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104-450: The British Army had considered bullpup designs with intermediate calibre rounds in the 1950s, and officially adopted one of these as .280 British in 1951 in the EM-2 and Taden gun . However, US intransigence during NATO standardization efforts, and Winston Churchill 's interest in standards above all, led to the adoption of the 7.62×51mm NATO round. This was significantly more powerful than

208-511: A coalition force or part of a United Nations peacekeeping operation. Until the Wars of the Three Kingdoms , neither England or Scotland had had a standing army with professional officers and career corporals and sergeants. England relied on militia organised by local officials or private forces mobilised by the nobility, or on hired mercenaries from Europe. From the later Middle Ages until

312-454: A roller locked short recoil mechanism, and was somewhat heavier at about 10 pounds (4.5 kg) with an empty magazine. With uncommon flapper locking and a gas piston above the barrel, EM-2 was similar to Gewehr 43 in its mechanics, although it used a long stroke instead of a short stroke. A fifth design was commissioned from the BSA company, who built prototypes of a more conventional rifle using

416-779: A 21-year engagement, following which (should he survive so long) he was discharged as a Pensioner. Pensioners were sometimes still employed on garrison duties, as were younger soldiers no longer deemed fit for expeditionary service who were generally organised in invalid units or returned to the regimental depot for home service. The cost of paying pensioners, and the obligation the government was under to continue to employ invalids as well as soldiers deemed by their commanding officers as detriments to their units were motivations to change this system. The long period of engagement also discouraged many potential recruits. The long service enlistments were consequently replaced with short service enlistments, with undesirable soldiers not permitted to re-engage on

520-562: A Catholic) during his brief controversial reign, off the throne and into exile. England then involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance on the Continent, primarily to prevent a possible French Catholic monarch organizing invasion restoring the exiled James II (Queen Mary's father and still a Roman Catholic ). Later in 1689, William III to solidify his and Mary's hold on the monarchy, expanded

624-569: A Parliamentary-funded army, commanded by Lord General Thomas Fairfax , which became known as the New Model Army (originally phrased "new-modelled Army"). While this proved to be a war-winning formula, the New Model Army, being organised and politically active, went on to dominate the politics of the Interregnum and by 1660 was widely disliked. The New Model Army was paid off and disbanded at

728-478: A call for weapons based on the new round went out in September 1947. By this time, Korsak had left the original EM-1 program and Kazimierz Januszewski had replaced him and had adopted the anglicized name Stefan Kenneth Janson. Janson's new design was given the name EM-2, in spite of being more closely related to the original EM-1. A new EM-1 was developed by Stanley Thorpe while Eric Hall developed an EM-3. Perhaps due to

832-679: A deployment in Afghanistan as part of Operation Toral . Following an announcement by the US Government of the end of their operations in the Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence announced in April 2021 that British forces would withdraw from the country by 11 September 2021. It was later reported that all UK troops would be out by early July. Following the collapse of the Afghan Army, and the completion of

936-585: A large reserve of recently discharged soldiers, ready to be recalled on the outbreak of war to immediately bring the small peacetime regular army up to strength), the Regular Reserve of the British Army was originally created in 1859 by Secretary of State for War Sidney Herbert , and re-organised under the Reserve Force Act 1867 . Prior to this, a soldier was generally enlisted into the British Army for

1040-471: A less powerful cartridge just prior to the start of WWII, using a 7.92 mm bullet, but in the aftermath of the Dunkirk evacuation , any interest in this development ended. In the immediate post-war period, Royal Small Arms Factory , Enfield began the development of a series of designs firing German rounds. Polish designer Roman Korsak was producing a new light machine gun firing the 7.92×57mm Mauser round using

1144-789: A mechanism similar to the FG 42 known as the EM-1, while Jeziorański was designing an infantry weapon firing the StG 44 's 7.92×33mm Kurz , the EM-2. A second infantry weapon was developed by Metcalf, the EM-3, but was not successful. As the war ran down, in 1945 the Army formed the Small Arms Calibre Panel (SACP) to develop a new standard calibre for future weapons. Military intelligence suggested that it would be ten years before

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1248-572: A member of parliament and future Lord Protector) from serving as officers in the Parliamentary armies. This created a distinction between the civilians in Parliament, who tended to be Presbyterian and conciliatory to the Royalists ("Cavaliers") in nature, and a corps of professional officers, who tended to be Independent ( Congregational ) in theology. The second action was legislation for the creation of

1352-711: A more radical experimental rifle, the T25. In time, the British position on intermediate cartridges was vindicated, the 7.62×51mm proving to be too powerful to be controllable in rifles using automatic mode, smaller cartridges being deemed necessary for that application. Due to combat experience in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, the US adopted the AR-15 as the M16 . Chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO intermediate cartridge,

