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Afghanistan: Roulement

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence (Bob Ainsworth) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. In his Statement to the House on 30 November 2009 (Official Report, col. 835), the Prime Minister announced that the UK’s conventional military forces in Afghanistan comprise 9,500 personnel. That will be maintained with the next roulement of UK forces in Afghanistan, due to take place in April 2010. Headquarters, 6 (UK) Division will remain as Headquarters, Regional Command (South) but the current lead formation in Helmand, 11 (Light) Brigade, will be replaced by 4th Mechanized Brigade, which will command the majority of the units serving in Afghanistan. The forces deploying include:

Volunteer and regular members of the Reserve Forces will continue to deploy to Afghanistan as part of our integrated force package and we expect to issue around 700 call-out notices to fill some 600 posts. On completion of their mobilisation procedures, the reservists will undertake a period of training and, where applicable, integration with their respective receiving units. The majority will serve on operations for six or so months. As part of this commitment, we expect up to 17 members of the sponsored reserves to be in theatre at any one time. I shall make a further Statement on the units that we expect to serve under 4th Mechanized Brigade’s planned replacement formation, 16 Air Assault Brigade, nearer the time of their deployment.