Gurkhas and RAF to take brunt of defence cuts
Job cuts to the UK’s military are being announced with the Gurkha regiment and RAF facing the most job losses.
Nearly 150 Gurkhas are being forced out of the army under the first wave of sweeping cuts to the UK’s military.
About 920 soldiers and 930 RAF personnel will be told they are being made redundant, 750 of them against their will. The Ministry of Defence has not confirmed which units are affected, but it is understood that no members of the RAF ground crews based in Italy to support operations in Libya are being made redundant
The army is making around 260 compulsory redundancies, 140 of them Gurkhas, as part of the coalition’s efforts to tackle the deficit and bring the defence budget under control.
The MoD said it expects some Gurkhas facing the axe to transfer to other infantry regiments which are currently below full strength.
A total of 869 soldiers applied for redundancy but only 660 of them are being allowed to leave.
The head of army staffing, Brigadier Richard Nugee, said in April that the cuts to the 3,500-strong Brigade of Gurkhas were necessary following recent changes to the Gurkhas’ terms of service that placed them on the same footing as the rest of the Army.
Some 622 British airmen and women sought voluntary redundancy, of whom 440 had their applications granted. The RAF is also making about 490 compulsory redundancies.