1456-565: A multinational armoured battlegroup in Estonia under Operation Cabrit and contributes troops to another military battle group in Poland . As part of the NATO plans, Britain has committed a full mechanized infantry brigade to be on a high state of readiness to defend Estonia. Between 2015 and 2022, the British Army deployed Short Term Training Teams (STTTs) to Ukraine under Operation Orbital to help train

1560-785: A safe distance by aiding the Ottoman Empire ). Like the English Army , the British Army fought the kingdoms of Spain, France (including the First French Empire ) and the Netherlands ( Dutch Republic ) for supremacy in North America and the West Indies . With native and provincial and colonial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the French and Indian War (North American theatre) of

1664-505: A target strength of 82,000, and just over 30,000 Army Reservists , with a target strength of 30,000. All former Regular Army personnel may also be recalled to duty in exceptional circumstances during the 6-year period following completion of their Regular service, which creates an additional force known as the Regular Reserve . The table below illustrates British Army personnel figures from 1710 to 2024. The British Army's basic weapon

1768-591: A volunteer army and threatened to emulate the American colonists if their conditions were not met. Learning from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution. The British Army fought Irish rebels—Protestant and Catholic—primarily in Ulster and Leinster ( Wolfe Tone's United Irishmen ) in the 1798 rebellion . In addition to battling the armies of other European empires (and its former colonies,

1872-793: A war against the Prussian -led German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire ). When the First World War broke out in August 1914 the British Army sent the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), consisting mainly of regular army troops, to France and Belgium . The fighting bogged down into static trench warfare for the remainder of the war. In 1915 the army created the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force to invade

1976-625: Is based on that of the earlier English army. Although technically the Scots Royal Regiment of Foot was raised in 1633 and is the oldest Regiment of the Line, Scottish and Irish regiments were only allowed to take a rank in the English army on the date of their arrival in England (or the date when they were first placed on the English establishment). In 1694, a board of general officers was convened to decide

2080-692: Is provided by L16 81mm mortars . Sniper rifles include the L118A1  7.62 mm, L115A3 and the AW50F , all manufactured by Accuracy International . The British Army utilises the Glock 17 as its side arm. Anti tank guided weapons include the Javelin , the medium range anti-tank guided weapon replacement for Milan , with overfly and direct attack modes of operation, and the NLAW . The Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapon ( NLAW )

2184-505: Is the 5.56 mm L85A2 or L85A3 assault rifle, with some specialist personnel using the L22A2 carbine variant (pilots and some tank crew). The weapon was traditionally equipped with either iron sights or an optical SUSAT , although other optical sights have been subsequently purchased to supplement these. The weapon can be enhanced further utilising the Picatinny rail with attachments such as

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2288-576: Is the first, non-expert, short-range, anti-tank missile that rapidly knocks out any main battle tank in just one shot by striking it from above. The army's main battle tank is the Challenger 2 , which is being upgraded to Challenger 3 . It is supported by the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle as the primary infantry fighting vehicle , (which will soon be replaced by the Boxer 8x8 armoured fighting vehicle ) and

2392-643: Is the official list of which bodies of the British Military (not to be confused with naval ) Forces were to be considered Corps of the British Army for the purposes of the Army Act , the Reserve Forces Act, 1882, and the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act, 1907, had not been updated since 1926 (Army Order 49 of 1926), although amendments had been made up to and including Army Order 67 of 1950. A new Corps Warrant

2496-630: The .303 British round, including the Lee-Enfield bolt-action rifle, Vickers machine gun and the Bren gun. The .303 had been developed near the end of the 19th century, and had several problems when used in modern designs, notably, the rimmed cartridge design that made it more difficult to use in a magazine . Although the Army had intended to replace the .303 on several occasions dating from before World War I , these efforts were repeatedly put off due to one crisis after another. There had been some consideration of

2600-707: The American Revolutionary War , the Napoleonic Wars , the Crimean War and the First and Second World Wars . Britain's victories in most of these decisive wars allowed it to influence world events and establish itself as one of the world's leading military and economic powers. Since the end of the Cold War , the British Army has been deployed to a number of conflict zones, often as part of an expeditionary force ,

2704-526: The Americas , Africa , Asia , India and Australasia . British soldiers captured strategically important sites and territories, with the army involved in wars to secure the empire's borders, internal safety and support friendly governments and princes. Among these actions were the French and Indian War / Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War , the Napoleonic Wars , the First and Second Opium Wars ,

