General Sir Jim Hockenhull’s DSEI 2025 Keynote Speech
Source: gov.uk (2025-09-08)

General Sir Jim Hockenhull, Commander of Cyber & Specialist Operations Command, delivered his keynote speech at Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) 2025.

Good afternoon. For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Jim, and I have the pleasure of both working in and being the Commander of the Cyber & Specialist Operations Command, or ‘CSOC’.

It’s a real privilege to stand before you today as the first Commander.

It is also a pleasure to be at DSEI — one of the most important and high-profile gatherings for defence and security in the world. An event where the ideas that will shape our collective future are discussed and debated, and where we come together in friendship, and crucially, in partnership.

Today is a milestone moment for my Command and for our people.

Last week, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Defence and the Chief of the Defence Staff, we officially stood up Cyber & Specialist Operations Command, and today I want to set out the implications of that change.

A change which represents a transformation in posture, purpose, and mindset. A transformation which reflects the operational challenges and realities we face today.

A reality where we are in constant contact in the Cyber & EM Domain, where it’s imperative that we invest in and nurture our Specialists to continue to give us the edge.

A reality where delivering operations and operational success is a 24/7, 365 endeavour. A reality where my Command is “Always On”.

We’re living through a period of profound change in the character of warfare. From grey-zone tactics to hybrid, from the electromagnetic spectrum to space. Our adversaries are faster, more adaptive, and more unpredictable than at any point since the end of the Cold War.

Cyberattacks are now a daily reality for the UK and many of our Allies. And our adversaries are probing our networks, targeting our infrastructure, and seeking to undermine public trust.

Disinformation is used as a weapon, eroding cohesion at home and sowing doubt abroad. Drones, artificial intelligence, and autonomy, are no longer emerging technologies. They are in the fight today.

The 2025 Strategic Defence Review was clear: to make Britain safer, secure at home, and strong abroad, we must accelerate towards warfighting readiness. We must be able to deter, and if necessary, to fight today, tomorrow, and in the uncertain decades ahead.

But we must also be ready to compete today, tomorrow and into the future. And we must put NATO first, because our security is indivisible from that of our allies and partners. So, we’ll focus on doing this together.

CSOC is central to delivering on the SDR’s vision. Building on the Strong Foundations of Strategic Command, we bring together Defence’s cyber and specialist forces into one unified, four-star Command — operating as a Military Command alongside the Royal Navy, the Army, and the Royal Air Force.

We are designed to detect threats early, act decisively across all domains — Maritime, Land, Air, Space, Cyber & Electromagnetic.

We are the unseen force — always on, enabling global operations and operating every hour of every day to keep our nation secure.

In our brief time, I want to cover three things. Firstly, our responsibilities, and my responsibilities to CDS and Ministers as Commander CSOC. Including how we are driving the delivery of priority SDR outcomes.

I want to unpack the name a little, including our leadership of the Cyber and EM Domain for Defence and the vital contribution of our People, our Specialists.

And finally, I want to set out the importance of how we need to work in partnership, using our leadership of Defence’s Digital Targeting Web as an example.

So, our mission is to generate and operate specialist capabilities, ready to fight across all domains, to make the United Kingdom secure at home and strong abroad.

First, we deliver and enable specialist operations, including medical support.

Integrated operations that are precise and often discreet, from supporting NATO’s frontline deterrence in Europe, to protecting UK citizens and interests overseas.

Ensuring warfighting readiness while keeping our forces healthy, fit to fight and ready to respond globally.

Enabling global operations that are co-ordinated through our Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood, supported and underpinned by contributions across CSOC, the single Services and across the Defence Enterprise.

Second, we combat cyber and electromagnetic threats, and malign activities.

Our Defence Cyber and EM Forces will deliver advanced cyber and electromagnetic capabilities for military effect. Defending our networks and disrupting daily attacks from our adversaries, I’ll come back to them a little later.

Thirdly, we arm Defence with data, information, and intelligence.

We lead surveillance, intelligence and reconnaissance activities, turning data into insight, and insight into action.

Harnessing artificial intelligence and machine learning to accelerate decision-making and deliver digital precision.

This in turn underpins our work on Defence’s Digital Targeting Web. With CSOC on point to Ministers as the Lead Command for delivery of this vital initiative.

Fourthly, we advance the UK’s influence through defence diplomacy.

Our Integrated Global Defence Network, comprising of our Overseas Bases and Defence Diplomacy teams, builds and nurtures deep partnerships globally, enhancing our operational effectiveness and strengthening our ability to deter and respond to crises worldwide.

