Armed forces in Scotland

Since the passing of the Treaty of Union in 1707 which unified the Kingdom of Scotland with the Kingdom of England to the create the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scottish armed forces were merged with the English armed forces and remain part of the overall British Armed Forces. The armed forces in Scotland include military bases and units based in or associated with the country from all three services; The British Army (regular and Army Reserve), the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Navy. These consist primarily of servicemen and women from Scotland.

Roughly there are 11,100 Scottish soldiers part of the Regular Armed Forces, 4,000 Ministry of Defence civilian personnel, 2,200 trained Volunteer Reserves and 11,500 Cadets that make up Scotland's military contributions. By 2020, Scotland's Regular Armed Forces personnel was expected to rise to 12,500, whilst the number of Trained Volunteer Reserves was projected to increase to 4,250. In 2014, the total number of army personnel in Scotland was 17,300.^[1]

Scotland's geographical proximity to the North Atlantic and the High North make it an important component of the overall United Kingdom's defence and security. Military bases in Scotland, including RAF Lossiemouth and HMNB Clyde are significant to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) northward defence. The country is home to 113 military establishments, including the United Kingdom's Trident nuclear power programme, Cape Wrath which is the only naval gunfire and firing range in the UK, the Benbecula live fire range for the Multiple Launch Rocket System and a NATO exercise area in Galloway Forest.^[2]

From 2020, Scotland is home to one of only three Royal Navy main bases whereby all submarines of the Royal Navy are based in Scotland, one of the seven Adaptable Force Brigades of the British Army and a Royal Air Force fast jet main operating base.^[3]