2808-603: The Anglo-Irish War . The increasing demands of imperial expansion and the inadequacy and inefficiency of the underfunded British Army, Militia , Ordnance Military Corps, Yeomanry and Volunteer Force after the Napoleonic Wars led to series of reforms following the failures of the Crimean War . Inspired by the successes of the Prussian Army (which relied on short-term conscription of all eligible young men to maintain

2912-668: The Armed Forces of Ukraine against further Russian aggression. This operation was succeeded by Operation Interflex in July 2022. The British Army has been a volunteer force since national service ended during the 1960s. Since the creation of the part-time, reserve Territorial Force in 1908 (renamed the Army Reserve in 2014), the full-time British Army has been known as the Regular Army. In July 2020 there were just over 78,800 Regulars, with

3016-951: The Boxer Rebellion , the New Zealand Wars , the Australian frontier wars , the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 , the first and second Boer Wars , the Fenian raids , the Irish War of Independence , interventions in Afghanistan (intended to maintain a buffer state between British India and the Russian Empire ) and the Crimean War (to keep the Russian Empire to the north on the Black Sea at

3120-472: The British Army . Members of the British Army swear allegiance to the monarch as their commander-in-chief , since both the English Bill of Rights of 1689 and Scottish Claim of Right Act 1689 require parliamentary consent for the Crown to maintain a peacetime standing army . The army is administered by the Ministry of Defence and commanded by the Chief of the General Staff . At its inception, being composed primarily of cavalry and infantry,

3224-416: The Bulldog armoured personnel carrier . Light armoured units often utilise the Supacat "Jackal" MWMIK and Coyote tactical support vehicle for reconnaissance and fire support. The army has three main artillery systems: the M270 multiple launch rocket system (MLRS), the AS-90 and the L118 light gun . The MLRS, first used in Operation Granby , has an 85-kilometre (53 mi) standard range, or with

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3328-418: The Eastern Association ), often commanded by local members of Parliament (both from the House of Commons and the House of Lords), while more than able to hold their own in the regions which Parliamentarians ('Roundheads") controlled, were unlikely to win the war. So Parliament initiated two actions. The Self-denying Ordinance forbade members of Parliament (with the notable exception of Oliver Cromwell , then

3432-477: The Far East , the British Army rallied against the Japanese in the Burma Campaign and regained the British Far Eastern colonial possessions. After the Second World War the British Army was significantly reduced in size, although National Service continued until 1960. This period saw decolonisation begin with the partition and independence of India and Pakistan, followed by the independence of British colonies in Africa and Asia. The Corps Warrant , which

3536-442: The Islamic State (ISIL). The British Army maintains a standing liability to support the civil authorities in certain circumstances, usually in either niche capabilities (e.g. explosive ordnance removal) or in general support of the civil authorities when their capacity is exceeded. In recent years this has been seen as army personnel supporting the civil authorities in the face of the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak ,

3640-445: The L17A2 under-barrel grenade launcher. In 2023, the Army Special Operations Brigade , which includes the Ranger Regiment , began using the L403A1 , an AR-pattern rifle also used by the Royal Marines . Some soldiers are equipped with the 7.62mm L129A1 sharpshooter rifle , which in 2018 formally replaced the L86A2 Light Support Weapon. Support fire is provided by the L7 general-purpose machine gun (GPMG), and indirect fire

3744-411: The M16 rifle , firing the .223 Remington cartridge of much lower power than even the .280. With standardization "broken", the British Army once again started researching lighter rounds in the 1970s. These efforts suggested that a round of similar weight as the M16s, but firing a smaller diameter bullet, would offer the same recoil patterns while having much better penetration and ballistics. The result

3848-437: The Netherlands for the War of the Spanish Succession . Although all the regiments were now part of the new British military establishment, they remained under the old operational-command structure and retained much of the institutional ethos, customs and traditions of the standing armies created shortly after the Restoration of the Monarchy 47 years earlier. The order of seniority of the most-senior British Army line regiments

3952-424: The Ottoman Empire via Gallipoli , an unsuccessful attempt to capture Constantinople and secure a sea route to Russia . The First World War was the most devastating in British military history , with nearly 800,000 men killed and over two million wounded. Early in the war, the BEF was virtually destroyed and was replaced first by volunteers and then by a conscript force. Major battles included those at

4056-441: The PrSM , up to 500 km. The AS-90 is a 155 mm self-propelled armoured gun with a 24-kilometre (15 mi) range. The L118 light gun is a 105 mm towed gun, which is typically towed by a Pinzgauer all-terrain vehicle. To identify artillery targets, the army operates the TAIPAN artillery detection radar and utilises artillery sound ranging . For air defence it uses the new Sky Sabre system, which in 2021 replaced

