On November 30, 2021, Admiral Tony Radakin was promoted to Chief of the British Army’s Defense Staff. On January 10, 2024, he held a video conference with Air Force General Brown, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, to discuss how to deal with Houthi armed forces’ attacks on merchant ships, which once again attracted the attention of the world to the British supreme commander.
Profound foundation in British and American military theory
On November 10, 1965, Radakin was born in an ordinary Anglican family in Oldham, Manchester, Lancashire, England; in 1995, he married his wife Louise Radakin, and had four sons from 1998 to 2005. The family currently lives in Hampshire. In his spare time, he has a wide range of personal interests, such as playing squash, sailing, mountain biking and skiing.
He studied at Bristol National High School and St. Brendan’s Sixth Form College (also known as St. Brendan’s Preparatory College). It is reported that St. Brendan’s Sixth Form College was established in 1896 and is located in the historical and cultural city of Bristol. It is a typical public mixed preparatory college and the only sixth form college in the city. The school offers more than 70 high school and one-year junior high school English, mathematics and biology courses. In 1985, he was admitted to the University of Southampton with excellent results and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in law in 1989. During this period, he received tuition funding from the British Navy, so after a short training, he joined the British Navy in 1990. During his service, he obtained a Master of Arts degree in International Relations and Defense Studies from King’s College London in 2000, and also studied the Senior Executive Program at London Business School.
The United Kingdom and the United States are both countries with Anglo-Saxon descendants, and the military theories of the two countries are inextricably linked. As a British, Radakin is naturally interested in British and American military theories and hopes to become a master of the military theories of the two countries. During his service, he actively self-studied British and American military theories, participated in the British Advanced Command and Staff Course, the US Joint Forces Maritime Unit Course, the US Army "Keystone" Course and the first British/American Future Leadership Course, and had a relatively good understanding of British and American military theories. During his service, he vigorously promoted the exchange of British and American military theories and naval cooperation, and expanded the scope of cooperation between the British Navy and the US Navy.
Has experience in serving at home and abroad, especially in actual combat
Radakin started out as a naval legal worker, served as a captain, served as a base commander, and has experience in overseas service and combat. He has served in the naval shore command organization, maritime forces, international forces, joint forces command and functional departments of the Ministry of Defense. His resume is quite complete, and he has been promoted from a naval lieutenant to a naval rear admiral.
After receiving training, Radakin joined the British Navy on October 20, 1990, and served in naval legal work. He obtained the qualification of a barrister in 1996 and was promoted to a naval lieutenant. He served as the captain of the frigates Brazel and Norfolk (in 2003). He commanded ships to participate in the Falklands Security Operation, NATO’s embargo on Serbia and Montenegro in the Adriatic Sea, and combat smuggling in the waters off Hong Kong and the Caribbean.
In 2006, Radakin was promoted to Commander of the Anglo-American Joint Naval Transfer Force in Iraq and promoted to Navy Colonel. In 2010, he was promoted again to Commander of the Anglo-American Joint Naval Task Force in Iraq. During this period, he led his troops to train the Iraqi Navy, participate in the Iran/Iraqi tanker war, and protect Iraq’s territorial waters, oil and gas resources, and the safety of sea transportation lines, and was awarded a Bronze Star Medal by the US government.
After being promoted to Commodore on August 30, 2011, Radakin successively served as Commander of the Portsmouth Naval Base, Commander of the NATO High Readiness Force, Director of the Operational Planning Department of the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ), Director of the Financial Capability Department, and Director of the Force Development Bureau of the Ministry of Defense. On December 3, 2014, he was promoted to Rear Admiral and served as Commander of the British Navy’s Surface Ship Force. In March 2016, he was transferred to the Chief of Staff of the Joint Forces Command (renamed Strategic Command on December 9, 2019). Through the training of the aforementioned positions, he has accumulated rich experience in agency work and has developed strong agency affairs coordination capabilities.
