Accredited official statistics

UK armed forces equipment and formations 2024

Published 27 February 2025

This is an annual publication which provides information on the numbers and types of equipment and formations of the UK armed forces. Equipment and formations statistics have been presented based on the UK armed forces areas: land, maritime and air. Also provided are data sourced from the Department for Transport (DfT) on militarily-useful British-registered vessels. The supplementary tables can be found here .

Data is provided as at 1 April each year (except DfT data which is as at 31 December each year).

1. Main Points and Trends

Maritime

At 1 April 2024, there were 10 submarines and 70 vessels in the UK armed forces (57 vessels in the Royal Navy Surface Fleet; 13 vessels in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary).

Land

In the UK armed forces, there were 3,316 pieces of Combat Equipment at 1 April 2024, consisting of:

• 843 Armoured Personnel Carriers
• 1,513 Protected Mobility Vehicles
• 960 Armoured Fighting Vehicles.

At 1 April 2024, there were 32 Regular Army Battalions in the Infantry and 16 Army Reserves Battalions.

Air

At 1 April 2024, there were 556 Fixed-wing aircraft and 268 Rotary-wing aircraft in the UK armed forces.

In addition, there were 183 Uncrewed Aircraft Systems as at 1 April 2024, the platforms reported are those categorised as Certified as well as S2 as per Regulatory Article (RA) 1600: Remotely Piloted Air Systems (RPAS)

Responsible Statistician: Analysis Publications Head of Branch

Further information or mailing list: Analysis-Publications@mod.gov.uk

More details on the methodology used in this report are included in the Background Quality Report

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2. Introduction

This is an annual publication which provides information on the numbers and types of equipment and formations of the UK armed forces. Equipment and formations statistics have been presented based on the UK armed forces areas: maritime, land and air. Statistics are also provided on militarily-useful British-registered vessels (including passenger, tanker and fishing vessels).

Prior to 2016, equipment and formations statistics were published in the National Statistics (now called Accredited Official Statistics) publication Formations, Vessels and Aircraft. An internal review was held during March 2016, followed by a six-week public consultation. Based on consultation feedback, a number of changes were made to the publication, including a name change to better reflect the publication’s content. Due to these changes, statistics in the UK Armed Forces Equipment and Formations publication may not be directly comparable to those in the Formations, Vessels and Aircraft publication.

The term ‘equipment’ or ‘platform’ for the purposes of this publication refers collectively to vessels, submarines, vehicles, aircraft, artillery and engineering equipment pieces.

Data have been obtained from various Ministry of Defence sources: Navy Command, Army Equipment Department, Army Organisation Branch, Air Command and Joint Helicopter Command (JHC). Data on militarily-useful British-registered vessels have been provided by the Department for Transport. Further information about the data sources and data quality can be found in the Background Quality Report

2.1 Accredited Official Statistics Publication

Accredited Official Statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. These Accredited Official Statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in June 2013. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘Accredited Official Statistics’. Accreditation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs;
• are well explained and readily accessible;
• are produced according to sound methods; and
• are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

Further information on the accreditation process can be found here Accredited Official Statistics Once statistics have been designated as Accredited Official Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed. Further details about how this report has been developed since its confirmation as National Statistics (now called Accredited Official Statistics) can be found in the Background Quality Report.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website

3. Maritime Equipment and Formations

This section provides the main findings on the UK armed forces maritime equipment, and formations which are all or primarily sea-based, in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines.

3.1 Submarines

There were 10 submarines in the Royal Navy Submarine Service as at 1 April 2024, consisting of:

• 6 Nuclear Submarines
• 4 Ballistic Nuclear Submarines

3.2 Vessels

At 1 April 2024 there were 70 vessels in the UK armed forces: 57 vessels in the Royal Navy Surface Fleet and 13 in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA).

