Overseas_military_bases_of_the_United_Kingdom

Overseas military bases of the United Kingdom

Overseas military bases of the United Kingdom

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Overseas military bases of the United Kingdom enable the British Armed Forces to conduct expeditionary warfare and maintain a forward presence. Bases tend to be located in or near areas of strategic or diplomatic importance, often used for the build-up or resupply of military forces, as was seen during the 1982 Falklands War and the use of RAF Ascension Island as a staging post. Most of the bases are located on British Overseas Territories or former colonies which retain close diplomatic ties with the British government.

Some of the major military bases and facilities of the United Kingdom.

Apart from the main operating bases, the British military has personnel stationed at approximately 145 overseas military installations located across 42 countries.[1] Most of these are small contingents. However, some sixty facilities are run directly by the British Armed Forces, including seventeen installations on Cyprus. Allied countries host British military personnel in some sixty-nine facilities, including in Oman, at sixteen locations, and Saudi Arabia, where there are fifteen.[2] Six of the countries with a fixed UK military presence are featured on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's list of 30 "Human Rights Priority Countries": Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.[3]

A number of British military operations have relied heavily on the strategic island of Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands. It has been used for major operations during the War on Terror, Operation Granby (1991), Operation Herrick (2001–2014), Operation Telic (2003–2011), Operation Shader (2014–present), Operation Desert Storm (1991), Operation Desert Fox (1998), Operation Enduring Freedom (2001–14), Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003–11), and Operation Inherent Resolve (2014–present).[4]

The Ministry of Defence has publicly stated that the British Armed Forces only operates on military bases in the UK, the United States (Creech AFB), Cyprus, Gibraltar and the South Atlantic.[5][6]

Facilities by continent

Six of the countries with a fixed UK military presence are featured on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's list of 30 "Human Rights Priority Countries": Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Several bases are located in tax havens.[3][7]

Africa

There are five bases/training facilities in Kenya, including the Kifaru Camp, which is part of the BATUK at the Kahawa Barracks in Nairobi.[8][9][10][11]

British personnel also run the International Military Advisory and Training Team (IMATT) in Sierra Leone, providing the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces with training and mentoring, following the country's civil war.[12]

In the Chagos Islands, the British and American military jointly operate the Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia.[4] The command's mission is "[t]o provide logistic support to operational forces forward deployed to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf AORs in support of national policy objectives."[13] The facility started construction in 1971 and was complete by 1976, becoming operational the very same year.[14][15] Despite the fact that it is technically owned by the Ministry of Defence, the facility is primarily occupied by U.S. Navy elements.[16]

Antarctica

The British Rothera Research Station is located on Antarctica.[17][18] HMS Protector supplies the civilian scientific research station and patrols nearby waters, including those around the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.[1]

Asia

The Royal Air Force operate a permanent facility in the United Arab Emirates known as Donnelly Lines. The Royal Navy has a base known as HMS Jufair, or the United Kingdom Naval Support Facility, in Bahrain, where the 9th Mine Counter-Measures Squadron is based.[1]

In Sembawang of Singapore, there is British Defence Singapore Support Unit which is operated by Royal Navy and could be positioned as the logistic centre and supporting base of British Armed Forces in Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania.

Brunei hosts approximately 2000 personnel as part of British Forces Brunei, which includes one roulement battalion of the Royal Gurkha Regiment, with supporting signals, engineer and military police units, and helicopters from No. 230 Squadron RAF.[19]

The UK Joint Logistics Support Base is located in Oman, and is a joint logistical support facility used to facilitate the deployment of the British Armed Forces in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. There is also the Omani-British Joint Training Area, which is also used as a Land Regional Hub for expeditionary warfare by the British Army.[20] Oman's RAFO Musannah is also home to 902 Expeditionary Air Wing and Merlin helicopters.

No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group of the Royal Air Force is currently based at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, to lead air operations in the Middle East.[21]

Kathmandu, Nepal is home to the Headquarters British Gurkhas Nepal. The British Gurkha Camp in Pokhara is the main recruitment centre, where the annual selection course is run, and Dharan Station is small regional recruitment station in eastern Nepal.[22]

Europe

The British military operates seventeen military facilities in two 'sovereign base areas' on Cyprus,[1] Akrotiri and Dhekelia, which are host to 2,290 British personnel.[23] There are also four bases in Germany and one each in Gibraltar, Jersey, Lithuania, Estonia, Czech Republic and Norway,[1] with the Norwegian base, Camp Viking, opening most recently, in 2023.[24][25]

The Americas

As British Overseas Territories, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands have all established locally-recruited units which are reserve components of the British Army.[1][26] The most recently established of these is the Turks and Caicos Islands Regiment, which was officially raised in April 2020.[27][28][29]

RAF Mount Pleasant is the largest of six sites in the Falkland Islands, which is the only territory in South America with British military personnel. Mount Pleasant is supplied from a dockyard at Mare Harbour. The islands are monitored by three radar sites at Mount Alice, Byron Heights and Mount Kent, respectively.[1]

Significant overseas military deployments

Map of current[when?] military installations

The British Armed Forces maintain a number of larger garrisons and military facilities around the world:

More information Location, Details ...

