The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) was a British policy document produced in July 1998 by the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

that had gained power a year previously. Then

Secretary of State for Defence The secretary of state for defence, also referred to as the defence secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Ministry of Defence. The incumbent is a membe ...

, George Robertson, set out the initial defence policy of the new government, with a series of key decisions designed to enhance the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

's armed forces. Two of the largest defence procurement projects were excluded from the 1998 SDR, the Trident submarines and the

Eurofighter The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leo ...

. However the Trident system was essential to maintaining a credible nuclear deterrent, a policy adopted by Labour, and was already nearing completion. Likewise the Eurofighter was nearing production and withdrawal would lead to loss of considerable investment and severe penalties from the partner nations. Its overall strategic conclusions were that the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

should be able to respond to a major international crisis which might require a military effort and combat operations of a similar scale and duration to

Operation Granby Operation Granby, commonly abbreviated Op Granby, was the code name given to the British military operations during the 1991 Gulf War. 53,462 members of the British Armed Forces were deployed during the conflict. The total cost of operations wa ...

during the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. It also should be able to undertake a more extended overseas deployment on a lesser scale (as in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

) while retaining the ability to mount a second substantial deployment - which might involve a combat brigade and appropriate naval and air forces - if this were made necessary by a second crisis (as in

Operation Veritas Operation Veritas was the codename used for British military operations against the Taliban government of Afghanistan in 2001. British forces played a supporting role to the American Operation Enduring Freedom. In addition, the British contributi ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

). It would not, however, expect both deployments to involve warfighting or to maintain them simultaneously for longer than six months. The Armed Forces must also retain the ability, at much longer notice, to rebuild a bigger (pre-

Options for Change Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War. Until this point, UK military strategy had been almost entirely focused on defending Western Europe against the Soviet Armed Forces, ...

) force as part of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

's collective defence should a major strategic threat re-emerge. The next wholesale review of the British Armed Forces was the Strategic Defence and Security Review of 2010.

Summary

; Harrier Force :

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

to merge their

Sea Harrier The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval short take-off and vertical landing/ vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft. It is the second member of the Harrier family developed. It first entered servic ...

force with the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

's Harrier GR7s to form "

Joint Force Harrier Joint Force Harrier, initially known as Joint Force 2000 and towards the end of its life as Joint Strike Wing, was the British military formation which controlled the British Aerospace Harrier II and British Aerospace Sea Harrier aircraft of ...

." This joint force was to operate from Royal Navy s or air bases as required. With the retirement of the Sea Harrier from 2004 to 2006 the Joint Force Harrier operated the Harrier GR7 and the upgraded GR9 until scrapped as a result of the 2010 defence policy review. The type has subsequently been replaced by the '

Lightning II The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide elect ...

Joint Combat Aircraft The Joint Combat Aircraft (JCA) is the official designation of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence used for the F-35 Lightning II. The F-35, formerly the Joint Strike Fighter, is the result of the Joint Strike Fighter programme. JCA has b ...

. ; Aircraft carriers : The current three ''Invincible''-class aircraft carriers were to be replaced by two new larger and more flexible aircraft carriers. These ships, the (known at the time of the review as CVF) entered service in 2017 and 2019. ; Mobility : To increase strategic transport six s were ordered, and four

C-17 Globemaster The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two ...

s were leased. The SDR also reaffirmed the need for a permanent strategic transport force and the Airbus A400M was selected in 2000. Since that time, with operational tempo increasing the seven year C-17 lease has been extended and the RAF purchased them outright at the end of the lease (together with the acquisition of additional C-17s, bringing the total force to eight aircraft) to operate them alongside the A400M and C130 fleet. ; Royal Navy fleet : The surface fleet force was reduced from 35 to 32 frigates and destroyers with the withdrawal of Batch 2

Type 22 frigate The Type 22 frigate also known as the ''Broadsword'' class was a class of frigates built for the British Royal Navy. Fourteen were built in total, with production divided into three batches. Initially intended to be anti-submarine warfare fri ...

s, 25 to 22 minehunters and the SSN attack submarine force was reduced from 12 to 10. The potency of the SSN force was increased by the decision to make all capable of firing the

Tomahawk A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Europ ...

land attack missile (TLAM.) The SDR confirmed the purchase an initial batch of three submarines. ; Nuclear deterrent : The maximum capacity of the

Trident missile The Trident missile is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV). Originally developed by Lockheed Missiles and Space Corporation, the missile is armed with thermon ...

system will not be exploited. Approximately 200 warheads will be maintained, reduced from 300. Further the last batch of missile bodies will not be procured, with a total of 58 missiles. The patrols of the ''Vanguard''-class submarines will be limited to one vessel carrying a reduced warhead load of 48 (reduced from 96.) The SDR recommended acceleration of the retirement of the

