Forces News

2 Scots' camouflaged trench in Estonia during Exercise Spring Storm (Picture: BFBS Forces News) The British Army is to replace its armoured battlegroup in Estonia with a force centred on drones, surveillance and precision fires, in a shift the MOD says reflects lessons from the war in Ukraine. The new Mobile Anti-Armour Force will deploy from April 2027 and operate in a more dispersed formation intended to make troops and equipment harder to detect and strike.

ACM Sir John sat down with BFBS' Sitrep after a Nato summit in Turkey where the alliance reaffirmed its support for Ukraine (Picture: BFBS) The UK has "stepped up" to fill gaps in Nato that were left by the USA, the alliance's most senior British officer told BFBS' Sitrep podcast.

The survey was sent to 27,710 regular service personnel who were married or in a civil partnership, to which 4,245 responded (Picture: MOD) Satisfaction with the quality of life as a service family has improved year on year, according to the annual tri-service Families Continuous Attitude Survey. The report provides information on the experiences and attitudes towards various aspects of service life, comparing this year with previous years to identify trends.

BFBS Forces News reporters Simon Newton and Hannah King travelled to eastern Ukraine to meet the specialist soldiers building the Spextr We are in eastern Ukraine to meet soldiers from Ukraine's Third Separate Assault Brigade, part of the 3rd Army Corps – an elite unit forged in the brutal battles for Bakhmut and Avdiivka. Reaching them means driving for miles beneath drone nets, now strung across most major roads close to the frontline to protect against constant aerial surveillance and attack.

The unit spent weeks practising its response to chemical spills and decontamination at Episkopi Garrison (Picture: BFBS) First Battalion, The Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment (1 PWRR) – nicknamed the Tigers – have completed training and validation as a Counter-CBRN unit while in Cyprus. Soldiers from B Coy were selected to be part of one of two sub-units in the British Army that can respond to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats.

British Army athletes claimed both the women's and men's team titles at this year's Inter Services Athletics Championships. The women posted 169 points as they finished 14 points clear of the Royal Air Force women in second. Captain Laura Clark led the way, winning gold in the 200 and 400 metres. Fellow officer Hayley Perrin returned from deployment to finish first in the women's 100-metre hurdles for the fourth successive season.

Typhoons, F-35s and the RAF's new sixth-gen Tempest are all expected to benefit from the Storm Fighter autonomous wingman programme (Picture: BAE Systems) The RAF’s autonomous fighter jets programme has been named Storm Fighter and described as acting as both a "guardian angel and an attack dog" for the UK’s Typhoons, F-35s and future Tempest jets.

Thirty nations, 30 ships, five submarines, more than 190 aircraft and over 30,000 personnel have been taking part in an exercise to strengthen partnerships across the Indo-Pacific. Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2026, which is better known as Rimpac 26, is the world's largest international maritime exercise and runs until the end of the month. Rimpac 26 is hosted by the US Navy in and around the Hawaiian Islands, with Royal Air Force personnel making up the UK contingent.

Lawyer warns victim-blaming is not just one bad apple An Army chaplain who offered a female soldier £3,000 to withdraw a sexual assault claim used classic victim-blaming attitudes that could deter other women from coming forward, a military justice lawyer has told BFBS Forces News. Lucy Baston, of the Centre for Military Justice, said Rev Huw Ryden had asked the woman to consider the accused soldier's career and whether he might harm himself.

The Chinook Justice Campaign (CJC) sought to challenge the MOD over what it was said was an "ongoing failure" to set up an "independent and effective investigation" into the crash (Picture: BFBS) The daughter of one of the victims of the 1994 RAF Chinook crash has said that she is "absolutely heartbroken" after a High Court judge ruled that a group of families of several victims cannot bring a legal claim against the Ministry of Defence over the incident.