Locally raised units of British Overseas Territories

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Map of locally raised units

Six British Overseas Territories also maintain their own locally raised units for home defence and security:

More information Location, Details ...

See also


References

  1. Miller, Phil (24 November 2020). "REVEALED: The UK military's overseas base network involves 145 sites in 42 countries". Declassified UK. Daily Maverick. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  2. "UK military base sites overseas, 2020". Google My Maps. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  3. Samaranayake, Nilanthi (10 July 2020). "How a Tiny Indian Ocean Island Could Force a US-UK Rift". Defense One. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  4. "RAF Recruitment | Our Bases". Royal Air Force. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  5. "Director of Overseas Bases". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  6. Calvert, Kevin (14 January 2019). "Supporting the British Army's capability in Kenya". GOV.UK. Inside DIO. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  7. "The British Army in Africa". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  8. Weir, Fiona (26 February 2016). "BATUK: Britain's Base In Kenya". BFBS. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  9. Agutu, Nancy (26 January 2021). "Nyati barracks opened as Kenya, UK strengthen ties". The Star. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  10. Tossini, J. Vitor (2017-05-11). "Britain and Sierra Leone – Military Partnership in West Africa". Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  11. Edis, Richard (2004). Peak of Limuria: the Story of Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago. Chippenham, UK: Antony Rowe Ltd.
  12. Ladwig III; Walter C.; Andrew S. Erickson & Justin D. Mikolay (2014). Diego Garcia and American Security in the Indian Ocean (PDF). in Carnes Lord and Andrew Erickson Rebalancing US Forces: Basing and Forward Presence in the Asia Pacific. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-03.
  13. "Rothera Research Station". British Antarctic Survey. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  14. "Who We Are". British Antarctic Survey. Retrieved 11 November 2007.
  15. "UK to expand base in Oman". Janes.com. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  16. "83 EAG leads UK operations in Middle East". U.S. Air Forces Central. 2018-07-16. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  17. News, Nepal. "British Gurkha: Mental resilience is the key". nepalnews.com. Retrieved 2024-03-11. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  18. "UK Opens Military Base in Northern Norway". The Defense Post. 8 March 2023.
  19. "Arrival of a Security Assistance Team in TCI from the UK". Welcome to the Turks and Caicos Islands. 2020-04-23. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  20. "TCI to build its own military regiment". Turks and Caicos Weekly News. December 16, 2019. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  21. "TCI Regiment gets its first commanding officer". Turks and Caicos Weekly News. June 12, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  22. "The status and location of the military installations of the Member States of the European Union" (PDF). Policy Department External Policies. European Parliament: 13–14. February 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  23. "Fact sheet: trilateral Australia-UK-US partnership on nuclear-powered submarines". GOV.UK. Government of the United Kingdom. 13 March 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023. Submarine Rotational Forces. As early as 2027, the United Kingdom and the United States plan to establish a rotational presence of one UK Astute class submarine and up to four U.S. Virginia class submarines at HMAS Stirling near Perth, Western Australia – this initiative will be known as 'Submarine Rotational Force-West' (SRF-West).
  24. "The British Army in Belize". Army.MoD.uk. British Army, Ministry of Defence.
  25. "New lease of life for British Army base in Belize". Forces.tv. Forces TV. 7 April 2015. Archived from the original on 11 April 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  26. "The British Army in Brunei". Army.MoD.uk. British Army, Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  27. "The British Army in Canada". Army.MoD.uk. British Army, Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  28. "Enhanced Forward Presence (EFP)". Army.MoD.uk. British Army, Ministry of Defence.
  29. "The British Army in Africa". Army.MoD.uk. British Army, Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  30. "British Gurkhas Nepal". Army.MoD.uk. British Army, Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  31. "New Arctic operations base for UK commandos". RoyalNavy.MoD.uk. Royal Navy, Ministry of Defence. 8 March 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  32. "Navy News (Magazine)". Navy News. United Kingdom: Royal Navy. June 2011. p. 11 Eastern Outpost. Retrieved 22 June 2016. The White Ensign is still flying above the operations of Naval Party 1022 (NP1022), based at Sembawang Wharves in Singapore. [dead link]

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