Huge shake-up of armed forces

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon today announced a dramatic shake-up of Britain's armed forces which will see them cut to their smallest since the Second World War.

Ships, RAF bases, aircraft, barracks and some famous infantry regiments will be axed to pay for controversial hi-tech weapons programmes.

The MoD announced that historic single-battalion regiments are to be disbanded or merged into larger regional units - a move that has already sparked furious protests from some Army commanders.

Shadow defence secretary Nicholas Soames described the Chancellor's cuts as "savage".

It is not clear whether the regiments to be axed will be named today, but the Black Watch and the Highlanders are thought most at risk.

At least six Royal Navy ships and possibly two submarines will go, and the RAF will see base closures and thousands of lost jobs.

But for the Army, a sweetener will be efforts to increase recruitment in overstretched areas such as logistics and electrical engineering. Basing arrangements will also be changed to end the practice of moving soldiers and their families around every few years.

Full details of the cuts may be held back until after the election. But the MoD has already faced criticism for being secretive about the changes, which are being promoted as rebalancing" the forces to make them lighter, more mobi le and better equipped.

Costly hi- tech weapons programmes such as the Eurofighter will continue. But other purchases designed to increase the forces' mobility, such as two big new aircraft carriers, have been delayed.

News of the cuts came alongside the loss in Iraq early today of a US soldier, taking the number of American military dead to 900 since operations began there 16 months ago.

The 1st Infantry Division soldier was killed by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad. Such incidents will reinforce recent warnings, such as that by the Commons defence committee, that anti-insurgency operations need low-tech, human solutions rather than expensive weapons which cause "physical destruction". The MPs warned against being "seduced" by technology, and Mr Soames said today: "We have been to war six times in the last five years, and ... what matters at the end of the day is boots on the ground."

Defence ministers nevertheless announced investment in "network-enabled warfare" - electronic links between aircraft, armoured vehicles and ships. This will, they say, enable even more individual jets and ships to be cut.