Air Power Conference 2024

Spakers' biographies – in the order of appearance

1. Professor Kenneth Payne

   Kenneth Payne is Professor of Strategy at King's College London. For the last decade, he has been thinking and writing about Artificial Intelligence - part of his broader research agenda to understand how intelligence and war interact. So far, he has written two books on AI and strategy, with a third under way. His last book, I Warbot: The Dawn of Artificially Intelligent Conflict was named a book of the year by The Economist. 

   Professor Payne talks and consults on these issues. Recently, he has been appointed specialist advisor to the UK House of Commons Defence committee for its ongoing work on AI. Last year he gave a plenary address to the intergovernmental conference on responsible AI organised by the Netherlands. If the robots are coming to get us, he wants to be prepared. 

2. Air Marshal Johnny Stringer

   Air Marshal Johnny Stringer, Royal Air Force, has been the Deputy Commander of NATO’s Allied Air Command, headquartered at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, since August 2022. 

   A Qualified Weapon Instructor, he flew operationally over the Former Yugoslavia and helped enforce the Northern Iraq No Fly Zone. His staff experience at Squadron Leader (OF-3) and Wing Commander (OF-4) included tours in the RAF’s fast jet group Headquarters and in the Ministry of Defence on future combat  air capability. 

   Promoted to Air Vice-Marshal, Johnny was Chief of Staff at U.K. Joint Forces Command (JFC) and subsequently Director Strategy as JFC evolved into UK  Strategic Command, overseeing its work on the 2021 UK Defence and Security Integrated Review. 

3. Senior Research Fellow Justin Bronk

   Professor Justin Bronk is the Senior Research Fellow for Airpower and Technology in the Military Sciences team at RUSI, and the Editor of the RUSI Defence Systems online journal. 

   His particular areas of expertise include the modern combat air environment, Russian and Chinese ground-based air defences and fast jet capabilities, the air war during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, unmanned combat aerial vehicles and novel weapons technology. He has written extensively for RUSI and a variety of external publications, as well as appearing regularly in the international media. 

   Justin also holds a Professor II position at the Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy, and is a member of the Editorial Board of the Scientific and Technical Journal Weapons and Equipment at the Central Scientific Research Institute of Arms and Military Equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. 

   His PhD examined Balancing Imagination and Design in British Combat Aircraft Development at the Defence Studies Department of Kings College London. 

4. Wing Commander Andrew Tidmarsh

   Andrew Tidmarsh is Head of the Air Information Experimentation Group within the Royal Air Force’s Rapid Capability Office.  An RAF Air Battle Manager and Typhoon Qualified Weapons Instructor, his experience spans Command and Control in tactical through strategic headquarters. 

   His most recent tours of duty include as a UK National Representative with Tactical Command over the RAF’s Air Counterterrorism mission; as the Air specialist within the UK Military Strategic Headquarters’ Overseas Crisis Team; and latterly as Station Commander of the UK’s Electronic Warfare Test and Training establishment and Officer Commanding Aggressor Squadron.  He is conducting his doctoral research on the emergence of morality within Artificial Intelligence and considering the potential implications for the use of Autonomous Weapon Systems. 

5. Major (r) Steinar Skaar

   Skaar is a retired major in the Norwegian Air Force associated with the NDUC Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy.

   He has an extensive background in the Norwegian Armed Forces and has a particular interest in the use of military power in non-existential wars and the concept of success in war and conflict. He earned his PhD from the University of Glasgow in 2018 on the use of military power in Afghanistan.

6. Head of Research Stian Betten

   Stian Betten holds a Master of Engineering in Aeronautics from Imperial College, University of London, is a chief scientist at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), and has been working on operational analysis of air operations in general and combat aircraft systems in particular since he started at FFI.

   Betten is currently Head of Research for the combat aircraft activities at FFI and has contributed to reports for the selection of new combat aircraft and the integration of the F-35 Lightning II into the Air Force. Current activities include distributed simulation of air operations, tactics development for networked weapons, and advanced concepts for airpower.

7. Colonel (R)/Dr Dan “Animal” Javorsek

   Dr. Javorsek is currently the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of EpiSys Science, Inc, a small software startup unlocking trusted autonomy for a secure future. Prior to joining EpiSci, Dan was a Colonel and the Commander of the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, Detachment 6. 

   Javorsek is an accomplished test pilot with over 2000 hours of experience in demonstrator, prototype, and operational (F-16, F-22, F-35, and F-117) aircraft while simultaneously maintaining active in nuclear astrophysics research. 

   Between operational and flying test assignments he performed duties as a Program Manager in DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office (STO) and as a researcher in the Intelligence Community with projects at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the National Counterproliferation Center (NCPC). While at DARPA, he led several Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs focused on the application of autonomy to combat at a variety of scales. Dr. Javorsek has several advanced degrees including a PhD in Physics from Purdue University, has over 90 published articles and one patent on a rocket engine modification. 

8. Major Daniel “Rhino” Reinhardt

   Major Reinhardt is currently serving in the Air Staff’s Acquisitions Directorate as the Chief of Warfighter Integration in the Advanced Battle Management System Program Office. Reinhardt commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 2010 and became an Air Battle Manager in 2011.

   He has been assigned to both the US & NATO E-3 AWACS where he completed multiple deployments to the middle east flying in support of Operations Inherent Resolve, Enduring Freedom and Defense of the Arabian Gulf. While assigned to Nellis AFB, he served as an Aggressor controller before attending the USAF Weapons School in 2019. Rhino has a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University, and an MA from the USAF’s Air University. 

9. Associate Professor Knut Ola Naastad Strøm

   Knut Ola Naastad Strøm is an associate professor at the Section for Air Power and Language at the NDUC Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy (LKSK). Strøm has a PhD in economic history from the University of Gothenburg and has previously worked at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Since the autumn of 2020, he has been employed at LKSK, where he teaches air power and security policy. In addition to air power, he studies international security, alliance politics, and economic warfare.

10. Brigadier Tron Strand

     

    Strand took over as the head of the Norwegian Joint Air Operations Center (NAOC) on 1 August, 2022. As the Chief of JAOC, the Brigadier is responsible for all military air activity in Norway and exercises tactical command over Air Force units and other subordinate forces on behalf of the Chief of the Norwegian Air Force. Brigadier Strand is trained as a weapons instructor and has operational experience from both F-16 and F-35. He has served as Chief of the 132 Air Wing, the 332 Squadron, and the combat aircraft office at the Air Operations Inspectorate of the Norwegian Air Force.

11. Lieutenant General (r) Yngve Odlo

    Odlo began his military career in 1981 as a student at the Norwegian Army Cavalry Command School and has had his basic training on tanks. He has served as the Commander of the Armored Battalion from 2002 to 2004, Commander of Brigade North from 2005 to 2007, Head of the Defence Command and Control Information Systems from 2010 to 2012, and Head of the Norwegian Joint Headquarters from 2021 to 2023.

    Relevant staff positions include Chief of Operations at the Norwegian Joint Headquarters from 2013 to 2015 and Chief of Operations at the Defence Staff from 2015 to 2021. He has been deployed to Afghanistan twice, as the Commander of Battlegroup 3 in the Kabul Multinational Brigade from 2004 to 2005 and as the Chief of Staff of RC North in 2012. Educated at the Norwegian Military Academy, the Norwegian Defence Command and Staff College, and the US Army War College. Retired from active service due to age limit as of 1 December, 2023.