber-Physical Systems Innovation at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, he is currently leading the Global City Teams Challenge, a program that aims to create a replicable and scalable model for collaborative incubation and deployment of Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems solutions to improve the quality of life in smart cities around the world.
Sep 04, 2020•49 min
In this episode of MWI’s Urban Warfare Project Podcast , John Spencer is joined the Colorado Springs Police Chief Vince Niski to discuss urban policing. In the conversation, Chief Niski explains the basics of urban policing, how the size of the police force and frequency of patrols in dense urban areas is determined, technologies that can be used to assist in urban policing, and recommendations for the military about advising police forces.
Aug 21, 2020•40 min