Worksheet 1 in the supplementary tables provides further statistics on Maritime vessels and submarines

3.3 Maritime Formations

The Royal Navy has 16 Reserve Units and a Fleet Diving Squadron consisting of 13 Units. The Royal Marines consists of 1 assault group HQ, 3 Commando Brigade, the Royal Marine Band Service, the Commando Training Centre and 4 Reserve Units.

Worksheet 2 in the supplementary tables provides further breakdowns of maritime formations (excluding the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm which are included in Table 9).

3.4 Militarily-useful British-registered vessels

Militarily-useful vessels are defined as vessels that could be requisitioned in appropriate circumstances in support of the UK armed forces.

The overall total number of passenger, tanker, and dry cargo merchant vessels decreased from 495 as at 31 December 2022 to 475 as at 31 December 2023, with product and chemical tankers showing the largest decline. The number of Roll-on Roll-off passenger vessels in 2022 could not be provided due to data unavailability but have been included in 2023 as a result of a new data supplier.

With the exception of large fishing vessels, figures for Militarily-useful British-registered vessels (fishing and specialist) could not be provided for 2022 onwards, this is due to a change in data supplier used by the DfT. Figures for large fishing vessels are available for 2023. For more information, please see the Background Quality Report

Worksheets 3 and 4 in the supplementary tables provide further breakdowns of militarily-useful British-registered vessels.

4. Land Equipment and Formations

This section provides the main findings on the UK armed forces Land equipment, and formations which are primarily land-based, in the Army.

4.1 Land Equipment

There were 3,316 pieces of Combat Equipment at 1 April 2024, an increase of 109 platforms since 2023, this is predominantly due to the onboarding of Ajax and Jackal.

The most common types of land platforms (excluding Combat Support Equipment) in the UK armed forces are:

• Bulldog (APC) – 744
• Jackal (PMV) - 502
• Warrior (AFV) – 613

The UK armed forces had 208 Artillery and 153 Combat Engineering Equipment pieces at 1 April 2024.

At 1 April 2024, there were 12,971 pieces of Combat Support Equipment in the UK armed forces of which 49% were Wheeled Support Vehicles and 44% were Land Rovers. The reduction of 1,137 is largely driven by the reduction in Land Rover numbers, as well as gifting in kind to Ukraine.

Worksheet 5 in the supplementary tables provides further statistics on land equipment platforms.

4.2 Land Formations

The Army can be split into three main parts: Combat Forces, Combat Support Forces and Combat Service Support.

The Combat Forces includes the Infantry and Royal Armoured Corps. At 1 April 2024, there were 32 Regular Army Battalions, 16 Army Reserves Infantry Battalions, and 15 Royal Armoured Corps Regiments (11 Regular; 4 Reserves). There has been an increase in the number of Royal Engineer regiments from 18 as at 1 April 2023 to 23 in 2024. This is due to the inclusion of the works groups. Similarly, in 2023 engineering brigade HQs were included in the Brigade HQ figures leading to an increase from 10 in 2023 to 20 in 2024.

Worksheet 6 in the supplementary tables provides further breakdowns of Army formations (excluding the Army Air Corps which are included in Table 9).

5. Air Equipment and Formations

This section provides the main findings on the UK armed forces aircraft and formations which are primarily air-based, as at 1 April 2024.

5.1 Fixed-wing Aircraft (not including Uncrewed Aircraft Systems)

The UK armed forces had 556 Fixed-wing platforms at 1 April 2024, a decrease of 8 since 2023. This is mainly due to the retirement of the Hercules C130J

Typhoons are the most common type of Fixed-wing platform with 137 aircraft at 1 April 2024. Of the 418 Fixed-wing aircraft (for which ‘in service’ figures are recorded), 289 (69%) are ‘in service’ compared to 72% in 2023. ‘In service’ figures are not available for platforms operated under contracts. ‘In service’ Fixed-wing platforms are all aircraft in active fleet management, which can include aircraft in storage.

