The political imperative to cut defence spending in the UK and other Western countries has made it difficult to acknowledge that classic kinetic warfare is still important, even if its relative utility has changed. New forms of power (‘hybrid warfare’) have not rendered it obsolete. Indeed, in some parts of the world, such as in the Indian sub-continent, it still retains much of its 20th Century significance. In Europe, it is a key, and increasing, element in Russia’s development of multi-dimensional warfare, which includes the use of nuclear weapons.