4160-418: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement , there was a gradual reduction in the number of soldiers deployed. In 2005, after the PIRA declared a ceasefire, the British Army dismantled posts, withdrew many troops and restored troop levels to those of a peacetime garrison. Operation Banner ended at midnight on 31 July 2007 after about 38 years of continuous deployment,

4264-422: The Rapier . It also deploys the Very Short-Range Air Defence (VSHORAD) Starstreak HVM (high-velocity missile) launched by a single soldier or from a Stormer HVM vehicle-mounted launcher. Where armour is not required or mobility and speed are favoured the British Army utilises protected patrol vehicles, such as the Panther variant of the Iveco LMV , the Foxhound , and variants of the Cougar family (such as

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4368-411: The Sterling Armaments Company from 1975 to 1983. The first examples were available in 1972. By 1976, NATO was ready to standardize on a small calibre round, and testing of the various rounds head-to-head started in 1977. As designed, the British round performed well, but NATO concluded that the Fabrique Nationale 's entry based on the 5.56 mm, the "SS-109" gave the "best all-round performance" and

4472-507: The TADEN would replace the Bren gun and Vickers machine gun . As part of NATO standardization efforts, the United States claimed the .280 British round was too weak for use in rifles and machine guns, and instead favoured the much more powerful 7.62×51mm NATO round. A bullpup layout for a British service rifle was finally adopted some years later in form of the SA80 assault rifle, which remains in service today. The British Army entered World War II with infantry weapons based on

4576-437: The Territorial Force as the army's volunteer reserve component, merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Militia and Yeomanry. Great Britain was challenged by other powers, primarily the German Empire and Nazi Germany , during the 20th century. A century earlier it vied with Napoleonic France for global pre-eminence, and Hanoverian Britain's natural allies were the kingdoms and principalities of northern Germany . By

4680-410: The .280 and the EM-2. During this time, prototype EM-2s were built in several different calibres: Chambons built two for the 7×49mm "Second Optimum" cartridge and another two for the 7.62×51mm NATO. One of the Chambon prototypes was even rebuilt for the US .30-06 cartridge. RSAF-Enfield and BSA built 15 and 10 prototypes for the 7.62×51mm, respectively. Canadian Arsenals Limited also built 10 rifles for

4784-419: The .280, and could not be easily adapted to the existing weapons. Instead, the British and Canadian armies adopted the L1A1 SLR , a licensed version of the FN FAL , itself originally designed for the .280. During the 1960s the US found that, as the British had suggested, the 7.62 NATO round was far too powerful to be used in a fully automatic rifle. After considerable wrangling, the US Army eventually adopted

4888-453: The 2002 firefighters strike, widespread flooding in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013 and 2014, Operation Temperer following the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017 and, most recently, Operation Rescript during the COVID-19 pandemic . Since 2016, the British Army has maintained a presence in the Baltic States in support of the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence strategy which responded to the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea . The British Army leads

4992-608: The 2014 West African Ebola virus epidemic . In November 2001, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom with the United States, the United Kingdom deployed forces in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban in Operation Herrick . The 3rd Division were sent to Kabul to assist in the liberation of the capital and defeat Taliban forces in the mountains. In 2006 the British Army began concentrating on fighting Taliban forces and bringing security to Helmand Province , with about 9,500 British troops (including marines, airmen and sailors) deployed at its peak —the second-largest force after that of

5096-435: The 7.92×33mm Kurz German round from the StG44). However, the FAL was more easily adaptable to handle the more powerful, longer round. It grew in weight and length as a consequence. Churchill had hoped that with the British Commonwealth and other NATO countries adopting the FN FAL the US Army would do so as well, however the US adopted the T44 (an updated version of the M1 Garand ) as the M14 , which had won US trials against

5200-412: The 7×51mm "Compromise" cartridge. It was clear the EM-2 could not be easily adapted to the powerful 7.62×51mm NATO round , so the only realistic alternative was to adopt a licensed version of the FN FAL from Fabrique Nationale . Created by Dieudonné Saive , the FAL was itself a re-designed version of FN's own design for an intermediate cartridge rifle using the .280 round (the first prototypes had used

5304-420: The American colonial rebels early in the war). Halifax, Nova Scotia and Bermuda were to become Imperial fortresses (although Bermuda, being safer from attack over water and impervious to attack overland, quickly became the most important in British North America), along with Malta and Gibraltar , providing bases in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea for Royal Navy squadrons to control

