The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. As of 1 July 2023, the British Army comprises 76,225 regular full-time personnel, 4,139 Gurkhas, 26,755 volunteer reserve personnel and 4,532 "other personnel", for a total of 111,651.
The British Armed Forces are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts and provide humanitarian aid.
The Canadian Armed Forces are the unified military forces of Canada, including land, sea, and air commands referred to as the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy, and the Royal Canadian Air Force. The CAF also operates several other commands, including the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, the Canadian Joint Operations Command, and the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly referred to as the Metropolitan Police, is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and the prevention of crime within the ceremonial county of Greater London. In addition, it is responsible for some specialised matters throughout the United Kingdom, including national counter-terrorism measures and the protection of specific people, such as the monarch and other members of the royal family, members of the government, and other officials.
The Ministry of Defence is the department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by His Majesty's Government, and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces.
A commander in chief or supreme commander is the person who exercises supreme command and control over an armed force or a military branch. As a technical term, it refers to military competencies that reside in a country's executive leadership, a head of state, head of government, or other designated government official.
Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Most law enforcement duties are carried out by those who hold the office of police constable of a territorial police force.
Liam Fox is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party, Fox has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Somerset, formerly Woodspring, since 1992.
Mark Gino Francois is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rayleigh and Wickford, previously Rayleigh, since the 2001 general election.
The Defence Council of the United Kingdom is the supreme governing body of the British Armed Forces. It was established by the Defence Act 1964, which statutorily delegated the military authority of the Crown, as head of the Armed Forces, to the Defence Council. It has the power of "command and administration" over the military.
Transition to war (TTW) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military term referring to a period of international tension during which government and society move to an open war footing. The period after this is considered to be war, conventional or otherwise, but the term TTW found its origins in the peak of the Cold War as a key NATO concept within the tripwire escalation of the DEFCON status. This could include the suspension of peacetime services, closing motorways to all but military traffic and the internment of subversives without charge or trial. The Federal Emergency Management Agency would declare this period as Increased Readiness in a move to expedite Civil Defense training and to an extent is similar to Transition to War.
The Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi, is India's foremost think tank for advanced research in international relations, especially defence, strategic and security issues, and providing training to civilian, military and paramilitary officers of the Indian government. It is funded by the Indian Ministry of Defence but operates as a non-partisan and autonomous body. It aims to promote national and international security by carrying out research on defence and security-related issues and disseminating the knowledge among the policy-makers and wider public.
Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Associations(RFCAs) are Crown bodies in the United Kingdom which give advice and assistance to the Defence Council, and to the Army, Royal Navy and RAF, on matters that concern reserves and cadets. They are contracted by the Ministry of Defence to provide services including management of the volunteer estate, employer support, cadets and youth and to establish and maintain links with the civilian community. Established in 1908 (known then as the County Associations), they are today organised as 13 regional associations, comprising voluntary members and a small full-time secretariat.
In the United Kingdom, military conscription has existed for two periods in modern times. The first was from 1916 to 1920, and the second from 1939 to 1960. The last conscripted soldiers left the service in 1963.
The National Service Act 1948 was an Act of Parliament which extended the British conscription of the Second World War long after the war-time need for it had expired, in the form of "National Service". After a bill with the same purpose had been approved in 1947, expected to be implemented 1 January 1949, the Cold War and the Malayan Emergency caused a revised and extended version of the new legislation to be approved in December 1948, only days before the new arrangements came into force.
Head of the Armed Forces is the position of the sovereign of the United Kingdom as commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces. However, supreme military authority has been delegated by the monarch to the Defence Council of the United Kingdom, a body officially charged with the direction and administration of the Armed Forces.
The Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) is a civilian special police force which is part of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. The MDP's primary responsibilities are to provide armed security and counter terrorism services to designated high-risk areas, as well as uniformed policing and limited investigative services to Ministry of Defence property, personnel, and installations throughout the United Kingdom. The MDP are not military police. Service personnel often refer to the MDP by the nickname "MOD plod".
The Naval Careers Service (NCS) is part of the Naval Service in the United Kingdom which includes the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the Reserve Naval and Marine Forces. RNCS career advisors are responsible for the running of Armed Forces Careers Offices, providing career advice to potential recruits and managing their applications. When required, regular and reserve ranks and rates can be temporarily assigned to the service.
Operation Rescript was the code name for the British military operation to help tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies between 2020 and 2022. It was described as the UK's "biggest ever homeland military operation in peacetime" by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), involving up to 23,000 personnel within a specialist task force, named the COVID Support Force (CSF). The support was given at the request of the UK government, its devolved administrations and civil authorities through the Military aid to the civil authorities (MACA) mechanism.
