Recommendation 37

At the end of 2023, over 7,000 UK Armed Forces personnel were deployed on more than 40 operations abroad.51 Some of these operations are long-standing commitments whereas others are in response to unexpected events. In the last quarter of 2023, the Secretary of State deployed a Royal Navy task group to the east Mediterranean and both a P-8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft and a Rivet Joint to the Middle East following the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October and the Israeli response. HMS Diamond was also deployed east of Suez, originally to increase the size of the UK’s ongoing Operation KIPION and later joining the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian to secure trade routes. These deployments resulted in an increase of some 1,000 personnel in the region.52 A battalion was also deployed to the NATO KFOR mission on the Kosovo-Serbia border in response to increased tensions.53 In late December, HMS Trent was deployed to Guyana in support of that Commonwealth nation which is facing claims to part of its territory by neighbouring Venezuela.54