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5408-412: The British Army comprises 74,296 regular full-time personnel, 4,244 Gurkhas , 25,934 volunteer reserve personnel and 4,612 "other personnel", for a total of 109,086. The British Army traces back to 1707 and the formation of the united Kingdom of Great Britain which joined the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into a single state and, with that, united the English Army and the Scots Army as

5512-408: The British Army was deployed as a peacekeeping force from 1969 to 2007 in Operation Banner . Initially, this was (in the wake of unionist attacks on nationalist communities in Derry and Belfast ) to prevent further loyalist attacks on Catholic communities; it developed into support of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and its successor, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) against

5616-413: The British Army was one of two Regular Forces (there were also separate Reserve Forces ) within the British military (those parts of the British Armed Forces tasked with land warfare, as opposed to the naval forces), with the other having been the Ordnance Military Corps (made up of the Royal Artillery , Royal Engineers , and the Royal Sappers and Miners ) of the Board of Ordnance , which along with

5720-486: The British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world; at its peak in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian armies under the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal von Blücher finally defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. The English were involved politically and militarily in Ireland. The campaign of English republican Protector Oliver Cromwell involved uncompromising treatment of

5824-439: The British military, mostly civilians. An estimated 100 soldiers committed suicide during Operation Banner or soon afterwards and a similar number died in accidents. A total of 6,116 were wounded. Sierra Leone The British Army deployed to Sierra Leone for Operation Palliser in 1999, under United Nations resolutions, to aid the government in quelling violent uprisings by militiamen. British troops also provided support during

5928-404: The Germans and Italians at the Second Battle of El Alamein in North Africa in 1942–1943 and helped drive them from Africa. It then fought through Italy and, with the help of American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Indian and Free French forces, was the principal organiser and participant in the D-Day invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944; nearly half the Allied soldiers were British. In

6032-494: The Irish towns (most notably Drogheda and Wexford ) which supported the Royalists during the English Civil War . The English Army (and the subsequent British Army) remained in Ireland primarily to suppress Irish revolts or disorder. In addition to its conflict with Irish nationalists, it was faced with the prospect of battling Anglo-Irish and Ulster Scots in Ireland who were angered by unfavourable taxation of Irish produce imported into Britain. With other Irish groups, they raised

6136-468: The M16 replaced the M14 which had been adopted little more than a decade earlier. Some years afterwards, NATO also agreed to move to a smaller round more suitable for full-automatic fire and lighter weapons, ultimately adopting the 5.56×45mm. Prior to committing to the 5.56mm, the British Army conducted additional intermediate cartridge research. Around 1970, a pair of the original .280 EM-2 were re-barrelled for an experimental 6.25×43mm cartridge. However,

6240-458: The Ridgeback, Husky and Mastiff). For day-to-day utility work the army commonly uses the Land Rover Wolf , which is based on the Land Rover Defender . Specialist engineering vehicles include bomb-disposal robots such as the T7 Multi-Mission Robotic System and the modern variants of the Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers , including the Titan bridge-layer, Trojan armoured engineer vehicle, Terrier armoured digger . Day-to-day utility work uses

6344-416: The Scots Greys was reassessed and based on their June 1685 entry into England. At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, and the Scots Greys eventually received the British Army rank of 2nd Dragoons. After 1700, British continental policy was to contain expansion by competing powers such as France and Spain. Although Spain was the dominant global power during the previous two centuries and

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6448-473: The Somme and Passchendaele . Advances in technology saw the advent of the tank (and the creation of the Royal Tank Regiment ) and advances in aircraft design (and the creation of the Royal Flying Corps ) which would be decisive in future battles. Trench warfare dominated Western Front strategy for most of the war, and the use of chemical weapons (disabling and poison gases) added to the devastation. The Second World War broke out in September 1939 with

6552-411: The Soviet and German Army 's invasion of Poland . British assurances to the Poles led the British Empire to declare war on Germany . As in the First World War, a relatively small BEF was sent to France but then hastily evacuated from Dunkirk as the German forces swept through the Low Countries and across France in May 1940. After the British Army recovered from its earlier defeats, it defeated

6656-410: The Soviets would be ready for another major war, so the time frame for re-equipping was the mid-to-late 1950s. This gave the Panel ample time to test a number of options. Experience during the war led to demands for a smaller "intermediate" sized cartridge that would allow fully automatic fire from a rifle-sized weapon. The Army demanded a high degree of accuracy due to the emphasis on marksmanship, so

6760-404: The Troubles . Following the 1994–1996 IRA ceasefires and since 1997, demilitarisation has been part of the peace process and the military presence has been reduced. On 25 June 2007 the 2nd Battalion of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment left the army complex in Bessbrook , County Armagh , ending the longest operation in British Army history. The British Army contributed 50,000 troops to