WE.177 The WE.177, originally styled as WE 177, and sometimes simply as WE177, was a series of tactical and strategic nuclear weapons with which the Royal Navy (RN) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) were equipped. It was the primary air-dropped nuclear we ...

tactical nuclear weapons. ; Army : The

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

was reorganised, with the establishment of two deployable divisions in the UK and Germany; 1st (UK) Armoured Division and 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division. Another important move was the establishment of the spearhead 16th Air Assault Brigade which includes the Army's

WAH-64 Apache The AgustaWestland Apache is a licence-built version of the Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter for the British Army Air Corps. The first eight helicopters were built by Boeing; the remaining 59 were assembled by Westland Helicop ...

attack helicopter force. This gave an overall deployable force structure of three armoured brigades, three mechanised brigades, and one airmobile brigade. A

Joint Rapid Reaction Force The Joint Rapid Reaction Force (JRRF) was a capability concept of the British Armed Forces from 1999 to 2010. It was a pool of specialised units from all three armed services tasked with rapid deployment worldwide at short notice. The force was in ...

was also established to provide the capability to deploy a brigade-sized force at short notice. The Army's size in Germany was to be reduced but numbers increased by 3,300 overall. The eight armoured regiments of the

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the component of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Tank and the Scimitar Reconnaissance Vehicle. It includes most of the A ...

were to be reduced to six larger ones, fielding 58 rather than 38

Challenger 2 tank The FV4034 Challenger 2 (MOD designation "CR2") is a third generation British main battle tank (MBT) in service with the armies of the United Kingdom and Oman. It was designed and built by the British company Vickers Defence Systems (now known ...

s each. ; Territorial Army : The TA was to be modernised and enhanced to make it more readily deployable and usable, primarily through greater integration with the regular Army. Total numbers were to be cut from 56,000 to 42,000. ; Ground Based Air Defence : Ground-Based Air Defence would no longer be separated under the Army and the RAF, but consolidated under a single

Joint Ground-Based Air Defence Command The Joint Ground Based Air Defence Headquarters or JtGBAD HQ was a joint (non-deployable), force-generating British military formation under the operational command of RAF Air Command, sitting under No.1 Group. It was formed circa 2000 and disba ...

. ; Support helicopters : All of the services battlefield support helicopters (around 400) were combined to form the

Joint Helicopter Command Joint Helicopter Command (JHC) is a tri-service organisation uniting battlefield military helicopters of the British Armed Forces for command and coordination purposes. History Background Over the years, the grouping of all battlefield suppo ...

. ;RAF fast jet force : The number of frontline aircraft was reduced by 36 (two squadrons) but the MoD reaffirmed their commitment to the Eurofighter. The SDR identified the need for a replacement for the

Tornado GR4 The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (interd ...

(subsequently replaced by the F-35B) and initiated studies under the

Future Offensive Air System The Future Offensive Air System was a study to replace the Royal Air Force's strike capability, at the time provided by the Tornado GR4. Initial operational capability was expected around 2017. The FOAS was cancelled in June 2005 and was replaced ...

project. The purchase of

Meteor A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as micr ...

, Brimstone and

Storm Shadow Storm Shadow is an Anglo-French low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA. Storm Shadow is the weapon's British appellation. In French service, it is ...

missiles was confirmed. ; NBC defence : An integrated British Army and RAF force, comprising both regular and reservist elements would be formed to specialise in

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

defensive capabilities. This resulted in the formation of the Joint NBC Regiment in 1999.

SDR New Chapter

Following the

September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

on New York and Washington the Secretary of State for Defence,

Geoff Hoon Geoffrey William Hoon (born 6 December 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire from 1992 to 2010. He is a former Defence Secretary, Transport Secretary, Leader of ...

announced that work would be undertaken on a New Chapter to the Strategic Defence Review. This reviewed again the UK's defence posture and plans to ensure that the country possessed the right capabilities and the right forces to meet the additional challenges faced after 9/11. The review concluded; :''"We need to look further into how we should allocate the investment which is needed, including, for example, to intelligence gathering, network-centric capability (including enhanced strike and

Special Forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

capabilities and

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

s), improved mobility and fire power for more rapidly deployable lighter forces, temporary deployed accommodation for troops, and night operations. The significant additional resources made available to Defence in Spending Review 2002 will enable us to take this forward with the urgency that the 11 September demands."''

References

External links

1998 Strategic Defence Review:Full report
{{UK Defence Review 1998 documents History of the Labour Party (UK) Defence white papers British defence policymaking 1998 in British politics United Kingdom defence procurement Trident (UK nuclear programme) 1998 in military history 20th-century military history of the United Kingdom

Summary

SDR New Chapter

See also

References

External links