British Armed Forces
Combined military forces of the United Kingdom
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| 2025 | Under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, UK publishes a new Strategic Defence Review (SDR) focusing on 'warfighting readiness' and announcing major military investments. |
| March 2025 | 5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers takes over deployment with British Forces Cyprus, effective from this date. |
| January 1 2025 | Personnel distribution across British Armed Forces services was recorded: Navy (37,601 total), Army and Gurkhas (108,413 total), and Air Force (34,765 total), with a total force strength of 180,779 personnel. |
| 2024 | The British Army is set to equip Armoured Infantry battalions with the new Boxer mechanised infantry vehicle, transitioning from the current Warrior infantry fighting vehicle. |
| September 5 2024 | Royal British Legion expands to Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales |
| April 2024 | 4th Battalion, Parachute Regiment was assigned to British Forces Cyprus for the standard six-month rotation. |
| April 1 2024 | Approximately 96% of UK Regular Forces personnel stationed within the United Kingdom, with 5,700 personnel deployed overseas across various global regions including Europe, North America, North Africa, Middle East, Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. |
| 2023 | Rachel Hopkins, Labour Party's Shadow Minister of State for Veterans' Affairs, committed to fully enshrining the Covenant into law and promising additional funding for veterans' mental health provisions under a potential future Labour government. |
| 2023 | Humanitarian Medal introduced as a general medal for humanitarian service from 9 September 2023. |
| 2023 | The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) indicated intentions to reopen the long-unused King's Lines Oil Fuel Depot facility. |
| September 9 2023 | Royal British Legion establishes Market Drayton branch in Shropshire, England |
| July 1 2023 | Personnel distribution across British Armed Forces services recorded, showing 32,360 Navy, 80,360 Army and Gurkhas, and 31,710 Air Force regular personnel. |
| June 24 2023 | Newport will host the annual Wales National Armed Forces Day, a partnership between the Welsh Government, local councils, and the navy, army, and air force. |
| May 27 2023 | No. 1563 Flight was replaced by Pumas from No. 230 Squadron RAF. |
| May 6 2023 | King Charles III Coronation Medal established. |
| March 8 2023 | Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced an additional £5 billion in defence spending, with a long-term goal of increasing defence expenditure to 2.5% of GDP. |
| 2022 | Major General Gwyn Jenkins's tenure as Director Special Forces concludes. |
| 2022 | Bell 212 helicopter replaced by RAF Puma HC2, operated by No. 1563 Flight RAF in Brunei. |
| November 21 2022 | Nuclear Test Medal established, honoring service during the UK's nuclear weapons testing programmes from 1952-1967. |
| August 2022 | Air Vice-Marshal P J M Squires becomes the latest Commander of British Forces Cyprus |
| August 14 2022 | Royal British Legion opens Liskeard branch in Cornwall, England |
| June 2022 | Commodore Tom Guy was appointed as the commander of British Forces Gibraltar, representing a new leadership appointment for the strategic military presence in the territory. |
| June 2022 | Commodore Tom Guy takes over command from Commodore Steve Dainton |
| April 1 2022 | Royal British Legion establishes RBL Scotland branch |
| March 2022 | A second Cutlass-class patrol vessel arrived in Gibraltar, further strengthening the naval capabilities of the Gibraltar Squadron. |
| March 25 2022 | Royal British Legion expands to Caerphilly, Wales |
| March 24 2022 | Royal British Legion establishes Gloucester branch in England |
| February 6 2022 | Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal established. Awarded to people in public service, including Armed Forces, emergency services, and prison services, following government announcement on 12 November 2020. |
| 2021 | Completion of Operation Toral, the successor mission to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. |
| 2021 | Major General Gwyn Jenkins from the Royal Marines succeeds Walker as Director Special Forces. |
| 2021 | Wales National Armed Forces Day began travelling across all Welsh regions annually. |
| 2021 | Census reveals around 115,000 people in Wales reported previous military service, representing 4.5% of residents aged 16 or older. This veteran population includes 88,000 from regular forces, 22,000 from reserve forces, and 5,000 who served in both. |
| 2021 | British Army further reduced to approximately 72,000 personnel thereafter. |
| 2021 | The British Army maintained its size at 82,000 personnel. |
| December 9 2021 | Announcement made that the Welsh Cavalry will relocate to a renovated Barracks in Caerwent, near Newport, Wales in 2028. |
| November 2021 | UK government reversed its decision, announcing that Brecon Barracks will remain the main Army headquarters in Wales. Additionally, a reserves base in Wrexham would be expanded as part of the £8.6bn Future Soldier programme. |
| November 2021 | HMS Cutlass arrived in Gibraltar, replacing previous Archer-class patrol boats as part of the Gibraltar Squadron's modernization. |
| November 25 2021 | Royal British Legion opens Stafford branch in England |
| November 17 2021 | Royal British Legion establishes Lowestoft and District branch in England |
| November 4 2021 | Royal British Legion sets up branch in Blaenau Gwent, Wales |
| October 2021 | First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford highlighted Wales' disproportionate contribution to armed services, noting that while Wales has 5% of UK population, it provides 9% of service personnel, with only 2.5% of Welsh personnel based in Wales. |
| October 28 2021 | Royal British Legion extends to Newport, Wales |
| August 1 2021 | No. 7 Flight AAC was re-designated as No. 667 Squadron AAC. |
| July 28 2021 | Royal British Legion establishes branch in Peterborough, England |
| June 28 2021 | Royal British Legion expands to Torfaen, Wales |
| April 2021 | HMS Trent permanently deployed to Gibraltar, establishing a continuous naval presence in the region. |
| February 2021 | Andrew Dawes, commander of Joint Military Command Wales, highlighted the brigade's support to NHS Wales during the Covid-19 pandemic, with several hundred service personnel crewing ambulances and delivering vaccines across Wales. |
| 2020 | Additional Skynet communication units were purchased, including Vislink NewSwift ground terminals to further enhance the military satellite communication capabilities. |
| July 2020 | Commodore Steve Dainton assumes command from Commodore Timothy Henry |
| April 2020 | Multiple regiments including 7th Battalion, The Rifles, 5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and 3rd Battalion, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment were simultaneously deployed to British Forces Cyprus. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Director Special Forces, Communications and information systems of the British Armed Forces, Recruitment in the British Army, History of the British Army, Awards and decorations of the British Armed Forces, British Forces Cyprus, Royal British Legion, British Armed Forces, British Forces Gibraltar, British Forces Brunei, Armed forces in Wales & Armed Forces Covenant, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.