British Armed forces

United Kingdom
Population
67,791,400
Military budget
58.2 billion $
Active personnel
148,220
Nuclear weapons
215 warheads
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Basic informations

Capital: London
Area: 242,495 km2
Population: 67,791,400
Etnic groups: white 87.2%, black/African/Caribbean/black British 3%, Asian/Asian British: Indian 2.3%, Asian/Asian British: Pakistani 1.9%, mixed 2%, other 3.7%
Religions: Christian (includes Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 59.5%, Muslim 4.4%, Hindu 1.3%, other 2%, unspecified 7.2%, none 25.7%

Military branches

(British Armed Forces)Army, Royal Navy (includes Royal Marines), Royal Air Force.

Military service

16-33 years of age (officers 17-28) for voluntary military service (with parental consent under 18); no conscription; women serve in military services, but are excluded from ground combat positions and some naval postings; must be citizen of the UK, Commonwealth, or Republic of Ireland; reservists serve a minimum of 3 years, to age 45 or 55; 17 years 6 months of age for voluntary military service by Nepalese citizens in the Brigade of Gurkhas; 16-34 years of age for voluntary military service by Papua New Guinean citizens.

Military expenditures

Military budget
58.2 billion $
Percent of GDP
2.2

Manpower

Active personnel
148,220
Reserve
37,000
Available
14,856,917

Land Forces

Tanks
286
AFV
4,644
Artillery
259
Self-propelled guns
89
Rocket artillery
44
Armoured fighting vehicles includes infantry fighting vehicles, tank destroyers, armoured personnel carriers, mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles(MRAP), amphibious and reconnaissance vehicles.
Total artillery includes towed, self-propelled gun(SPG) and rocket artillery.

Tanks

TypeNameNumber

AFVs

TypeNameNumber
- Ajax 14
- Coyote MWMIK 71
- CVR(T) 453
- Foxhound 398
- Jackal MWMIK 437
- Panther 401
- Husky 311

Self-propelled artillery

TypeNameNumber

Rocket artillery

TypeNameNumber

Air Forces

Total aircraft
996
Fighters
157
Multirole
21
Attack
0
Helicopters
359
UCAV (combat drone)
9
Total aircraft - number of all military aircraft and helicopters in country. Includes training and cargo aircraft. Does not include drones.
Attack includes ground-attack and strategic bomber aircraft.

Fighter aircraft

TypeNameNumber

Multirole aircraft

Attack and bomber aircraft

TypeNameNumber
- -

Helicopters

TypeNameNumber
- Bell 212 5
- Westland Gazelle AH1 34
- Westland Sea King 2
- Bell Griffin HAR2 3
- AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin HM2 44
- AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin Mk3i/4 28
- Boeing AH-64E Guardian 6
- Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin II 7
- Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil 3
- Agusta AW109 2
- Westland Puma 24

UCAV (combat drone)

TypeNameNumber

Navy

Total naval
74
Aircraftcarriers
1
Destroyers
6
Frigates
12
Corvettes
0
Submarines
10
Total naval - number of all military ships in country. Includes auxiliaries.
Aircraft carriers includes helicopter carriers. Destroyers includes Battlecruisers and Cruisers.

Aircraftcarriers

TypeNameNumber

Destroyers

TypeNameNumber

Frigates

TypeNameNumber

Corvettes

TypeNameNumber
- -

Submarines

TypeNameNumber
- Trafalgar-class 2

Nuclear weapons

Third out of fifth nuclear-weapon states that are under the NPT, the treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The first successful test in the nuclear history of Great Britain occurred in October 1952, three years after Russia’s first successful attempt. “Hurricane”, which was the codename for the test assumed the use of 3 megaton bomb, which was dropped in Australia. The UK itself did not have many tests after that. Comparing to a thousand and hundreds of tests by Americans and Russians, the Brits made only 45 tests of nuclear arsenal.

We should remember about the fact that United Kingdom was in a strict cooperation with United States at the very beginning. It means that we cannot forget about the tremendous help the Americans received from the British government and men of science while developing their first nuclear bomb. Unfortunately, all the data that USA could not be sent back to the UK, since the cooperation has ended prematurely. This was one of the reasons why UK developed their first nuclear weapon so late. At this moment, they possess 215 warheads in total, out of which 120 is deployed and completely operational.