The British Forces Germany (BFG) is the successor of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG) which were disbanded due to the end of the Cold War, as well as cuts in the armed forces due to HM Government's Options for Change. The BAOR was composed of four divisions which formed I Corps. The BFG is considerably reduced from such force levels, now comprised of three main brigades and 1st (UK) Armoured Division, whose HQ is based in Herford near Bielefeld, as well as garrison units.
The United Kingdom Support Command (Germany) has responsibility for all units, of all three services, on the continent, which are not part of 1 (UK) Division. The British Forces Liaison Organisation (Germany) is responsible for negotiations and relations with German authorities. The RAF presence has virtually disapeared, now reduced to just RAF Nordhorn, a bombing and gunnery range. The last operational base RAF Brüggen was closed in 2002.
The current BFG total is over 53,000 people, though only about 25,000 are actually serving personnel. The equipment levels of the BFG is rather high, with 216 Challenger 2 MBTs, 306 Warrior APCs, 66 AS-90 Braveheart howitzers, 18 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, over 1,000 other armoured personnel carriers and a number of Gazelles and Lynxs. The main area of the British presence is in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony.
The British presence in Germany is vitally important to British interests, as seen in the rapid deployment of British troops to Kosovo during the war there in 1999, as well as the rapid build-up in the Middle East during the preparations for war with Iraq in 2003.
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