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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.)
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 - 1 battalion
- The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment - 2 battalions
- The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment - 1 battalion
- The Royal Gurkha Rifles - 3 battalions (later reduced to two)
- The Royal Irish Regiment - 2 general service battalions (later reduced to one)
- In addition, seven regiments, the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, Royal Anglian Regiment, Light Infantry and Royal Green Jackets, each lost a battalion.
Cavalry
- The Household Cavalry Regiment (each retained Regimental identity)
- The King's Royal Hussars
- The Light Dragoons
- 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
On Television
A fictionalised portrayal of the effects of Options for Change on the ordinary men and women serving in the armed forces came in the ITV drama series Soldier Soldier. In this, the fictional infantry regiment portrayed in the series, the King's Fusiliers, was one of those selected for amalgamation. The series showed the whole process of negotiation regarding traditions, embellishments, etc. between the two regiments involved, and of the uncertainty that many of those serving felt for their jobs in the light of two separate battalions merging into one, with the resulting loss of manpower.
See also
- List of British Army regiments (1994) - British Army regiments in the aftermath of the defence cuts.
- Strategic Defence Review (1998)
- Delivering Security in a Changing World:Future Capabilities (2004)
"Options for Change"