British Army to lose 20,000 men

[Stavroforos]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18716101

The defence secretary is to announce details later of how the Army will be restructured as it loses a fifth of its personnel over the next few years.

Philip Hammond will reveal the units to be scrapped or merged as the number of soldiers is cut from 102,000 to 82,000.

The Army 2020 review is also expected to result in the number of reservists doubling to 30,000.

Last month, the defence secretary said there was no way to "avoid difficult decisions as the Army gets smaller".

From a level of 102,000 troops in 2010, defence cuts will reduce the Army to 82,000 regular soldiers by 2020.

It will be about half the size of the Army of the Cold War era, which comprised more than 163,000 troops in 1978.

The defence secretary has said that the UK will still maintain an effective, well-equipped fighting force, but that it will be increasingly reliant on reservists, co-operation with allies and private contractors.

BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said strategic thinking for Army 2020 had been led by "one of the Army's rising stars", Lt Gen Nick Carter.

"But, there's still no escaping that this review has been driven by cuts," said our correspondent.

'Split in two'
The government has said the regimental system will not be scrapped, and Prime Minister David Cameron has said no "cap badges" should go - in other words, entire regiments are not expected to be lost.

But units within regiments will be disbanded.

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In the past decade the Army has been able to fight in two countries at the same time - in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not in future.”

Q&A: Army 2020 reorganisation
It is expected that the Army will lose five of its 36 infantry battalions, four armoured units will merge into two, while support units such as engineers and logistics could be cut by 30%.

The government's insistence on "regional balance" is expected to mean that while some full-strength English units with a strong recruiting record will go, others in Scotland that may have struggled will survive.

Army 2020 is expected to increase reliance on part-time soldiers in the future.

"The Army is being split into two," said our defence correspondent.

A "Reaction Force" made up entirely of highly-trained regulars will be ready to deploy at short notice.

The second element will be an "Adaptable Force" of both regulars and an increased number of Territorial Army reservists.

This force will provide troops for ceremonial duties, for standing commitment such as defending the Falklands, and include a "Security Assistance Force" able to send small teams to advise, train and keep the peace around the world.

'Ballooning up'
Professor Michael Clarke, director of the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said he suspected the Army would be a "one shot" force.

He said: "They could go somewhere, they can do something, at a very high level but they can't stay. Prolonged deployments will be difficult unless the government of the day is prepared to throw a lot more money at it and they can expand.

"They're trying to create an army that is capable of ballooning up again and coming back down."

Conservative MP Colonel Bob Stewart, a former Army officer who sits on the Defence Select Committee, said he was upset by the moves.

He said: "The right path forward is for us to have more armed forces than we've got but we're stuck, we have a real problem of trying to pay for them and equip them. That's the problem.

"I would much prefer us not to be making these cuts, and I particularly don't like the idea of cutting infantry battalions."

Army 2020 will mean the reduction of the British Army to 82,000 men, from a figure of 102,000 presently. Some English units will be getting the axe, while Scottish units will remain intact but reduced in size.

It's a good move that Britain is reducing its military to reflect its actual position in the world, and I would hope more nations who have little use for oversized militaries follow suit.

[nein]

Team America is doing all the work... may as well reduce it to 10,000 until america caves in on itself

[Condottiere 40K]

It seems the Conservatives with their austerity fetish tend to be the ones most likely to trim force levels.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Cuts need to be made everywhere, it's what kept us out of the Southern European shite heap.

[Aymer de Valence]

Cuts need to be made everywhere, it's what kept us out of the Southern European shite heap.

Foreign aid isn't being cut, and in fact I believe it is being increased!!! This is madness!! Do you think countries like Turkey really carte about our foreign aid? Of course not; India certainly doesn't as seen by their outburst against the aid we give them! ALL foreign aid should be scrapped, ALL benefits should be scrapped (aside from child benefit obviously, but this should be capped at the second child), and military budget should be INCREASED from anywhere at 25% - 50%. I don't even need to mention the idiotic amount we give to the EU Titanic every day. This country is a joke these days. It's about time countries like Bangladesh etc started standing on their own 2 feet, and it's also about time this colonial guilt stopped once and for all. What do we have to be ashamed of anyway? NOTHING. It's about time we started looking after our own people instead of others. Rant over

[removeduser_487563287433]

Foreign aid isn't being cut, and in fact I believe it is being increased!!! This is madness!! ALL foreign aid should be scrapped,

Very intelligent, I'm sure. Oh. How will the Foreign Office back up its trade missions after that, by the way? Do you realise that one of the key strategies for British growth is increasing our exports to the same markets we give "aid" to?

military budget should be INCREASED from anywhere at 25% - 50%.

Why? It's already huge.

[Heinz Guderian]

Very intelligent, I'm sure. Oh. How will the Foreign Office back up its trade missions after that, by the way? Do you realise that one of the key strategies for British growth is increasing our exports to the same markets we give "aid" to?

How about we cut foreign aid to Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, but make it up by sending them the money from the seized unpaid VAT from their restaurants, shops and those stores that sell those rolls of shiny cloth that are based here? You know the kind of stores i'm talking about here. Dont play coy with me. The kind of stores that will charge you 6% more if you pay by card. You've been there i know. They employ a white person because they think it will be good for business, but dont give them any sick leave. You know exactly what i'm talking about here.

[Erebus Pasha]

I haven't got a problem with the cuts as long as the army maintains a good level of efficiency and effectiveness, and that, as a country, we don't get involved in any major and prolonged conflicts in the near future.

[Condottiere 40K]

Might give the Argentinians ideas, again.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Might give the Argentinians ideas, again.

The Falklands is supposedly unassailable nowadays.

[Stavroforos]

Cuts need to be made everywhere, it's what kept us out of the Southern European shite heap.

Indeed, Italy has already gone forward and reduced its military spending, as has Greece.

Might give the Argentinians ideas, again.

Doubtful.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Indeed, Italy has already gone forward and reduced its military spending, as has Greece.

Greek military spending increased YOY 2010-11, and Greece spends twice the proportion of its GDP as any other EU member.

[Menelik_I]

Might give the Argentinians ideas, again.

The RAF and Royal Navy is what destroyed their imperial dreams the last time around, so no danger from them.

and probably gain 20,000 unmanned drones

You're right.

[selder]

and probably gain 20,000 unmanned drones

[SLN445]

They just need to join their Military with the other EU nations and create a force that requires less Military size per country yet having an overall large sizable army

Or the EU and do some same thing with the Commonwealth, LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!!!

[Stavroforos]

They just need to join their Military with the other EU nations and create a force that requires less Military size per country yet having an overall large sizable army

Or the EU and do some same thing with the Commonwealth, LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!!!

Yes, because the EU is really an organization capable of fielding an effective military force.

[SLN445]

Yes, because the EU is really an organization capable of fielding an effective military force.

Who knows You can always restructure things

Ok maybe the EU was a bad example.... but the idea still works, multiple countries applying their military forces into a single force were less is required per country but still creates an overall output of a sizable Military.

Issue of course is Logistics of moving troops from varies nations around and supplying them.

[Adar]

Who knows You can always restructure things

Ok maybe the EU was a bad example.... but the idea still works, multiple countries applying their military forces into a single force were less is required per country but still creates an overall output of a sizable Military.

Issue of course is Logistics of moving troops from varies nations around and supplying them.

Pooling really doesn't work out well as all nations want access during crises and you also have to add a collaboration cost to the project.

A good example is the Heavy airlift wing with 3 Boeing C-17 Globemasters that are shared between USA (1000 hours per year), Sweden (550 hours), the Netherlands (500), Norway 400), Romania (200) Poland (150), Finland (100), Bulgaria (65), Slovenia (60), Hungary (50), Estonia (45) and Latvia (45).

First of all it is actually rather expensive for each nation to send flight officers to Hungary for training and alert readiness (HAW is based there) which means that the sum of the costs larger than just one nation owning three C-17s. The system is good for scheduled missions such as when the Swedish army sent down a platoon of CV9040c to support the Swedish force in Afghanistan. Each nation only need a few flight hours per month so it becomes very efficient when we can schedule our tasks.

But during emergencies the system is horribly inefficient as all the forces want the aircrafts at the same time. So despite being the 2nd largest contributor to the Heavy Airlift Wing, Sweden had 0 flight hours when we really needed them during Operation Odyssey dawn and had to rely on C-130 Hercules aircrafts which got 20 % of the load capacity of a C-130. Luckily the Swedish air force have been using Red Flag exercises in America to exercise long range redeployments with minimal support, but it also show how we are paying a lot of money for something that's only reliable in peaceful times.

[SLN445]

Pooling really doesn't work out well as all nations tend to want access to the equipment at the same time and you also have to add a collaboration cost to the project.

A good example is the Heavy airlift wing with 3 Boeing C-17 Globemasters that are shared between USA (1000 hours per year), Sweden (550 hours), the Netherlands (500), Norway 400), Romania (200) Poland (150), Finland (100), Bulgaria (65), Slovenia (60), Hungary (50), Estonia (45) and Latvia (45).

First of all it is actually rather expensive for each nation to send flight officers to Hungary for training and alert readiness (HAW is based there) which means that the sum of the costs larger than just one nation owning three C-17s. The system is good for scheduled missions such as when the Swedish army sent down a platoon of CV9040c to support the Swedish force in Afghanistan. Each nation only need a few flight hours per month so it becomes very efficient when we can schedule our tasks.

But during emergencies the system is horribly inefficient as all the forces want the aircrafts at the same time. So despite being the 2nd largest contributor to the Heavy Airlift Wing, Sweden had 0 flight hours when we really needed them during Operation Odyssey dawn and had to rely on C-130 Hercules aircrafts which got 20 % of the load capacity of a C-130. Luckily the Swedish air force have been using Red Flag exercises in America to exercise long range redeployments with minimal support, but it also show how we are paying a lot of money for something that's only reliable in peaceful times.

True true such an idea is more of a fantasy of mine rather then a true idea XD

[Grimecraft]

oh bugger