From the front line to the future force
Charlie Lockyear during deployment. Faces have been blurred for anonymity
Charlie Lockyear, Business Development Director – Defence
| Serco
As defence technology reshapes modern warfare, success will rely on a defence enterprise able to integrate it quickly, build the right skills and deliver capability at pace
Armed Forces Day is, above all, a chance to recognise the people who serve and those who have served. For me, it is a moment to reflect on the commitment, resilience, sense of duty and sacrifice that come with military life. After six tours of Afghanistan, I know how much that experience can shape you. Long after you leave, it stays with you in how you think, how you work and how you see the world.
Leaving the armed forces is a big change. You step away from a role, a rhythm and a community that have shaped who you are, but you carry a huge amount with you. Service leaves you with skills and instincts that stay valuable wherever you go – resilience, teamwork, leadership, and the ability to stay calm and focused when things get tough. The key is finding somewhere to move onto where those qualities still drive purpose.
I have found that at Serco. My experience in service shapes how I approach my work every day and the contribution I make to Serco’s defence business. Having deployed on operations, I understand what matters when it comes to keeping our service men and women safe. But the way we can do that, and the way that we fight is changing rapidly.
I spent my career flying helicopters, and while they’ll always have a place in protecting the nation and people who serve, there are new ways to increase our mass and capability. Autonomous systems, drones and software-led capability are no longer on the margins – they are now central to the future of modern warfare. These systems will play a key role in removing service men and women from the firing line, but they still rely on the defence enterprise deploying the right skills, in the right place at the right time to use them effectively.
That fundamentally changes what you need from the workforce. It is not about replacing people, but about evolving the roles around them: remote operators, cyber specialists and engineers who can bring together complex, tech-enabled systems and make decisions quickly.
For me, that is one of the most exciting parts of working in defence today. Autonomy has moved beyond experimentation and into real-world adoption, creating new opportunities to build capability differently. The challenge now is integrating it at pace and making it usable in practice. The 55m-long uncrewed surface vessel, Defiant USX-1, designed and developed by Serco for DARPA in the US, is conducting extended autonomous operations at sea, demonstrating how rapidly maritime autonomy is moving into real-world use. That, in turn, means rethinking procurement, regulation, training and the skills we need across the defence workforce.
It is also about valuing the experience of those who have served while helping shape what comes next. Armed Forces Day is about recognition, but it is also about looking ahead. I think those of us with lived experience of service have an important part to play in making sure the future of defence is strong, practical and ready for what is coming.
Click here to find out more about how Serco is equipping our armed forces with capabilities of the future.
