Assured Lethality: A Risk & Assurance Perspective on the British Army Challenge Set 2025

The British Army Challenge Set 2025 articulates a clear ambition: deliver a more lethal, survivable and sustainable land force by 2027.

Achieving this requires more than new technology. It demands assured decision-making, integrated systems, and disciplined ways of operating in a battlespace that is increasingly transparent, connected and lethal.

Capreae Consulting Ltd brings two decades of EOD, UXO assurance and operational risk experience to this problem space. This article highlights where risk-led thinking can strengthen the Army’s four priority challenge areas.

The Changing Battlespace

Modern conflict is shaped by four realities:

• Persistent surveillance: Drones and sensors make concealment difficult.

• Precision strike: The distance between detection and destruction has collapsed.

• Digital dependency: Command systems, logistics and sensors rely on vulnerable networks and the electromagnetic spectrum.

• Complex terrain and legacy hazards: Mines, UXO and urban clutter constrain movement and decision-making.

These realities create a simple requirement: forces must sense first, decide first and act first — without exposing themselves unnecessarily.

Capreae’s Approach

Capreae applies a practical, risk-informed approach built around three principles:

1. Threat-led.

Start with the threat system and its behaviour, not the desired technology.

2. Human, Process, System.

Ensure people, procedures and equipment align to deliver assured performance.

3. Iterative assurance.

Test, challenge and refine — using spiral development, trials, and independent oversight.

This approach turns capability ambition into grounded, usable practice.