Overseas military bases of the United Kingdom
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. The British military has personnel stationed  at approximately 145 overseas military installations located across 42 countries. Sixty are run directly by the British Armed Forces, including seventeen installations in Cyprus; whilst sixty-nine are operated by allied countries including Oman, which is home to sixteen bases, and Saudi Arabia, which has fifteen. 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. A number of British military operations relied heavily on the strategic island of Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands. It  was 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). Overview. Whilst the Ministry of Defence has publicly stated that the British Armed Forces only operates military bases in the UK, the United States, Cyprus, Gibraltar and the South Atlantic, a November 2020 report by "Declassified UK" journalist Phil Miller revealed that there were in fact a total of 145 military sites that spanned all  seven continents. These figures were revealed in the wake of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announcing a £16.5 billion increase in the country's defence budget. The 145 base sites include 60 which the UK operates itself, as well as a further 85 run by British allies. According to Miller, these appear to fit the description of what Mark Carleton-Smith, the Chief of the General Staff, referred to as "lily pads", i.e. sites which the British Armed Forces have easy access to as and when they are required. Bases by continent. Africa. In Africa, British troops are based  in Djibouti, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Somalia. There are five bases in Kenya, including the Kifaru Camp, which is part of the BATUK at the Kahawa Barracks in Nairobi. In the Chagos Islands, the British and American military jointly operate the Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia. 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." The facility started construction in 1971 and was complete by 1976, becoming operational the very same year. Despite the fact that it is  technically owned by the Ministry of Defence, the facility is primarily occupied by U.S. Navy elements. Antarctica. The British Rothera Research Station is located on Antarctica. HMS "Protector" supplies the civilian scientific research station and patrols nearby waters, including those around the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Asia. There are sixty-one British military bases in Asia, far more than any other continent. Most of these are in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, like Saudi Arabia, which is home to fifteen sites, and Oman, which has sixteen of them. Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have  two bases and one base, respectively. There is also a two-man squad at the Embassy of the United States in Jerusalem. These two soldiers are understood to assist the work of Mark C. Schwartz, the US security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Schwartz uses the embassy as his headquarters. Oceania. Australia is host to four British military bases: the Wyndham aerodrome in Western Australia, Williamtown in New South Wales, Woomera and Mawson Lakes, both in South Australia. According to a "Declassified UK" report, the British military also has around 60 personnel stationed across the country. Around 25  of these hold defence attaché roles in the British High Commission in Canberra and at Australian Defence Department sites near the capital, such as the Headquarters Joint Operations Command at Bungendore. A further ten British military personnel are based at unspecified locations in New Zealand. Parliamentary data from 2014 showed their roles included working as navigators on a P-3K Orion aircraft, which is operated by the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Europe. The British military operates seventeen military facilities in two "sovereign base areas" on Cyprus, Akrotiri and Dhekelia, which are host to 2,290 British personnel. There are also  four bases in Germany and one in the British Crown Dependency of Jersey, Lithuania, Estonia and the Czech Republic. The Americas. The British military has troops stationed in six U.S. states including California (Edwards Air Force Base), Nevada (Creech Air Force Base) and South Carolina (MCAS Beaufort). The Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands all are host to British troops as well, as they are British Overseas Territories and as such are defended by the United Kingdom. The most recently established of these is the Turks and Caicos Islands Regiment, which was officially raised in April  2020. 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 and is protected by three anti-aircraft missile silos on Mount Alice, Byron Heights and Mount Kent, respectively. Overseas military installations. The British Armed Forces maintain a number of garrisons and military facilities around the world: Locally raised units of British Overseas Territories. Six British Overseas Territories also maintain their own locally raised units for home defence and security: Overseas military bases of the