Big cuts in armed forces manpower were announced today by British Defence Secretary Mr Geoff Hoon in a wide-ranging modernisation plan.
Unveiling reforms aimed at transforming the services to deal with challenges of the 21st century, Mr Hoon said the RAF's manpower will be cut by 7,500 to around 41,000 by 2008.
The naval service will reduce to 36,000, a drop of 1,500 over the next four years, while the overall size of the army will be around 102,000.
Mr Hoon said there would also be cuts of about 10,000 in civilian jobs and while the loses would be achieved where possible through natural turnover there would be redundancies as well.
He said the Government was determined to ensure that growth in defence spending was targeted "at what the armed forces require in the 21st century, rather than what they have inherited from the 20th".
Mr Hoon said three Northern Ireland patrol vessels - HMS Brecon, Dulvertonand Cottesmore- would also go by April 2007.
On the RAF, he said one RAF Tornado F-3 air defence squadron would be cut and the withdrawal of two Jaguar squadrons would be brought forward to 2006, with the final Jaguar squadron to be disbanded in 2007.
RAF Coltishall in Norfolk would be closed by the end of 2006 and there would be an extensive review of airfield requirements.
He announced that the current fleet of four C-17 aircraft for airlift operations would be extended to five.
"The reductions in armed forces and civilian manpower will be achieved as far as practicable through natural turnover. "We will also retrain and redeploy personnel wherever possible. But inevitably there will be redundancies."
Mr Hoon added: "For the third successive spending review, this Government has been able to announce real growth in the defence budget. This is without precedent since the mid-1980s.
"Even with these additional funds it is necessary to secure maximum benefit from efficiencies and make choices to ensure that our force structure matches the requirements of today's security environment."
PA