6864-421: The US put forth its own designs for NATO standardisation, using the 7.62×51mm NATO round in their prototype T25 and T44 rifles. Matters came to a head in 1951 in a shoot-off conducted at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds , with the US claiming the British round was underpowered, and the British claiming the US round was too powerful to be used in a rifle in full-automatic mode. At the same trials the Belgian .280 FN FAL

6968-423: The US. In December 2012 Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the combat mission would end in 2014, and troop numbers gradually fell as the Afghan National Army took over the brunt of the fighting. Between 2001 and 26 April 2014 a total of 453 British military personnel died in Afghan operations. Operation Herrick ended with the handover of Camp Bastion on 26 October 2014, but the British Army maintained

7072-444: The United States, in the American War of 1812 ), the British Army fought the Chinese in the First and Second Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion , Māori tribes in the first of the New Zealand Wars, Nawab Shiraj-ud-Daula's forces and British East India Company mutineers in the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 , the Boers in the first and second Boer Wars, Irish Fenians in Canada during the Fenian raids and Irish separatists in

7176-438: The Wars of the Three Kingdoms, when a foreign expeditionary force was needed, such as the one that Henry V of England took to France and that fought at the Battle of Agincourt (1415), the army, a professional one, was raised for the duration of the expedition. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the members of the English Long Parliament realised that the use of county militia organised into regional associations (such as

7280-400: The army saw the introduction of new weapons systems. Despite the decline of the British Empire, the army was engaged in Aden , Indonesia , Cyprus , Kenya and Malaya . In 1982, the British Army and the Royal Marines helped liberate the Falkland Islands during the conflict with Argentina after that country's invasion of the British territory. In the three decades following 1969,

7384-421: The army was heavily deployed in Northern Ireland 's Operation Banner to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (later the Police Service of Northern Ireland ) in their conflict with republican paramilitary groups. The locally recruited Ulster Defence Regiment was formed, becoming home-service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment in 1992 before it was disbanded in 2006. Over 700 soldiers were killed during

7488-642: The chief threat to England's early trans-Atlantic colonial ambitions, its influence was now waning. The territorial ambitions of the French, however, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the later Napoleonic Wars . Although the Royal Navy is widely regarded as vital to the rise of the British Empire , the British Army played an important role in the formation of colonies, protectorates and dominions in

7592-745: The coalition which fought Iraq in the Persian Gulf War , and British forces controlled Kuwait after its liberation. Forty-seven British military personnel died during the war. The army was deployed to former Yugoslavia in 1992. Initially part of the United Nations Protection Force , in 1995 its command was transferred to the Implementation Force (IFOR) and then to the Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR);

7696-531: The colours and the remainder in the Regular Reserve, remaining liable for recall to the colours if required. Among the other benefits, this thereby enabled the British Army to have a ready pool of recently trained men to draw upon in an emergency. The name of the Regular Reserve (which for a time was divided into a First Class and a Second Class ) has resulted in confusion with the Reserve Forces , which were

7800-462: The commitment rose to over 10,000 troops. In 1999, British forces under SFOR command were sent to Kosovo and the contingent increased to 19,000 troops. Between early 1993 and June 2010, 72 British military personnel died during operations in the former Yugoslavian countries of Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia. Although there have been permanent garrisons in Northern Ireland throughout its history,

7904-438: The completion of their first engagement. The size of the army also fluctuated greatly, increasing in war time, and drastically shrinking with peace. Battalions posted on garrison duty overseas were allowed an increase on their normal peacetime establishment, which resulted in their having surplus men on their return to a Home station. Consequently, soldiers engaging on short term enlistments were enabled to serve several years with

8008-682: The concept of an Infantry Personal Weapon which led to the design of the EM-2 was reflected in the SA80 system. British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom , British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies , a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Naval Service and the Royal Air Force . As of 1 July 2024,

8112-484: The confusing re-use of the names, these weapons are often referred to by their designer's names, becoming the "Thorpe EM-1", "Janson EM-2" and "Hall EM-3". As if this were not confusing enough, code names were also assigned, the EM-1 "Cobra", EM-2 "Mamba", while the EM-3 did not proceed and did not receive a name, as was the case for an entry from Dennis Burney as the EM-4 . Both the EM-1 and EM-2 were bullpup-style weapons;

8216-496: The disbanded New Model Army , were formed between November 1660 and January 1661 and became a standing military force for England (financed by Parliament ). The Royal Scots and Irish Armies were financed by the parliaments of Scotland and Ireland . Parliamentary control was established by the Bill of Rights 1689 and Claim of Right Act 1689 , although the monarch continued to influence aspects of army administration until at least

