British Armed Forces

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.

Related Topics:
Armed force - United Kingdom - Commander-in-Chief - Queen - Defence Council - Ministry of Defence

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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.

Related Topics:
Britain - NATO

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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. This puts the total number of serving personnel in the 210,000 range.

Related Topics:
British Army - Royal Air Force - Royal Navy - Trident missile submarines - Royal Marines

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Along with France and Russia, Britain fields one of the most powerful and comprehensive armed forces in Europe. Its global power projection capabilities are second only to those of the United States Armed Forces. The Royal Navy is the second largest navy in the world in terms of gross tonnage. 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.

Related Topics:
France - Russia - ''Granby'' - ''Desert Fox'' - ''Telic'' - Falklands War

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