As well as a making a critical contribution to the success of UK exports, supporting the growth agenda and helping to implement the Defence Industrial Strategy.

Finally, we educate and innovate to prepare for the future.

We are investing in our people, developing specialist skills, and embracing new technologies so that our forces are ready for whatever comes next.

We are supporting, educating and enabling our next generation of leaders and operators through the Defence Academy.

We’re also responsible for a series of five high priority SDR outcomes, which need to be delivered at pace.

So, these are: standing up the Defence Cyber & EM Force, announced in the Defence Review, by November this year, including establishing the Digital Warfighting Group, by July next year.

We will deliver Defence’s Digital Targeting Web, to bring a step change in lethality.

We will improve the coherence of Intelligence capabilities across Defence, through the Military Intelligence Services.

And we will create the Defence Counter-Intelligence Unit, again by November this year.

And we will bolster our medical capabilities through an evolved Defence Medical Enterprise, across the Armed Forces, and the leadership the Defence Medical Services.

So, what’s in a name?

The leadership of Cyber & Specialist Operations Command doubles down on our leadership of the Cyber & Electromagnetic Domain.

Without the change, the Cyber & EM Domain is the key limiting factor in our ability to achieve a tech-enabled Integrated Force capable of out-thinking and out-manoeuvring our adversaries. We must ‘fight as one’ across the Cyber and EM Domain, to unlock its potential and to enable and amplify our ability to combat our adversaries in all domains.

A vital component of CSOC is our new Defence Cyber & EM Force.

This force will compete with and out-manoeuvre our adversaries in the Cyber EM Domain. Working closely across Government, including with the National Cyber Security Centre and with our international partners,

This new force will lead the fight in protecting UK military networks, where we have caught over 90,000 attempts by Russian speaking actors to penetrate our systems in the last two years.

It will also enhance Defence’s ability to operate in the increasingly congested and contested electromagnetic environment and will allow us to anticipate emerging threats in the Cyber & EM Domain. It will be formally established in November, when we will officially stand up the new force.

But I can say a little more about its contribution now.

This Force will be separate to, but work closely with, the National Cyber Force. The National Cyber Force is a Defence and Intelligence Partnership overseen jointly by Director GCHQ and me – and that continues to deliver the Nation’s offensive cyber mission.

But the design of the Defence Cyber & EM Force, and the importance is shaped by the experience of our allies and partners across the Five Eyes partnership and NATO. And many of our Allies have already moved and radically changed and implemented new approaches. We need to make sure we’re learning from that whilst simultaneously learning from lessons from current conflict, which underlines the need for this approach.

This will be a whole force endeavour, consisting of regular military, reservist, civil servants and industry – leveraging the enormous talent and capability of the UK’s broad cyber workforce.

This will bring together the military expertise, cyber defence teams across Defence, and defence companies into one coordinated system.

This ‘One Defence’ approach will make better use of what defence companies can offer.

The new force will allow military personnel to focus more on cyber and electromagnetic operations, rather than being tied up with tasks that our industry partners are better placed to undertake.

Collectively, Cyber & Specialist Operations Command, with the Defence Cyber & EM Force, will underwrite the warfighting readiness of the UK’s Integrated Force, anticipating threats, generating effects at speed across the Cyber & EM Domain, and ensuring the UK Armed Forces are ready to fight across all domains.

So, why specialist?

CSOC’s greatest strength will always be its people. We are all Specialists.

CSOC is a home for specialists: including cyber defenders, linguists, operators, engineers, analysts, medics, and innovators.

We bring and offer a depth of professional skills from across our diverse teams to Defence. This includes Civil Servants, military personnel, both Regular and Reserve, contractors, embeds and liaisons from across our international partners. Our specialist contribution embodies the Whole Force ethos.

Our Specialists are often working behind the scenes, usually without recognition, but their impact is profound.

Our Special Forces exemplify this. And I want to pay tribute to their contribution.

The UK Special Forces are HMG’s strategic vanguard, who encapsulate our “always on” philosophy. They represent the very best of us.

We ask remarkable things of them, and they deliver again and again. Their contribution to a UK that is secure at home and strong abroad is multi-faceted, constantly innovative and always decisive.

As the vanguard of Defence – they are the first to face the danger, breaking new ground and innovating at mission speed.

I am rightly proud of all the people in CSOC and not least our Special Forces. And they, as is the case with all our Armed Forces, are determined to be the best they can be every day, holding themselves to the highest of standards.

And I am proud to command them as part of Cyber & Specialist Operations Command. Their relentless pursuit of excellence marks them out.

