British Armed Forces

The British Armed Forces are the military of the United Kingdom. They are officially called His Majesty's Armed Forces and sometimes called the Armed Forces of the Crown.Armed Forces Act 1976, Arrangement of Sections , raf.mod.uk The British Armed Forces are made up of three parts: the British Army, the Royal Navy (including the Royal Marines) and the Royal Air Force.

The Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces is the British monarch. Members of the British Armed Forces must swear allegiance that they will obey the orders of the monarch. Under the constitution of the United Kingdom, the armed forces controlled by the Crown, but because of the 1689 Bill of Rights, the British may not have an army during peacetime unless the British Parliament allows it. However, the British Parliament now passes an Armed Forces Act every five years as a formality. The British Prime Minister is the de facto commander of the British Armed Forces, which are managed by the Ministry of Defence.

The British Armed Forces protect the United Kingdom, the British overseas territories and the Crown dependencies and take part in United Nations peacekeeping missionsThe Mission of the Armed Forces, armedforces.co.uk  NATO missions. The most recent wars in which the British Armed Forces have fought are the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, peacekeeping in Operation Palliser in Sierra Leone, peacekeeping in the Balkans and Cyprus and defending the no-fly zone over Libya. The British Armed Forces have bases in the following places: Ascension Island, Belize, Brunei, Canada, Diego Garcia, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kenya, Qatar and the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus.Permanent Joint Operating Bases , northwood.mod.ukHouse of Commons Hansard, publications.parliament.uk

The United Kingdom tested its first nuclear weapon in Operation Hurricane in 1952. , Britain is one of the five recognised nuclear powers and has around 225 nuclear warheads, which are controlled by the Royal Navy.

 Related pages 
 British Indian Ocean Territory 
 Saint Helena
 Ascension Island
 Tristan da Cunha

 Notes 

 References 

Category:1707 establishments
Category:18th-century establishments in England
Category:Military of the United Kingdom