The European continent is facing a strategic climate event. Red heat alerts have been issued across France, Italy and Spain with temperatures forecast to hit 40 degrees Celsius. For British holidaymakers, this is not merely a travel inconvenience.
It is a threat vector with operational implications for national resilience. The extreme heat places strain on critical infrastructure: power grids, transportation networks and emergency services. This is a repeat of the 2022 heatwave that caused thousands of excess deaths and exposed vulnerabilities in civil preparedness.
From an intelligence perspective, such events are exploited by hostile state actors to test our response capabilities. We must view this through the lens of hybrid warfare: climate disruption as a strategic pivot for destabilisation. The UK's Foreign Office has issued travel advisories, but is our domestic infrastructure ready for a similar event?
The Met Office has warned of increased heatwave frequency. This is not a one-off. It is a pattern.
Our military readiness must account for climate-induced operational environments. Logistics chains for cooling equipment and medical supplies need stress-testing. The red alerts are a rehearsal for future crises.
We must treat them as such.