8320-505: The end of the 19th century. After the Restoration, King Charles II pulled together four regiments of infantry and cavalry, calling them his guards, at a cost of £122,000 from his general budget. This became the foundation of the permanent English Army. By 1685, it had grown to number 7,500 soldiers in marching regiments, and 1,400 men permanently stationed in garrisons. A Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 allowed successor King James II to raise

8424-461: The first purpose-designed entirely new intermediate cartridges , designed to a 1945 requirement as a result of combat experience and German advances in weapons design during World War II. The round, the .280 British , was designed to replace the .303 round, which dated to the late 19th century. The EM-2 was intended to replace the Lee-Enfield bolt-action rifles and various submachineguns , while

8528-464: The forces to 20,000 men. There were 37,000 in 1678, when England played a role in the closing stage of the cross-channel Franco-Dutch War . After Protestant dual Monarchs William III , formerly William of the Dutch House of Orange , and his wife Mary II's joint accession to the throne after a short constitutional crisis with Parliament sending Mary's father, predecessor King James II, (who remained

8632-557: The later Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 with the accession of King Charles II . For many decades the alleged excesses of the New Model Army under the Protectorate / Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell were used as propaganda (and still feature in Irish folklore) and the Whig Party element recoiled from allowing a standing army to continue with the agreed-upon rights and privileges under

8736-488: The longest in British Army history. According to an internal document released in 2007, the British Army had failed to defeat the IRA but made it impossible for them to win by violence. Operation Helvetic replaced Operation Banner in 2007, maintaining fewer service personnel in a more-benign environment. Of the 300,000 troops who served in Northern Ireland since 1969, there were 763 British military personnel killed and 306 killed by

8840-460: The magazine and chamber are placed behind the trigger and pistol grip, leading to a shorter overall length (by about 20%) and a better ratio between barrel length and weapon length. The overall length of the EM-2 is 9.5 inches (24 cm) less than the US M14 in spite of its barrel being 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) longer. Both EM-1 and EM-2 used 20-round magazines with "charger" reloads (the charger guide

8944-583: The middle of the 19th century, Britain and France were allies in preventing Russia's appropriation of the Ottoman Empire , although the fear of French invasion led shortly afterwards to the creation of the Volunteer Force. By the first decade of the 20th century, the United Kingdom was allied with France (by the Entente Cordiale ) and Russia (which had a secret agreement with France for mutual support in

9048-496: The new English army to 74,000, and then a few years later to 94,000 in 1694. Parliament was very nervous and reduced the cadre to 70,000 in 1697. Scotland and Ireland had theoretically separate military establishments, but they were unofficially merged with the English Crown force. By the time of the 1707 Acts of Union , many regiments of the English and Scottish armies were combined under one operational command and stationed in

9152-469: The new round was designed to meet the performance of the .303 (7.7 mm) at 1,000 yards (910 m) but at the reduced range of 600 yards (550 m). After testing a variety of designs, they selected a bullet of about .270 in (6.9 mm) calibre and 1 inch (2.5 cm) long, with a mass of 130 grains (8.4 g). With the release of the SACP reports, interest in the original series of EM weapons ended and

9256-661: The oceans and trade routes, and heavily garrisoned by the British Army both for defence of the bases and to provide mobile military forces to work with the Navy in amphibious operations throughout their regions. The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars , participating in a number of campaigns in Europe (including continuous deployment in the Peninsular War ), the Caribbean , North Africa and North America . The war between

9360-570: The originally civilian Commissariat Department , stores and supply departments, as well as barracks and other departments, were absorbed into the British Army when the Board of Ordnance was abolished in 1855. Various other civilian departments of the board were absorbed into the War Office . The British Army has seen action in major wars between the world's great powers , including the Seven Years' War ,

9464-708: The parallel Seven Years' War and suppressed a Native / Indian North Americans uprising in Pontiac's War around the Great Lakes . The British Army was defeated in the American Revolutionary War , losing the Thirteen Colonies but retaining The Canadas and The Maritimes as in British North America , including Bermuda (originally part of the Colony of Virginia , and which had been originally strongly sympathetic to

9568-531: The pre-existing part-time, local-service home-defence forces that were auxiliary to the British Army (or Regular Force ), but not originally part of it: the Yeomanry , Militia (or Constitutional Force ) and Volunteer Force . These were consequently also referred to as Auxiliary Forces or Local Forces . The late-19th-century Cardwell and Childers Reforms gave the army its modern shape and redefined its regimental system . The 1907 Haldane Reforms created