Served as Chief of Staff of the British Navy to strengthen the presence in important sea areas around the world
On March 27, 2018, Radakin was promoted to Vice Admiral and served as Second Sea Lord and First Deputy Chief of Naval Staff. On June 9, he received a Bath Companion Medal at the Queen’s Birthday Honours Ceremony and was approved as Chief of Naval Staff on December 4. On June 19, 2019, Radakin officially replaced Admiral Philip Jones as the 102nd Chief of Staff of the British Navy, and was promoted to Admiral and served as First Sea Lord. On November 8, 2021, he handed over the command of the British Navy to Admiral Ben
, and resigned as Chief of the Naval Staff. During his tenure as Chief of the Naval Staff, he pushed for the reform of the British Navy, reducing the number of staff at all levels of the British Navy by 40%, setting up specialized technical officers to be responsible for the research and development of new technologies, and supporting the construction of naval equipment; vigorously strengthening military cooperation with allies, and vigorously carrying out "trilateral diplomacy" to strengthen military deployment in key sea areas around the world to build a global navy; therefore, on June 11, 2021, he was awarded a Knight Commander of the Bath Medal at the Queen’s Birthday Honours Ceremony.
Radakin believes that the British Navy must promote equipment construction to rebuild the global navy. On January 27, 2021, the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier officially replaced the HMS Poseidon amphibious dock transport ship and became the flagship of the British Navy. Radakin attended the flagship change ceremony and said, "The aircraft carrier was built using the world’s most advanced technology to rebuild the British Navy’s aircraft carrier strike capability, making the British Navy a global navy and fulfilling its commitment to global security, economic prosperity and the safety of maritime trade and transportation lines. The British Navy can only become a global navy by strengthening the research and development and procurement of new equipment and promoting equipment upgrades. By 2030, the total tonnage of naval ships will be increased by 50%, and the deployable destroyers and frigates will be doubled." On May 21, Radakin accompanied Prime Minister Boris Johnson to inspect the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier berthed in Portsmouth, and once again mentioned the promotion of future ship construction of the British Navy.
During his tenure, he focused on strengthening military cooperation with NATO allies. It is particularly worth mentioning that under his strong push, the NATO multinational aircraft carrier strike group (21-year aircraft carrier strike group) was formed with the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier as the core, and cruised in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean to strengthen military presence in the aforementioned sea areas. British Navy Commodore Steve Moorhouse served as the commander of the strike group, and the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier served as the flagship of the group. The group’s ships included the US Navy’s Sullivan destroyer and the Netherlands’ Everson air defense frigate, forming a NATO multinational aircraft carrier strike group, carrying an F-35B squadron of the US Marine Corps. During the deployment of the group to the Indo-Pacific region, it participated in 9 exercises (including the British, American and Japanese multi-aircraft carrier action exercises), visited more than 70 ports in more than 40 countries, and greatly expanded its presence in the Indo-Pacific region. During his term in office, Radakin also engaged in "trilateral cooperation" and formed "small circles". On November 20, 2019, he signed a trilateral naval commander joint declaration with then-US Navy Chief of Operations Admiral Gilday and then-Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Admiral Hiroshi Yamamura on the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier docked in Annapolis to further strengthen trilateral military cooperation. On June 3, 2021, he discussed with Gilday and French Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Van Dijl in France on strengthening trilateral naval cooperation between Britain, the United States and France. As a country dominated by Anglo-Saxons, under his strong lobbying, on September 16, 2021, he facilitated the UK to successfully reach the "Australia" defense agreement with the United States and Australia, helping Australia build nuclear submarines, causing nuclear proliferation in the South Pacific, strengthening the British Navy’s military presence in the Pacific region, and at the same time strengthening trilateral naval cooperation between Britain, the United States and Australia.
Strengthening military deployment in important sea areas around the world is another major achievement during his tenure. Under his leadership, on September 15, 2020, the British Navy formed the first littoral response group with the future commando to be deployed in Northern Europe. In 2023, the second littoral response group will be formed in the Indo-Pacific region to strengthen military presence in the Indo-Pacific. The British Navy has deployed the Medway River offshore patrol ship in the Caribbean Sea, the Forth River offshore patrol ship in the South Atlantic, the Trent River offshore patrol ship in Gibraltar to form the Gibraltar Ship Squadron, and the Tamar River and Spey River offshore patrol ships in the Indo-Pacific region (the Type 31 new generation frigate will be deployed in the future) to strengthen military presence in the Caribbean, South Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Indo-Pacific regions.
