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British Armed Forces: Encyclopedia BETAFree Encyclopedia |
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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. HistoryBritish military history is long, complex and greatly influential in world history especially since the 17th Century. Important conflicts in 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, a quarter of the world's population were subjects of the British Crown and it controlled a quarter of the world's total land area. Since the end of the Second World War, British forces have continued to be very active and bases remain spread out across the globe in places such as Northern Ireland, 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 (MoD) was created (an earlier form had existed since 1940). The MoD assumed the roles of the Admiralty, the War Office and the Air Ministry. Current strengthThe 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 UK has the 2nd to 4th highest military expenditure in the world (depending on source), despite only having the 27th highest number of troops. It is also the second largest spender on military science, engineering and technology. Despite Britain's wide ranging capabilities, recent defence policy has a stated assumption that any large operation would be undertaken as part of a coalition. Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Granby, Desert Fox and Telic) may all be taken as precedent - indeed the last large scale military action in which the British armed forces fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982.The Royal Navy is the second largest navy in the world in terms of gross tonnage, with 90 commissioned ships. The Naval Service (which comprises of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines) had a strength of 36,320 in April 2005 and is charged with 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 British Army had a reported strength of 102,440 in April 2005 and at this time 9.0% of the regular Armed Forces were women. The Royal Air Force had a strength of 49,210 - 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 regular Armed Forces personnel at around 190,000 (not including civilians). This number is supported by reserve forces, including over 35,000 from the Territorial Army. The total number of serving personnel, including reserve forces, is therefore in the region of 250,000 (taking into account Navy, Marines and Air Force reserves). Branches* Naval Service** Royal Navy ** Royal Marines * British Army ** Territorial Army * Royal Air Force Recent Defence Reviews* Options for Change (1993)* Strategic Defence Review (1998) * Delivering Security in a Changing World [1] (2003) See also* Military of the Falkland Islands* National Service * United Kingdom and weapons of mass destruction * United Kingdom Special Forces * List of United Kingdom topics * Union Jack Club, London References*Manpower, etcTrivia*Atholl Highlanders - Europe's only legal, private military force.** By a quirk of history, this is a Scottish regiment, not part of the British Army, commanded by the Duke of Atholl. ** Now primarily a ceremonial force. External links*British Ministry of Defence*Military Knowledge Online - an MoD website *Defense expenditure 2005-2007 (PDF) *UK Military News & Information Portal *kamouflage.net > global search: Europe > United Kingdom > index
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