UK Special Forces may be cut by half
Iran Press TV
Sun Mar 3, 2013 11:3AM GMT
The British government is to diminish its Special Forces units by 40 percent to the pre-Iraq war scale in cutbacks unseen in almost half a century.
The proposals will by director of Special Forces, who oversees Special Air Service (SAS), the Special Boat Service (SBS) and other units, will be handed to Chief of Defense Staff General Sir David Richards in the coming weeks, The Sunday Telegraph revealed.
The proposals will see two SAS units be "demoted" to regular forces serving with the Army while the SBS will have its squadrons cut from four to three.
Meanwhile, the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG) will face major cuts while the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) will no longer serve as an independent force.
The proposals will be implemented after Britain's pull-out from Afghanistan in 2014 and will see the Special Forces reduced in numbers from roughly 3,500 soldiers and marines, to between 1,750 and 2,000.
The SAB and SAS units have played key parts in the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan but the SRR has been also involved in Northern Ireland, which was its almost-sole focus before the wars in the Middle East.
"There is still a need for both the SRR and the SFSG, just not in the numbers required. Every unit has to justify its existence and the Special Forces are no different," the paper quoted a military source as saying.
"They are not so special that they are immune from defence cuts. The Special Forces Group will still be larger than it was before 2001, just not as big as it is today," the source added.
AMR/HE
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