London, Apr 5 (ANI): Britain Army's redundancy programme is poised to axe 150 Gurkha troops in the country.
The Telegraph quoted the Ministry of Defence as saying that overall 1,000 soldiers and 1,600 Royal Navy personnel would lose their jobs in the first tranche of redundancies for the two services under the Strategic Defence and Security Review cuts.
It is expected that around half the redundancies will be compulsory in the army.
The paper quoted the head of Army manning, Brigadier Richard Nugee, as saying that the 3,500-strong Brigade of Gurkhas is set to lose around 150 troops, including infantry, engineers, signallers, and logisticians.
He said that the move was necessary following changes made to the Gurkhas' terms of service in 2008, placing them on the same footing as the rest of the Army. He also said that Gurkhas could now serve for 22 years rather than the 15.
"We have already taken whatever measures we can to reduce the surplus that exists as a result of the policy change and have reduced the number of recruits coming from Nepal," Brigadier Nugee said.
"Even so, opportunities for promotion within the Brigade are being severely limited by the current situation. We are committed to a strong and vibrant Brigade of Gurkhas into the future and therefore must take action to ensure that, like the rest of the Army, their structures and manning are in the best possible shape by the end of this process," he added.
The announcement comes after the RAF said last month that it was laying off 2,700 personnel in its first tranche of redundancies.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said that the number of military personnel across all three services will be cut by 17,000 by April 2015, with around 11,000 coming through redundancies. (ANI)
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