Colonel Will Waugh MBE

Dismounted Close Combat Portfolio Team Leader DE&S, UK MoD

Will Waugh was commissioned into the Royal Tank Regiment in 1997, serving most of his early career with 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2RTR) on Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks and a variety of other Armoured Fighting Vehicles. He has deployed on training exercises around the world and has completed multiple operational deployments to the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He enjoyed two superb years at the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) in Canada, overseeing live-fire and instrumented collective training before completing the Advanced Command and Staff Course, unit command, and then deploying as Deputy Director J5 (Future Plans) within a US-led two-star Special Operations Joint Task Force. He has spent the latter part of his career in capability and acquisition including leading capability development for the Army's Armoured Infantry Brigades, planning Information Manoeuvre capabilities and Programme Director for the Challenger 3 Programme. He led the National Armaments – Materiel's Dismounted Close Combat Team since September 2025 where he is responsible for the procurement and sustainment of dismounted lethality, survivability, and surveillance and target acquisition capabilities across UK Defence.