All our specialists are problem-solvers by instinct and collaborators by nature, and they thrive on complexity.

They do not ask “can it be done?” They ask, “how can we make this happen?”

This mindset — of agility, of persistence, of curiosity, is what gives us our edge, and we must go faster.

The SDR highlights our need for greater pace – but we will not be judged by whether we can go faster than before – but whether we are going faster than our adversaries.

In that race, it is our partnerships that give us strategic advantage.

That is why unveiling Cyber & Specialist Operations Command at DSEI matters. Because the challenges we face cannot and will not be met by Defence alone.

Delivering against the bold ambition of the Strategic Defence Review and delivering the trust – and investment – that the Government has made in the Defence and the Armed Forces is a team effort, and that requires partnership.

Armies win battles, but wars are won by nations and the societies.

This means harnessing the best, as whole of society approach, involving all of you in the audience.

The technologists – across Industry - designing next-generation cyber defences.

Academics exploring AI ethics and quantum encryption, shaping our policy envelopes and how we fight.

The think tanks challenging our strategic assumptions.

Our adversaries are agile, resourceful, and unconstrained by bureaucracy.

We must be more agile still.

That means shortening the distance between idea and implementation — bringing operational insight together with technical ingenuity in joint cycles of innovation.

One of the major deliverables of the new Command will be Defence’s Digital Targeting Web, exemplifying our drive to bring insight and technical ingenuity to bear quicker than ever before.

The Digital Targeting Web is one of the central pillars of the Strategic Defence Review. With its implementation being led by CSOC, through our Integrated Warfare Centre.

Let me just be clear. We must make and implement decisions much, much faster and at greater scale than ever before. If we are to be more lethal in any domain – harnessing the power of our data will be critical. You can’t 10x lethality without it.

And to do that, every element of the Integrated Force must be connected through shared understanding, and through a unified digital targeting web, built on a common digital foundation.

The Digital Targeting Web will transform the UK’s warfighting capability by 2030. It will enable us to sense, understand, decide, and act at a pace and scale that outstrips our adversaries.

At its heart, the Digital Targeting Web is powered by core digital infrastructure and services.

It fuses intelligence and targeting data through software applications that harness machine learning and Artificial Intelligence—delivering speed, insight, and precision.

But let me be clear. The Digital Targeting Web (DTW) is not a single platform or product. It is not a software suite from one supplier.

It is an ecosystem, an orchestration of infrastructure, products, and services.

It brings together Defence’s currently fragmented targeting and command-and-control systems, data, platforms, and networks – enabling the integration of emerging and novel technologies.

This is not just a technical challenge — it is a challenge of orchestration.

Defence Reform has fundamentally reshaped our operating model. Now, CSOC now holds lead command responsibility for targeting under Defence Reform.

This gives CSOC the authority to design and implement coherence across the Targeting Enterprise – enabling and supporting pan-Defence delivery.

The Digital Targeting Web is already in flight and bringing together Defence’s digital backbone. The Army’s ASGARD and RAPSTONE programmes, Navy’s Strike Net, and RAF’s NEXUS, and project and programmes from across CSOC —these are all Digital Targeting Web components.

We want to work quickly to exploit the full potential of the Digital Targeting Web, but we need to get it right.

That means there won’t be a stand-alone contract “to do” the Defence Digital Targeting Web, more a series of targeted investments starting now, with significant further investment in 2027.

But the Digital Targeting Web will be more than technology. It is about our people, our processes, our data, as well as the technology.

Our Industry partners are essential to the success of the Digital Targeting Web, and I would ask you to see your existing partnerships with Defence as part of the wider Digital Targeting Web brand. And you must consider future work as part of the Digital Targeting Web ecosystem.

Our Defence Targeting Enterprise, in CSOC, has already begun industry engagement. And my teams are running events throughout DSEI to explore where can best contribute, as we need your help and support.

I am clear that the Digital Targeting Web can only reach its full potential by harnessing the creativity of industry with the operational experience of Defence – in partnership – to get results and help deliver a truly integrated force.

So, my ask of you is this.

Bring us your best ideas. Challenge us. Partner with us.

Help us outpace, outthink, and outmatch those who would do us harm.

Because together, we can ensure that the UK, our Allies and partners remain secure and ready for the challenges ahead.

We are always on, Cyber & Specialist Operations Command is working together with you — our partners, our allies and our friends at this critical time.

We can and will deliver to maintain the edge our Armed Forces need. We will strengthen NATO – as the cornerstone of our collective Defence – and make Britain secure at home and strong abroad.

Thank you.