Options for Change
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Options for Change was a restructuring of the British military in 1993, aimed at cutting defence spending following the end of the Cold War.
UK military strategy had until this point been almost entirely focused on defending the UK against the Soviet military; whether the Royal Marines in Scandinavia, the Royal Air Force in West Germany or over the North Sea, the Royal Navy in the Norwegian Sea and North Atlantic, or the British Army in Germany. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact these scenarios were no longer relevant. While criticised both before and after, it was an exercise mirrored by governments of almost every major western military power, the so called "peace dividend".
Among the changes implemented was the cutting total manpower by approximately 18% to around 255,000 (120,000 British Army; 60,000 Royal Navy; 75,000 Royal Air Force)
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British Army
- Halving the troop strength in Germany by replacing the British Army of the Rhine with British Forces Germany in 1994.
- Several British Army regiments amalgamated:
Infantry
- The Highlanders
- The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
- The Queen's Regiment
- The Royal Hampshire Regiment
- The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment
- The Royal Gurkha Rifles
- 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles
- 6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles
- 7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles
- 10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles
- The Royal Irish Regiment
Cavalry
- The Household Cavalry Regiment
- The Life Guards
- The Blues and Royals
- The King's Royal Hussars
- The Royal Hussars
- 14th/20th King's Hussars
- The Light Dragoons
- 13th/18th Royal Hussars
- 15th/19th King's Royal Hussars
- The Queen's Royal Hussars
- The Queen's Own Hussars
- The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars
- The Queen's Royal Lancers
- 16th/5th Queen's Royal Lancers
- 17th/21st Lancers
- The Royal Dragoon Guards
- 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards
- 5th Royal Iniskilling Dragoon Guards
Services
- Royal Logistic Corps
- Royal Corps of Transport
- Royal Army Ordnance Corps
- Royal Pioneer Corps
- Army Catering Corps
- Postal and Courier Service, Royal Engineers
- Adjutant General's Corps
- Royal Army Educational Corps
- Royal Army Pay Corps
- Women's Royal Army Corps
- Army Legal Corps
- Corps of Royal Military Police
- Military Provost Staff Corps
Royal Air Force
- Halving the number of RAF bases in Germany to two
- Withdrawing the F-4 Phantom II squadrons from service
- Cancellation of the Brimstone missile, although it was later reinstated.
Royal Navy
- Cutting the number of frigates and destroyers from around 50 to 40.