British Army

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The British Army is the component of the United Kingdom military with principal responsibility for land warfare. It "consists of the General Staff and the deployable Field Army and the Regional Forces that support them, as well as Joint elements that work with the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force."^[1] It is not correct to call it the "Royal Army", but those are the correct prefixes for the British air and sea services.

Organization[edit]

Its senior officer is the Commander-in-Chief, Land Forces (CINCLAND), who reports to the UK Chief of General Staff. CINCLAND replaced two offices, the Land Command and Adjutant General.

Operational direction is at the level of division and brigade. While army units traditionally are designated as regiments, the regiment is now a ceremonial and heraldic designation. Operational units called regiments are actually of battalion strength.

Units are either Regular or Territorial, the territorials being part-time reservists who can be activated for full-time duty. While it is technically part of the Army, the Special Air Service is operationally under UK Special Forces.

International commitments[edit]

The British Army has a major role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe is a British general or admiral. Britain provides a substantial number of the ground troops in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the Afghanistan War (2001-2021), and a British officer has held overall ISAF command.

Combat experience[edit]

It remains among the most experienced and competent land forces in the world. The last major ground combat in which it fought without other nations was the Falklands War, but it had a major role in the Gulf War as well as in peacekeeping operations under NATO, the United Nations, and in Northern Ireland.

References[edit]