9672-517: The rank of English, Irish and Scots regiments serving in the Netherlands; the regiment which became known as the Scots Greys were designated the 4th Dragoons because there were three English regiments raised prior to 1688 when the Scots Greys were first placed in the English establishment. In 1713, when a new board of general officers was convened to decide the rank of several regiments, the seniority of

9776-491: The return of a king. The militia acts of 1661 and 1662 prevented local authorities from calling up militia and oppressing their own local opponents. Calling up the militia was possible only if the king and local elites agreed to do so. King Charles II and his " Cavalier " / Royalist supporters favoured a new army under royal control, and immediately after the Restoration of 1660 to 1661 began working on its establishment. The first English Army regiments, including elements of

9880-502: The revival of the EM-2 was short-lived as the 6.25mm was dropped for an even smaller 4.85mm cartridge in a completely new rifle, the L64/65 which evolved into the 5.56mm SA80 currently used by the British Army. In spite of having a similar appearance due to its bullpup layout the SA80 is mechanically unrelated to the EM-2; rather it is essentially a bullpup adaptation of the AR-18 / SAR-87 . However,

9984-537: The same round, the BSA 28P . The EM-2 was eventually selected as the better design, and was adopted as the British Army's new rifle on 25 April 1951 as the Rifle, Automatic, Calibre .280, Number 9 , the designation by which it had been known in the War Office since the American weapons tests of 1950. In common with other 20th century British designs such as the P14 and SA80, the EM-2

10088-706: The withdrawal of civilians, all British troops had left by the end of August 2021. In 2003, the United Kingdom was a major contributor to the invasion of Iraq , sending a force of over 46,000 military personnel. The British Army controlled southern Iraq, and maintained a peace-keeping presence in Basra . All British troops were withdrawn from Iraq by 30 April 2009, after the Iraqi government refused to extend their mandate. One hundred and seventy-nine British military personnel died in Iraqi operations. The British Armed Forces returned to Iraq in 2014 as part of Operation Shader to counter

10192-405: Was a British assault rifle . It was briefly adopted by British forces in 1951, but the decision was overturned very shortly thereafter by Winston Churchill 's incoming government in an effort to secure NATO standardisation of small arms and ammunition. It was an innovative weapon with the compact bullpup layout, built-in carrying handle and an optical sight. The gun was designed to fire one of

10296-474: Was also tested. A series of lengthy debates followed, which were finally settled in an unlikely fashion when Canada stated they would use the British .280 round, but only if the US did as well. It was clear this would never happen. Winston Churchill felt a NATO standard was more important than any qualities of the weapon itself and overturned the decision by the previous Labour Minister of Defence , Manny Shinwell , who had already announced an intention to move to

10400-565: Was declared in 1951. Although the British Army was a major participant in Korea in the early 1950s and Suez in 1956, during this period Britain's role in world events was reduced and the army was downsized. The British Army of the Rhine , consisting of I (BR) Corps , remained in Germany as a bulwark against Soviet invasion. The Cold War continued, with significant technological advances in warfare, and

10504-416: Was designed to achieve a high degree of accuracy due to the tradition of British Army emphasis on marksmanship. With the creation of NATO in 1949, there was a clear preference that NATO forces would have commonality of weapons and ammunition, so weapons designs had to meet with the approval of more than one government, and it was hoped, would be adopted by the organisation as a whole. It was at this point that

10608-638: Was later omitted from the magazines on EM2s), included the Universal Optical Sight (unit sight) due to the inability to add more traditional sights onto the rifle, had a carrying handle built into the top, could fire semi-automatic or fully automatic and the .280 (7 mm) round was accurate to about 800 yards (730 metres). The two designs were superficially similar but were internally very different in design and construction, with no parts in common other than sights. The EM-1 used 0.04 in (1.02 mm) thick steel plate pressings for simpler manufacture,

10712-492: Was selected. The L64 pattern was later developed into the SA80 family of weapons, which entered service with the UK in the mid-1980s. The L64/65 is a gas operated, 4.85mm calibre bullpup assault rifle. It uses an AR18 type operation with an SVT40 type gas piston. The SUSAT sight is robust and reliable. EM-2 rifle The EM-2 , also known as Rifle, No.9, Mk.1 or Janson rifle ,

10816-507: Was the .190-inch (4.85 mm) round fitted in "necked down" but otherwise standard 5.56 mm cartridges from the M16. The Royal Small Arms Factory developed a rifle to fire the new round. The new L64/65 "Individual Weapon" was outwardly similar to the earlier EM-2, but adopted a firing mechanism very similar to ArmaLite 's latest AR-18 design, which was manufactured in Britain under license by

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