British Armed Forces Thread

Her Majesty's Armed Forces, commonly known as the British Armed Forces, and occasionally the Armed Forces of the Crown, are the armed forces of the United Kingdom. The Armed Forces consists of three professional uniformed services: the Royal Navy and Royal Marine Corps, forming the Naval Service, the British Army and the Royal Air Force. The Commander-in-Chief of Her Majesty's Armed Forces is the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, to whom members of the forces swear allegiance. Under British constitutional law, the armed forces are subordinate to the Crown.

The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and Crown Dependencies, as well as promoting Britain's wider security interests, and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in NATO and other coalition operations. Britain is also party to the Five Power Defence Arrangements. Recent operations have included wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the 2000 intervention in Sierra Leone, peacekeeping responsibilities in the Balkans and Cyprus, and participation in the UN-mandated no-fly zone over Libya. Overseas garrisons and facilities are maintained at Ascension Island, Belize, Brunei, Canada, Diego Garcia, the Falkland Islands, Germany,Gibraltar, Kenya, Qatar and the Sovereign Base Areas (Cyprus). The United Kingdom tested its first nuclear weapon under Operation Hurricane in 1952, becoming the third nation in the world to achieve the status of a nuclear power. UK remains one of five recognised nuclear powers.

 

Please post anything related to British Army, Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and the rest of armed forces. Thanks.

BAE Taranis Unmanned Stealth Bomber Aircraft with the capability to carry variety of precision missiles/bombs, fly intercontinental missions, identify and selects the targets by itself.

 

F-35 Flies with Two Typhoons

The F-35 Lightning II flew in formation with two Typhoon jets as part of a simulated mission scenario.








UK F35 flies during flight test.

 

Watchkeeper UAV in Afghanistan





BAE Systems Mantis UCAV armed with Paveway IV laser-guided bombs





RAF MQ9 Reaper UCAV armed with Hellfire and Brimstone "Fire and Forget" air-to-surface missiles.

 

Royal Air Force Typhoons Intercept Russian Aircraft

RAF Typhoons were yesterday (Tuesday 17 June) scrambled to intercept multiple Russian aircraft as part of NATO’s ongoing mission to police Baltic airspace.

The Typhoon aircraft, from 3 (Fighter) Squadron, were launched after four separate groups of aircraft were detected by NATO air defences in international airspace near to the Baltic States.

Once airborne, the British jets identified the aircraft as a Russian Tupolev Tu22 ‘Backfire’ bomber, four Sukhoi Su27 ‘Flanker’ fighters, one Beriev A50 ‘Mainstay’ early warning aircraft and an Antonov An26 ‘Curl’ transport aircraft who appeared to be carrying out a variety of routine training. The Russian aircraft were monitored by the RAF Typhoons and escorted on their way.











RAF Typhoon follows the Russian Stereguschiy-class corvette after detecting unidentified signal from it's helicopter in the Baltic Sea.





RAF Typhoon air superiority fighter jets shadow the Russian bomber flies near the NATO air space.

 

Airbus Defence and Space has performed the first air-to-air refuelling of the Airbus A400M new generation airlifter from the A330 MRTT Multi Role Transport Tanker. In the course of four flights, by day and night, in southern Spain, the A400M received more than 80 tons of fuel in 100 “wet contacts” from a Royal Air Force Voyager version of the A330 MRTT using the tanker´s Fuselage Refuelling Unit.
The trials follow dry contacts conducted in an earlier test-phase and support the A400M´s capability to conduct extremely long-range non-stop deployments. The photo shows the two aircraft framed by the wing of an F-18 chase aircraft.






Refuelling Typhoon and Tornado







Apache Packed and Flown Back to UK

On 14 July the Joint Movements Unit, assisted by troops of the Army Air Corps (AAC), successfully loaded an AH47 Apache helicopter onto a RAF C17 aircraft. The AAC helicopter is being returned to the UK, where it will under an intensive cleaning, servicing and inspection process. The helicopter was replaced as part of a routine rotation.

 

RAF 6 Squadron Eurofighter Typhoons on Exercise Bersama Lima 11 in Malaysia

 

Read More: Navy News - Reporting from the Fleet



The UK’s next generation of submarine-hunting Merlin helicopters have been put through their paces on exercise in the Atlantic Ocean after successfully entering service with the Royal Navy four months early.

