Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War.[1]
Until this point, UK military strategy had been almost entirely focused on defending Western Europe against the Soviet Armed Forces, with the Royal Marines in Scandinavia, the Royal Air Force (RAF) in West Germany and over the North Sea, the Royal Navy in the Norwegian Sea and North Atlantic, and the British Army in Germany.[2]
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact occurring between 1989 and 1991, the threat of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe fell away. While the restructuring was criticised by several British politicians, it was an exercise mirrored by governments in almost every major Western military power, reflecting the so-called peace dividend.[3]
Total manpower was cut by approximately 18 per cent to around 255,000 (120,000 army; 60,000 navy; 75,000 air force).[1]
Other casualties of the restructuring were the UK's nuclear civil defence organisations, the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation, and its field force, the Royal Observer Corps (a part-time volunteer branch of the RAF), both disbanded between September 1991 and December 1995.[4]
- ^ a b "Defence (Options for Change)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 25 July 1990. col. 468–486.
- ^ Freedman, Lawrence (18 August 1999). The Politics of British Defence, 1979–97. Macmillan Press. ISBN 0-333746-67-8.
- ^ Clements, Benedict J.; Schiff, Jerald Alan; Debaere, Peter; Davoodi, Hamid Reza (1 July 1999). Military Spending, the Peace Dividend, and Fiscal Adjustment. International Monetary Fund. ISBN 978-1-4518-9700-5.
- ^ "End of the Long Lookout". The Herald. Glasgow. 29 December 1995. Retrieved 9 November 2015.