This was a British policy document that was created in July 1998, by at this time was the labour government. The whole idea of this was to create a better armed forces for the United Kingdom and the man that was behind it as secretary of the state was called George Robertson. This impacted the ministry of defence in different ways as they take control of The Army, The Navy and the Royal Air Force.
The Strategic Defence review impacted the Army as it reduced their personnel numbers by 7,000, this left the Army with 95,500 by 2015 and by 2018 the army will be reduced to 82,000 however they will also have 30,000 reservists. This was a big impact on this service as they will not be as strong as a force as there numbers have decreased and they will also be more likely to be attacked in different places as people are being taken out of country’s and being put in others. They will also be seen as weaker or an easy target. The whole British army got reorganised, as they thought something needed to change. It wasn’t just the personnel numbers that got reduced in the British Army it was also the amount of challenger 2 tanks we have as that got reduced by 40%, so we lost roughly 200 tanks, this impacted the army massively as these was used very effectively in defending and attacking, these tanks was also good as they acted as a support and back up from the bigger oppositions. These tanks also made the army more powerful so they will be less likely to be attacked, but now the tanks have been reduced and so have the troops they may feel not as confident as a team losing morale for the battle. The tanks can also make the team feel more confident within their own team as a whole, so losing these tanks did impact the Army in many way, the positive side to taking these tanks away will be that the for example in Afghanistan will be more discreet. The tanks wasn’t the only thing that got cut within the army they also reduced the AS-90 self-propelled heavy artillery guns by 35% to roughly 87 which impacted the army in that they will not have as strong back up and support then they did and it may also lose morale for the battle if they aren’t as strong any more as a force.
The strategic defence review didn’t just impact the army it also affected the Royal Air Force as well. The personnel got reduced by 5,000 leaving just 33,000. After a long time with the Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol aircraft project got scrapped, which a lot of money was wasted on even though the project got scrapped it still added up to 3.2billion. The Royal Air Force also got affected by this as originally they had an order of 22 Boeing Chinook's and that was then cut down to 12, even though the MOD signed for 14. This Impacted the Royal Air Force as their force isn’t as strong and effective as they don’t have as much supplies and support as they originally planned, this may make them seem weak and it also may restrict the amount of people going out as support and it also shows some lack of understanding for everyone who was told by the MOD if they’re signing for 14 and only getting 12. Another negative way of how this impacted the RAF is that it reduced the amount of front-line aircraft’s in the fast jet force by 36 which is two squadrons, this impacts them in the way as they have also lost out on losing other aircraft’s and to lose an additional 36 decreases the amount of aircraft’s they have massively to attack and defend with making them weaker and less powerful. The strategic defence review also impacted the Royal Navy in a positive way as there is a plan for the new purchase of the tanker aircraft which is a very good piece of equipment and will be extremely effective. However this is being built to replace the older VC10 and the TriStars. This impacts the Royal Air Force In a good way as they are purchasing new aircraft’s for the force making them stronger as a service and improving the support they can provide. Another