5.2 Uncrewed Aircraft Systems

There were 183 Uncrewed Aircraft Systems as at 1 April 2024, a decrease of 11 since 2023. The platforms reported are those categorised as Certified or S2 as per Regulatory Article (RA) 1600: Remotely Piloted Air Systems (RPAS) Please see the Background Quality Report for more information. In 2023, Puma LE and Puma AE figures were incorrectly reported, with LE platforms reported against AE and vice versa. This has been corrected.

5.3 Rotary-wing Aircraft

The UK armed forces had 268 Rotary-wing platforms at 1 April 2024, 26 fewer than in 2023. Since April 2023, the number of Apache AH-64E platforms has increased as they continue to be brought in to service, while Apache Mk1 and Gazelle have both been retired from service. Of the 232 Rotary-wing aircraft (for which ‘in service’ figures are recorded), 184 (79%) were in ‘service’ compared to 75% in 2023. The definition of ‘in service’ refers to those in the effective forward fleet. This definition differs slightly for aircraft owned by Navy Command. Chinook are the most common type of Rotary-wing platform with 54 aircraft at 1 April 2024.

Worksheets 7 and 8 in the supplementary tables provide further Fixed-wing and Rotary-wing aircraft statistics.

5.4 Air Formations

At 1 April 2024, there were 104 squadrons in the Royal Air Force, one more than the previous year. The Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm consists of 16 squadrons and four Headquarters. The Army Air Corps incorporates eight Regiments (seven Regular; one Reserve).

Worksheet 9 in the supplementary tables provides further breakdowns of Air formations.

6. Further Information

6.1 Definitions

Definitions and further information about the types and categories of UK armed forces equipment and formations can be found on each of the Services’ websites:

• Royal Navy and Royal Marines
• Army
• Royal Air Forces

Some definitions have been provided in the Glossary for additional information.

6.2 Rounding

All figures in this report are actuals and have not been rounded.

6.3 Revisions

Corrections to the published statistics will be made if errors are found, or if figures change as a result of improvements to methodology or changes to definitions. When making corrections, we will follow the Ministry of Defence Statistics Revisions and Corrections Policy. All corrected figures will be identified by the symbol “r”, and an explanation will be given of the reason for and size of the revision.

6.4 Contact Us

Defence Statistics welcome feedback on our statistical products. If you have any comments or questions about this publication or about our statistics in general, you can contact us as follows:

Email: Analysis-Publications@mod.gov.uk

If you require information which is not available within this or other available publications, you may wish to submit a Request for Information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to the Ministry of Defence. More information on this can be found on the GOV.UK website.

7. Glossary

Ballistic Nuclear Submarine - A Ship Submersible Ballistic Nuclear (SSBN) is a nuclear-armed, nuclear-powered submarine.

Combat Equipment - Collective term used for Protected Mobility Vehicles, Armoured Personnel Carriers and Armoured Fighting Vehicles.

In Service - The definition of ‘in service’ varies across equipment types and between services. To assist interpretation, a definition of ‘in service’ has been provided in the notes for each table where ‘in service’ figures have been used. Note that ‘in service’ figures are not available for platforms operated under contracts.

Militarily-useful British-registered vessels - Vessels that could be requisitioned in appropriate circumstances in support of the armed forces. It is required by international law for all merchant ships to be registered in a country, called its flag state. Flag refers to the country in which the ship is registered. Other types of ship might also be used in certain cases. Foreign-flagged but British-owned ships could also be requisitioned in certain circumstances.

Nuclear submarine - A Ship Submersible Nuclear (SSN) is a conventionally armed, nuclear powered submarine.

Protected Mobility Vehicle - A wheeled Armoured Personnel Carrier serving as a military patrol, reconnaissance or security vehicle. Protected Mobility vehicles were developed in response to the threats of modern counter insurgency warfare, with an emphasis on Ambush Protection and Mine Resistance. Until recently these vehicles were termed ‘Protected Patrol Vehicles’.

Uncrewed Aircraft System - The platforms reported are those categorised as Certified or S2 as per Regulatory Article (RA) 1600: Remotely Piloted Air Systems (RPAS) Please see the Background Quality Report for more information.