| Armed Forces of the United Kingdom |
The tri-service badge: Royal Navy, British Army
and Royal Air Force. |
| Personnel |
Availability
(males age 16-49) |
14,607,724 (2005 est.) |
Fit for military service
(males age 16-49) |
12,046,268 (2005 est.) |
Regular personel strength
(non-civilians) |
190,000 (October 2004) (Ranked 22nd) |
| Expenditure |
Sterling figure
(FY05/06) |
£36.25 billion |
US Dollar figure
(FY05/06) |
$65.25 billion |
Percent of GDP
(2005) |
2.7% |
| Strength |
| British Army |
| Main Battle Tanks |
386 Challenger 2 |
| Infantry fighting vehicles |
575 Warrior |
| Armoured Personnel Carriers |
4,000+ |
| Artillery |
400 |
| Aircraft |
290 |
| Personnel (Regular Army) |
103,780 |
| Personnel (Territorial Army) |
35,000+ |
| Royal Navy |
| Ballistic Missile Submarines |
4 |
| Fleet Submarines |
9 |
| Aircraft Carriers |
3 |
| Helicopter Carrier |
1 |
| Destroyers |
8 |
| Frigates |
17 |
| Patrol boats |
23 |
| Amphibious Assault ships |
2 |
| Minesweepers |
16 |
| Survey vessels |
5 |
| Aircraft |
210 |
| Personnel (Regular, including Royal Marines) |
36,810 |
| Personnel (Royal Naval Reserve) |
3,250 |
| Personnel (Royal Marines Reserve) |
600 |
| Royal Fleet Auxiliary |
| Tankers |
9 |
| Resupply ships |
2 |
| Tanker/Resupply ships |
2 |
| Aviation training ship |
1 |
| Repair ship |
1 |
| Amphibious Assault ships |
5 |
| Strategic lift vessels |
6 |
| Royal Air Force |
| Aircraft |
942 (including helicopters) |
| Personnel |
49,280 |
The armed forces of the United Kingdom are known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majesty's Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Crown. Their Commander-in-Chief is the Queen and they are managed by the Defence Council of the Ministry of Defence.
The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the United Kingdom and its overseas territories, promoting Britain's wider security interests, and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in NATO and other coalition operations.
History
British military history is long, complex and greatly influential in world history especially since the 17th Century. Important conflicts which the British took part in are the Seven Years' War and the Napoleonic Wars of the 18th Century/early 19th Century, the Crimean War of the mid 19th Century, and the First and Second World Wars of the 20th Century. The British Empire, which peaked in the 1920s, was the largest empire in history. Since the end of the Second World War, British forces have continued to be very active and there remains bases spread out across the world in places such as Cyprus, Germany, Gibraltar, Brunei and the Falkland Islands.
The current structure of defence management in the United Kingdom came about in 1964 when the modern day Ministry of Defence (the MoD) was created (an earlier form had existed since 1940). The MoD subsumed the operations of the Admiralty, the War Office and the Air Ministry.
Current strength
The United Kingdom fields one of the most powerful and comprehensive armed forces in the World. Its global power projection capabilities are second only to those of the United States Military. The Royal Navy is the second largest navy in the world in terms of gross tonnage, with 90 commissioned ships. Despite Britain's wide ranging capabilities, recent, pragmatic defence policy has a stated assumption that any large operation would be undertaken as part of a coalition. Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Granby, No-Fly-Zones, Desert Fox and Telic) may all be taken as precedent - indeed the last true war in which the British armed forces fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982.
The British Army had a reported strength of 103,780 in October 2004 [1], including approximately 7,600 women. The Royal Navy had a strength of 36,810 and is in charge of the United Kingdom's independent strategic nuclear arm, which consists of four Trident missile submarines, while the Royal Marines provide commando units for amphibious assault and for specialist reinforcement forces in and beyond the NATO area. The Royal Air Force had a strength of 49,280 - though this figure is set to be reduced by as much as a fifth by the end of the decade. This puts the total number of serving personnel at around 190,000 (not including civilians). This number is supported by reserve forces, including over 35,000 from the Territorial Army.
Branches
Recent Defence Reviews
See also
External links
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Armed_Forces under GFDL
