Peter Round

Air Commodore Peter Round joined the RAF in 1979 as a University Cadet and read Metallurgy at Manchester University. After officer and flying training, he flew Buccaneers in the maritime strike/attack role from RAF Lossiemouth. He became a RAF Qualified Flying Instructor in 1990 and a T37 Instructor Pilot and Flight Commander at the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training School at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas in 1992. After a tour as Deputy Chief Flying Instructor at the Central Flying School he became a Staff Officer in the Ministry of Defence working for the Director of Military Operations with particular responsibility for Arms Control issues and in particular the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention requirements in UK, the principles of which were later used by Canada, Switzerland and Sweden.

He completed Joint Advanced Command and Staff Training in 1999 and went on to run RAF Basic Fast Jet Training. This was followed by an operational tour as the RAF Detachment Commander at Prince Sultan Air Force Base, Saudi Arabia with responsibility for Air Operations over Southern Iraq. He then completed a tour as an Operations Team Leader at the Permanent Joint Headquarters with responsibility at different times for UK Operations in Afghanistan, the Balkans and all UK supported UN Operations including Iraq, Cyprus, Georgia, Sierra Leone, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Later, on the Policy Director’s staff in the Ministry of Defence, he was responsible for International Defence Relations Policy, UK/US policy staff interaction and was a co-author of Defence Strategic Guidance 05 and particularly the Defence Relations Strategy which set the way UK would use ‘soft power’. He took command of No 1 Elementary Flying Training School in 2005 with responsibility for initial flying training for all Royal Navy, Army and RAF aircrew. Moving to the USA once again in 2007 he became the United Kingdom National Liaison Representative to NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia.

He returned to the UK in 2010 and after a period as Assistant Director Flying Training with responsibility for all aspects of pre-OCU flying training for the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force and the introduction of the United Kingdom Military Flying Training System. In 2012 he became the Capability, Armament and Technology Director at the European Defence Agency. Here he was responsible for more than 100 Capability and R&T programs including the EU ‘Flagship 4’ RPAS, Cyber Defence, Air-to-Air Refuelling and GovSatCom. He oversaw the relationship with OCCAR and defence industries for capability issues across the whole defence domain.

Today he is the Chairman of Kleos Space a ‘New Space’ company based in Luxembourg, UK and the USA. Kleos has its own constellation of Satellites and delivers RF derived Geospatial Intelligence from space. He is a Consulting Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and runs his own consultancy.

Air Commodore Round lives in North Yorkshire with his wife Kelly, who is a former Trade and Industry Civil Servant and their daughter. He enjoys watching Rugby and Cricket and uses any time he has left over to pamper his Lotus Elise.

He has a Masters Degree in Defence from Kings College, London. Air Cdre Round is the Royal Aeronautical Society’s President- 2022-2023 and an ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees.