Britain's armed forces continue to be in the public eye out of all proportion to their actual numbers. The long naval tradition has created a heavy demand for Royal Naval vessels for blockade and embargo duty in the Persian Gulf and the Yugoslav coast. Superb training and discipline makes for a high level of unit cohesion and morale at the regimental and squadron level; making it easy to deploy army and Royal Air Force units on short notice to the world's trouble spots. The effective British response to radically different crises in the Falklands, Persian Gulf, Northern Ireland, and Bosnia has been made possible by a high level of flexibility and innovation. A new reference work is thus necessary to cover recent changes in organization, equipment, deployment and mission definition. Armed Forces of the UK gives full details of each branch of service, the civil-military chain of command, and Britain's newly-privatized defense industry. Given the small size of many British contingents, particular emphasis is given to bringing organizational charts and descriptions down to the level of the individual Royal Naval vessel, RAF squadron, and army battalion.
