Commodore Conor O'Neill

Head of Capability Strategy, Futures & Force Design Directorate UK Military Strategic HQ

Conor O'Neill was educated at King's College School, Wimbledon and joined the Royal Navy in 1999 as a University Cadet (Warfare). After a year of training, he went up to Wadham College, Oxford in October 2000 to read for a degree in Modern History and Politics. At the end of his final year he was sponsored by the Guy Hudson Memorial Trust to complete a year of historical research into Irish republican terrorism, leading to a Master of Studies degree in 2004. His early career was largely spent at sea in Destroyers, Frigates and Patrol Boats. It included deployments to the South Atlantic (2006) and twice to the Middle East in support of Ops TELIC (2008) and KIPION (2014), as well as two Patrol Boat Commands, training university students (2009-11) and providing force protection to the nuclear deterrent (2011-12). He enjoyed 3 further Sea Commands, the Minehunter HMS HURWORTH (2016), preparing for Mine Countermeasures operations in the Middle East, Offshore Patrol Vessel HMS CLYDE (2016), patrolling the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, and then the Type 23 Frigate HMS MONTROSE (2017-19). After generation from upkeep and a period of National Tasking in Home Waters and the Baltic Sea, MONTROSE deployed to Bahrain at the end of 2018 as the first forward deployed major warship since the 1970s, via a near global deployment across the South Pacific and Asia, including operations in the South and East China Seas, as well as the Indian Ocean and Gulf. Ashore, he served as a Plans officer on the Defence Engagement Strategy staff in the Ministry of Defence (2014-15), with highlights there including taking the UK-US Strategic Effects and Force Alignment Board from pilot study to reality, the development of Defence Engagement doctrine, and policy support to the 2015 SDSR. From 2020-2022 he worked in Navy Command's Strategic Planning team, supporting the development of the RN Strategy, Strategic Prioritisation and the implementation of the 2021 Integrated Review. Promoted to Captain in 2022, he led the Royal Navy's Force Planning team, with responsibility for the long term scheduling of the Fleet, including the transition to the next generation of RN Frigates and Minehunting Capabilty, and planning the integration of the Royal Navy's Carrier and Littoral Strike Groups. A graduate of the Advanced Command and Staff Course and a member of the Royal College of Defence Studies, Commodore O'Neill took over as the Head of Capability Strategy within the Futures & Force Design Directorate of the UK's Military Strategy HQ in July 2024, thrust directly into developing capability choices for the 2025 Strategic Defence Review. He is responsible for the Strategic Force Design of the UK Armed Forces and the capability strategies that underpin their long-term development.