Embarked on HMS Illustrious, the Merlin Mk2 aircraft took part in Exercise Deep Blue, simulating anti-submarine warfare, maritime patrol and casualty evacuation capabilities.

The new helicopters are part of an £800 million programme to upgrade the Royal Navy’s existing fleet of aircraft. The Merlins, which have been delivered on budget, have state of the art glass cockpits which provide improved night vision capability for pilots, and an updated combat system with touch screen display.

More than 1,400 highly skilled engineers from UK defence companies were involved in the work which took place primarily in Hampshire and Yeovil. Lockheed Martin UK delivered the updated mission systems and training facility, and workers at AgustaWestland upgraded the avionics and cockpit systems in the aircraft.

 

A combination of British Challenger 2 Main battle Tanks(MBT) and the Warrior Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicles on the live firing range at Grafenwöhr (Germany). Exercise BAVARIAN CHARGER is the first of three large contingency operation exercises being undertaken by 20th Armoured Brigade. Contingency Operations training is known as Hybrid Foundation Training or HFT.

The aim of this exercise is to train the 5 Rifles, The Queens Dragoon Guards (QDG) Battle Groups and 1 Logistic Support Regiment in combined arms manoeuvre.The exercise is split into 3 main phases. The first phase consists of a two week live firing exercise in Grafenwoer, Southern Germany, that enables the units and soldiers to refine their skills with their equipment and weapons. Training is constructed to develop skills from the individual level through to the Battlegroup level and culminates in a final attack that sees the use of helicopters, tanks, artillery and infantry combined.

The AS90 self-propelled gun from 26 Royal Artillery firing the 155mm shells .


A British Challenger 2 main battle tank (MBT) live firing in Grafenwöhr (Germany)






Pictured - A convoy of Warrior Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle from 5 Rifles moves through the training area.

 

HMS Illustrious is returning to Portsmouth for the last time. Here's some pics of her from over the years.

 

Type 45 Destroyer "HMS Daring" visits Australia and China after finishing her 6 months deployment in the Middle East

 

Thread made sticky

 

Farnborough 2014 display Royal Air Force Vulcan strategic bomber

 

Royal Navy confronts Russian aircraft carrier group in the English Channel

A Russian aircraft carrier and and a nuclear-powered battle cruiser have passed through the English Channel - escorted by a British warship.The seven-strong naval task group led by the Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia's largest warship, entered the Channel last night, a Royal Navy spokesman said.Although the ships did not enter UK territorial waters, their movements were tracked by the Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyer "HMS Dragon"













Royal Navy frigate HMS Northumberland has had a chance encounter with a Russian battlecruiser while practising flying training off the West Coast of Scotland.




The Royal Navy’s Type 42 destroyer HMS York based in Portsmouth, shadows the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov in international waters off the east coast of Scotland.


HMS Liverpool escorts Russian ship Admiral Chabanenko.


HMS Liverpool paid escort to the Russian Carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and Russian ship Admiral Chabanenko as they passed by British Territorial waters.


HMS Monmouth is pictured with the Indian aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya during the vessels transit through the English Channel.

 

Royal Marine Commandos during training and in Afghanistan.


















Royal Marines of Bravo Company 40 Commando, embark aboard a Sea King Helicopter during Ex Southwest Sword. The Company deployed to the South-west training area to brush up on Amphibious and aviation training before embarking on Ex Joint Warrior in the Spring.



Royal Marine Commandos during exercis, Rapid Reaction Force





Gosport’ Browndown beach was invaded by more than a hundred Royal Marines and soldiers as part of a major military exercise. Under Exercise South West Sword, the Marines of 42 Commando launched the assault from HMS Albion, which is anchored in the Solent, to prove her capabilities as the UK High Readiness Amphibious Assault Ship..





42 Commando Royal Marines left Devonport, Plymouth to deploy on their 2 month long Exercise Auriga 10 in VA, Virginia, USA.



Royal Marines from Alpha Company, 40 Commando brace themselves against the downdraft from an incoming Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter during Operation DAAS 7B in Afghanistan.



Elements of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines conducted a WADER training package on the French Island of Corsica.