BRITAIN: The biggest cuts to the British armed forces for a generation were unveiled yesterday by Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, with sweeping reductions made in aircraft, warships, tanks and the infantry.
Mr Hoon told the House of Commons that the "restructuring" of the military was needed to meet the threats posed by international terrorism and the "forces of instability" in the 21st century.
The changes will see an overall reduction in the strength of the armed forces of 10,500, with a further 10,000 civil servants at the Ministry of Defence also facing the axe.
The brunt of the the cuts will be borne by the Royal Air Force which will lose 7,500 personnel, including 65 of its 290 fast jet crews - a reduction of almost a quarter.
It will mean the XI(F) Tornado F3 air defence squadron will be axed and Jaguar ground attack aircraft will be phased out by 2007. RAF Coltishall in Norfolk will be closed down.
The army - which will be cut from its trained strength of 103,500 to 102,000 - will lose four infantry battalions and 84 of its main Challenger 2 battle tanks.
The Royal Navy is to lose 12 service vessels.
Its destroyer/frigate fleet will be cut from 31 to 25. The number of nuclear attack submarines is being cut from 11 to eight.
Mr Hoon said that cutting "platforms" - tanks, ships and warplanes - would enable investment in new technology to maximise the services' accuracy and fire-power so that they could achieve the same military "effect" with smaller forces.
The cutbacks built on last December's Defence White Paper's approach to create more flexible and adaptable armed forces to deal with the emerging threats of international terrorism.
However, the measures were denounced as "reckless" by shadow defence secretary Mr Nicholas Soames who said thousands of servicemen and women would feel "betrayed politically and morally".