Served as Chief of the Defense Staff to build a "Global British Army"
In addition to Radakin, the competition for the Chief of Defense Staff also included then Army Chief of Staff General Carlton Smith, Chief of the Air Staff General Mike Wigston, former Commander of the Permanent Joint Headquarters (also known as the Joint Operations Commander) and current Chief of the Navy Admiral Ben Key, and the most popular then Commander of the Strategic Command and current Army Chief of Staff General Patrick Saunders. On October 7, 2021, Radakin defeated the other four candidates, especially the most competitive Saunders, and was selected as the new Chief of the Defense Staff by then Defense Secretary Wallace and then Prime Minister Johnson on the grounds of having a reformer spirit and strengthening military presence in important sea areas around the world. On November 30, Radakin officially replaced General Nicholas Carter as the Chief of the British Army’s Defense Staff. He is also the 24th Chief of the Defense Staff in the history of the British Army and the highest-ranking officer in the British Army. The then Defense Secretary Wallace presided over the handover ceremony. Radakin ended the history of the British Navy without a Chief of Defense Staff for nearly 20 years. It is reported that the previous Chief of Defense Staff from the British Navy was Admiral Michael Boyce (February 26, 2001-May 2, 2003)
Continuing to promote the reform of the British Army is the top priority during Radakin’s term of office. On December 7, 2021, he attended the Royal United Services Institute seminar and delivered a speech. He, who is well-known in the British Army for his reforms, proposed a roadmap for the reform of the defense system, and listed five priority reform items from the increasing number of challenges (as many as 118 items): reform the Ministry of Defense to implement organizational adjustments and reduce the size of the army; change the equipment procurement policy, give priority to the procurement of space equipment, intelligent robot equipment, network and other emerging field equipment; change the function of the frontier command and enhance the combat capability of the frontier command; change the British Army’s policy of not increasing overseas garrisons, increase more effective overseas deployments to strengthen the frontier presence; improve the treatment of frontier personnel. He even proposed that the term of the Chief of Defense Staff could be longer to ensure the continuity of the reform policy before nominating the Chief of Defense Staff.
With the Johnson government proposing the "Global Britain" strategy after Brexit, building a "Global British Army" has been put on the agenda. The "Global British Army" was launched during the tenure of former Chief of Defense Staff Carter, and the responsibility for advancing it fell on Radakin’s shoulders. He threatened to strengthen the military presence in Europe, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region, and he was very likely to build a "Global British Army" and restore the dream of the "Empire on which the Sun Never Sets". At the inauguration ceremony, he exaggerated the "threat" of Russia, Iran and North Korea, saying that Russia was "more dangerous" than at any time in the past 30 years, posing a "threat" to British values and interests, and that "the invasion of Ukraine was the most serious incident in Europe since World War II". The British Army must strengthen its military deployment in Eastern Europe to curb Russia’s "threat" to European allies, and there may even be an emergency between Britain and Russia; Iran and North Korea pose a "nuclear weapon and ballistic missile threat" to Britain and its allies, and the British Army must strengthen its military presence in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region. However, as a small country with declining national strength, Britain, which is in a corner, is really overestimating its own capabilities to compete with Russia, a world-class power.
Seeking cooperation with allies to contain Russia is another goal during Radakin’s term. Although Radakin falsely claimed on December 7, 2021 that "Russia is a threat to British values and interests", on the 23rd he had a telephone conversation with Russian Army Chief of General Staff General Gerasimov on regional and global security issues. On the same day, he called Army General Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Army, to strengthen military cooperation between the two armies. On January 18, 2023, he attended the NATO Defense Commander’s Meeting and also held a separate meeting with then Turkish Army Chief of General Staff General Güler to discuss bilateral military cooperation. He also clearly proposed to win over allies to strengthen military cooperation within the frameworks of NATO, the Commonwealth, the Five Eyes Alliance, the Five Power Defense, OCS (Australia, Britain and the United States), the NATO Joint Expeditionary Force, and the UK-French Joint Expeditionary Force in the future, to build a "global force for global Britain", support Ukraine, respond to "potential threats from Russia", safeguard Britain’s national interests, and fulfill security commitments to its allies.
