Armed Forces: Foreign Nationals

(asked on 9th February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Foreign and Commonwealth personnel are serving in the (a) Army, (b) Royal Air Force, (c) Royal Navy, (d) Royal Marines, broken down by (i) regular and (ii) reserve status.


Answered by
James Heappey Portrait
James Heappey
This question was answered on 22nd February 2021

Data as at 1 October 2020 for the Regular trained strength and Future Reserves 2020 (FR20) are provided in the table below.

Royal Navy

Royal Marines

Army

Royal Air Force

Regular

FR20

Regular

FR20

Regular

FR20

Regular

FR20

Commonwealth

570

10

110

10

3,880

140

120

20

Nepalese

10

-

~

~

590

60

10

-

Irish

30

10

20

~

410

130

20

10

The Brigade of Gurkhas are not part of the Regular strength of the Army. However, as of 1 October 2020, their trained strength was 3,740.

Notes/Caveats

  1. Nationality is as recorded on the Joint Administration System (JPA).
  2. Nationality is defined by that currently recorded, however this may differ from their Nationality on entry. For example, some Foreign and Commonwealth entrants may have subsequently changed their Nationality to British and will therefore not be included in the above table.
  3. "~" denotes fewer than 5. "-" denotes zero
  4. Nepalese citizens are former Gurkhas who have either transferred out of the Brigade of Gurkhas to serve in the wider Armed Forces or have joined the Reserves on discharge.
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