Chapter 4 - Formations, Vessels, Aircraft and Vehicles of the Armed Forces

Introduction

Formations of the Naval Service, Army and Royal Air Force, at 1 April each year

Due to the inclusion of the preceding Health chapter in this year's publication, all tables in Chapter 4 of UKDS 2008 correspond, in the same order, to the tables found in Chapter 3 of previous editions of UKDS.

Table 4.1 shows the number of submarines and ships in the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Royal Marine Commando units, squadrons of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft in the Fleet Air Arm, and Reserve Units.

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Table 4.2 shows the numbers of regiments and Infantry battalions in the Regular and Territorial Army; and Corps, Divisional and Brigade headquarters.

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Table 4.3 shows the number of squadrons in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), and units in the RAF Regiment.

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Table 4.4 shows the number of regiments and squadrons in the Special Forces, Joint Helicopter Command and Joint Force Harrier.

Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary operational ships and submarines

Table 4.5 shows the numbers of Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships and submarines by class and base port, categorized by those that were operational and those undergoing refit at 1 April 2008.

Militarily useful British-registered merchant vessels at 31 December each year

Militarily useful British-registered merchant vessels are vessels that could be requisitioned in the appropriate circumstances in support of the armed forces. Other types of ship might also be used in certain cases. Foreign-flagged, but British-owned ships could also be requisitioned in certain circumstances.

Table 4.6 shows the number of passenger and dry cargo merchant vessels by principal categories and sizes.

Table 4.7 shows the number of merchant tankers, specialist and fishing vessels by principal categories and sizes.

Aircraft Fleets by type of aircraft at 1 April each year

Forward Available Fleet (FAF) is a way of managing aircraft resources which aims to enable the optimal level of availability to the Royal Navy, which has been used since 2006. FAF is defined as the number of aircraft required to undertake the mandated task; including aircrew and ground crew training, 'in-work' rectification and operational / tactical trials.

Table 4.8 shows the aircraft fleets for the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm.

Table 4.9 shows the aircraft fleets for the Royal Air Force Air Command including Operational Conversion Units and Training Aircraft. The RAF no longer identified separate Required Operating Fleets for Operational Conversion Units with effect from 1 April 2005. This table now incorporates Operational Conversion Units which in previous editions of UKDS were in the table corresponding to that which is now Table 4.10.

Table 4.10 shows the aircraft fleets by type in the Joint Helicopter Command and Joint Force Harrier.

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Equipment holdings within the scope of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe

The equipment numbers in Tables 4.11, 4.12 and 4.13 cover holdings in the UK, Germany, Cyprus and Gibraltar.

Table 4.11 shows the surveyed holdings of Tanks and Artillery by type of equipment, and indicates which types of equipment are obsolete and non-operational at 1 January each year.

Table 4.12 shows the surveyed holdings of Armoured Combat Vehicles and Armoured Combat Vehicle Look-alikes by type of equipment, and indicates which types of equipment are obsolete and non-operational at 1 January each year.

Table 4.13 shows the surveyed holdings of Attack helicopters and Combat aircraft by type of equipment, and indicates which types of equipment are obsolete and non-operational at 1 January each year.

Table 4.14 shows the declared Holdings and Ceilings of Tanks, Armoured Combat Vehicles and Artillery by country within the scope of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty at 1 January 2008.

Table 4.15 shows the declared Holdings and Ceilings of Attack helicopters and Combat aircraft by country within the scope of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty at 1 January 2008.

Key Points

  • There are 13 submarines, and 74 ships in the Royal Navy. There are 22 vessels in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Service
    (see Table 4.1) at 1 April 2008.
  • There are 46 Regular Army and 18 Territorial Army combat arms regiments, and respectively 37 and 23 combat support regiments (see Table 4.2) at 1 April 2008.
  • The UK has 354 battle tanks and 347 artillery held within the scope of the CFE Treaty (see Table 4.11) at 1 April 2008.
  • There are 108 Tornado GR and 43 Tornado F3 aircraft, and 34 Typhoons in the Royal Air Force Air Command (see Table 4.9) at 1 April 2008.
  • The UK has 1728 Armoured Combat Vehicles and 958 Armoured Combat Vehicle look-alikes held within the scope of the CFE Treaty (see Table 4.12) at 1 April 2008.
  • The UK has 269 attack helicopters and 452 combat aircraft held within the scope of the CFE Treaty (see Table 4.13) at 1 April 2008.