Military of the United Kingdom
| Military of the United Kingdom | |
 The tri-service badge: British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. | |
| Military manpower | |
| Availability (males age 15-49) | 14,877,666 (2003 est.) |
| Fit for military service (males age 15-49) | 12,353,942 (2003 est.) |
| Military expenditures | |
| Sterling figure (FY04/05) | £30.0 billion |
| Dollar figure (FY04/05) | $54.0 billion |
| Percent of GDP (2004) | 2.64% |
| Military strength | |
| British Army | |
| Main Battle Tanks | 386 Challenger 2 |
| Personnel | 112,700 |
| Royal Navy | |
| Submarines | 11 |
| Ballistic Submarines | 4 |
| Aircraft Carriers | 3 |
| Destroyers | 11 |
| Frigates | 20 |
| Patrol Boats | 20 |
| Personnel | 40,900 |
| Royal Air Force | |
| Aircraft | 468 |
| Personnel | 53,400 |
The armed forces of the United Kingdom are managed by 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.
The British Army had a reported strength of 112,700 in 2004, including 7,600 women, and the Royal Air Force a strength of 53,400. The 40,900-member Royal Navy 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.
Britain and France field the most powerful and diverse militaries in Europe and are two of the few countries who have shown the capacity and willingness to keep up with the technological lead of the United States armed forces. Despite Britain's wide ranging capabilies all of the country's major defence reviews have envisaged fighting a war in a coalition; Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Desert Storm, No-Fly-Zones, Desert Fox and Iraqi Freedom) may all be taken as precedent - indeed the last conflict in which the British military fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982.
The Commander-in-Chief of the UK Armed Forces is the Queen and in the UK they are officially known as HM Armed Forces.
Branches
- British Army
- Royal Navy, including Royal Marines
- Royal Air Force
Recent Defence Reviews
- Options for Change (1993)
- Strategic Defence Review (1999)
- Delivering Security in a Changing World [1] (http://www.mod.uk/issues/security/cm6269/index.html) (2004)
See also
- British military history
- Admiralty
- Military of the Falkland Islands
- National Service
- NATO
- The United Kingdom and weapons of mass destruction
- List of United Kingdom topics
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