British Armed Forces War. Repeatedly emerging victorious from conflicts has allowed Britain to establish itself as one of the world's leading military and economic powers. Today, the British Armed Forces consist of: the Royal Navy, a blue-water navy with a fleet of 74 commissioned ships, together with the Royal Marines, a highly specialised amphibious light infantry force; the British Army, the UK's principal land warfare branch; and the Royal Air Force, a technologically sophisticated air force with a diverse operational fleet consisting of both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. The British Armed Forces include standing forces, Regular Reserve, Volunteer Reserves and Sponsored Reserves. Its
Structure of the British Armed Forces in 1989 Structure of the British Armed Forces in 1989 At the end of the Cold War in 1989 the British Armed Forces structure was as follows: In 1989 the British Armed Forces had a peacetime strength of 311,600 men and defense expenditures were 4.09% of GDP. Joint establishments were tri-service units providing services to all three branches of the British Armed Forces/ The Defence Operations Executive, led by the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Commitments) and including the Assistant Chiefs of the Naval, General, and Air Staffs, supervised the Joint Operations Centre which in turn passed orders to the forces