Yorkshire’s Green Howards fall victim to sweeping army cuts

THE Army is to lose 17 major units, including Yorkshire’s Green Howards, in the biggest overhaul of the service for decades it was announced today.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the changes were needed to create a “balanced, capable and adaptable force” for the future.

Among the units to go are four infantry battalions - the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, the 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards), the 3rd Battalion the Mercian Regiment, and the 2nd Battalion the Royal Welsh.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A fifth, the 5th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) will be reduced to a public duties company to carry out public duties in Scotland.

The Armoured Corps will be reduced by two units with the merger of the Queen’s Royal Lancers and the 9th/12th Royal Lancers and the 1st and 2nd Tank Regiments amalgamating.

There will also be reductions in the number of units in the Royal Artillery, the Royal Engineers, the Army Air Corps, the Royal Logistic Corps, the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and the Royal Military Police.

The changes - to be completed by the end of the decade - will see the regular Army cut from 102,000 to 82,000 while the Territorial Army will be expanded to give a combined force of 120,000.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“After inheriting a massive overspend from the last Government, we have had to make tough decisions to implement our vision of a formidable, adaptable and flexible armed forces,” Mr Hammond said.

“After a decade of enduring operations, we need to transform the Army and build a balanced, capable and adaptable force ready to face the future.

“Army 2020 will create a more flexible and agile Army. Unlike the past, it will be set on a firm foundation of men and material, well trained, well equipped and fully funded.

“The regimental system will remain the bedrock of the Army’s fighting future.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Under the Army 2020 plan drawn up by Lieutenant General Nick Carter, the force will be restructured on a basis of “graduated readiness”, with units held at different degrees of preparedness for operations.

High readiness “reaction forces” - comprising an air assault brigade, two attack helicopter regiments and three armoured infantry brigades - will be on standby to deploy on operations around the world.

They will be backed up by “adaptable forces”, which will be held at lower readiness, made up of seven infantry brigades comprising “paired” regular and reserve units.

They will be able to generate additional brigade-sized forces for enduring operations as well as fulfilling the Army’s standing commitments such as garrison duty in the Falklands, Cyprus and Brunei.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Both the reaction and the adaptable forces will receive specialist support from “force troops” - including artillery, engineers, surveillance and intelligence, logistic, and medical brigades.

The Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Peter Wall, said that under the plan, the Army would become “better integrated and fully adaptable”.

“It will capitalise on the powerful merits of a modern regimental system to deliver formidable effect when and where it is needed, and will create the best structure for the Army to face the challenges of the future,” he said.

“The changes in Army 2020 will demand resilience, flexibility and genuine adaptability from our talented and committed officers and soldiers.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It is inevitable that some units will be lost or will merge but we have done this in a way that I believe is fair across the whole Army.”

General Lord Dannatt, former head of the Army, said his successor Sir Peter Wall and senior officers were “making the best of a reduced deck of cards that they have been dealt”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there were “some risks” attached to sharp reductions in the size of the Army.

“It won’t be capable of conducting two operations simultaneously of the scale of Iraq and Afghanistan as we have done over the last 10 years,” the peer said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It will mean that we can do less but we will still do an enormous amount.”

Lord Dannatt said there was a danger the British military could be “exposed” in the short term, and ministers should be ready to change the shape and size of the forces quickly.

“Let’s hope that the next decade is a rather more peaceful decade than the last decade but I wouldn’t bet on it,” he added.

Related topics: