Breaking news
British army reduces its armed forces to just one tank regiment despite the tensions in Ukraine 0308.
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Defence & Security News - United Kingdom |
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| Sunday, August 3, 2014 08:47 AM | |||
| British army reduces its armed forces to just one tank regiment despite the tensions in Ukraine. | |||
The
British Army has been reduced to just one single tank regiment, despite
fears that the move might be premature amid growing tensions in eastern
Ukraine. A ceremony on Saturday, August 2, 2014, morning will mark the
merger of Britain’s last two tank regiments as part of a cost-cutting
exercise by the British Ministry of Defence. |
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 Members from Egypt Squadron, 2 Royal Tank Regiment prepare to deploy to the Gulf, at the press facility held at Hohne ranges. Two Challenger Tank II in the background. |
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The
event will see current and former soldiers gather in Wiltshire's Aliwol
Barracks to see the joining together of 1 Royal Tank Regiment and 2 Royal
Tank Regiment to become the newly-formed Royal Tank Regiment.
The First Royal Tank Regiment has served in Afghanistan, mounted in several different variants of the British Army's new fleet of Protected Patrol Vehicles. Tankies once again demonstrated their adaptability and utility when handling these vehicles in difficult terrain, protecting the Afghan people in the face of a determined enemy. 2nd Royal Tank Regiment troops have recently returned from operations in Afghanistan as part of Operation Herrick, where we have been showing the insurgents what our motto - "FEAR NAUGHT" - really means. After years of fighting campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, Britain has in recent years prioritised spending on light infantry essential for combat in these areas. As a result, spending on heavy armoured equipment, like tanks, has been drastically reduced. In 1990, there were four tank regiments in the British Army, which had at their disposal nearly 800 tanks. Now the British army can call on just 156 tanks, with 56 of them belonging to the newly formed Royal Tank regiment. Some
fear that with the annexation of the Crimea by Russia and the continued
fighting in eastern Ukraine, that this decision to move reduce the number
of tanks might be premature. The decision to reduce the number of tanks is part of a major military spending review by the government in 2010, which sought to cut military spending by 8 per cent in four years 2015. In the review, it was decided that the number of tanks would be cut by 40 per cent, while heavy artillery funding would be reduced by 35 per cent. Alongside the new Royal Tank Regiment, the King’s Royal Hussars and the Queen’s Royal Hussars will be the other regiments in the British Army with tanks at their disposal. |
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Currently,
the standard main battle tank of the British Army is the Challenger
2. Design of the Challenger 2 was essentially completed by
August 1989 with the last bought-out items being delivered in February
1990. The first Challenger 2 Driver Training Tanks were completed in 1993 to allow training to start ahead of deliveries of the Challenger 2 MBT to the British Army. The Challenger 2 MBT was formally accepted for service with the British Army on 16 May 1994. Main armament of the Challenger 2 MBT consists of a BAE Systems, RO Defence 120 mm rifled tank gun designated the L30A1. Mounted coaxially, to the left of the main armament, is the ATK Gun Systems Company 7.62 mm Chain Gun which is already in service with the British Army and installed in the now Alvis Vickers Warrior mechanised combat vehicle. Mounted either side of the turret front is a bank of five 66 mm Thales AFV Systems electrically operated smoke grenade dischargers that cover the forward arc of the vehicle. The latest version of the Challenger 2 the TES (Theatre Entry Standard) is an upgraded version of the standard Challenger 2 with many improvements to increase protection against IEDs and anti-tank rocket and missiles. |
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