Reservist paratroopers are preparing to spend six months in Cyprus to continue the British Army’s 60-year history of supporting United Nations peacekeeping on the divided island.

The British Army say here that, built around 4th Battalion The Parachute Regiment (4 PARA), the unit of some 250 soldiers has completed six weeks of training ahead of going on Operation Tosca – the British Army’s contribution to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) – in April.

“With troops from 71 Engineer Regiment currently wearing the UN’s blue beret, British troops have served with UNFICYP since it was set up in 1964 to keep the peace after fighting between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. Its core role is to maintain the 180km-long Green Line buffer zone separating the two communities.

Access to the area is restricted and 4 PARA will be responsible for monitoring Sector 2, which includes the island’s capital Nicosia. Troops patrol the zone in vehicles, on foot or by mountain bike, working to maintain stability and liaise with residents and local authorities.”

Lieutenant Colonel Bob Mackay, 4 PARA’s commanding officer, said:

“Britain has long historical links to Cyprus and has sovereign bases on the island, and our sustained support to UN peacekeeping there is vitally important and something to be proud of. All of us deploying feel the responsibility to keep on doing a good job.”

You can read more on this here.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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44 COMMENTS

  1. So I don’t see anything in the budget for defence.
    Only thing I found was this:
    Defence spending is expected to hit 2.3% of GDP next year after £11 billion investment announced at Spring Budget 2023.

    I can’t work out if it’s getting nothing or rising in-line with inflation. If it’s nothing then that’s a cut. So the £11b announcement last year cant of been spent yet. It’s the only way I can work out how defence spending can rise as a percentage of gdp without increasing the budget.

    • Recession? A redefinition of Defence spending? Perhaps Ukraine spending wasn’t massaged through the MOD budget before….

    • To be fair (And I have no time for the Manchurian candidate at Nbr 11) the next government will rewrite everything as soon as they get into power, they have already stated they will have a defence review , which as everybody knows is forked tongue speak for “Cuts”. So maybe affording new money to the defence budget may have been for the best (at this stage of this current government)

      Myself Ive tried to think how the next government will deal with defence. It’s a given that money (a lack of it) will be the driving factor add the possibility of the orange man coming to power across the pond and I personally feel that linking into more collaborative projects with the EU will be how Labour deals with defence. And the recent EU edict which limits non-EU projects (regards defence) will be a driving factor for rejoining the EU by claiming that with the threat of Russia ,Iran, China, and as this is Labour the US, it will be in the UKs best interests to rejoin the EU and to be fair I have no issues with that.
      So where do I see what next government will do in which to save money, I feel that Gib, NI , Cyprus , DG,and the Falklands will be handed over in which to smooth a re-entry back into the EU and which allows the government to cut back without claiming to weaken the defence of the Uk. AWACs will be put into the NATO pool and I wouldn’t be surprised if they do similar with the C17 fleet at stroke reducing outgoings. Getting rid of the nukes is a given and I wouldn’t be surprised if the subs are replaced with cheaper AIP ones, because with no need to project power, there will be no need for such systems, it would also take away one of the aces that the SNP holds for leaving the union. I feel that the work on the Typhoon radar will be ended and they will purchase the one the Germans and Spanish are buying, Tempest will be aligned with the Euro project, I can’t make my mind up regards Chally 3, but I wouldn’t be surprised it that is cancelled, with the CH2 soldiering on until the new Euro tank is knocked out. The one group to watch out for is the Greens as like in Scotland they could become the king maker, they like the greens in Scotland would then be able to promote their ideas onto the country and one such idea is do away with the military, whilst that may be indigestible for the older generation  for the young of today, that is a fantastic idea and the money saved can be spent on saving the planet. But hey hum, that is the future and only the future knows what will transpire.

    • Don’t forget that the percentage is linked to GDP so the predicted increase in GDP will see more money heading in to the budget

    • £11 billion for defence between 2023-24 and 2027-28 to improve the resilience and readiness of the UK’s conventional and nuclear forces.

      Is this what you mean?

      • I copied what was on the government website about the budget. I did some digging around and found the following.
        The Spring Budget 2023 allocated an additional £5 billion to defence spending over the next two years (2023/24 and 2024/25), and a further £2 billion per year in subsequent years up to 2027/28. This increases defence spending by a total of £11 billion over this five-year period.

        That when adjusted for inflation makes a £1.1b increase at 2028-29

        • The £5bn was hypothecated on spending in new areas, in particular AUKUS, the Ukraine, and replenishing stocks that had already been donated to Ukraine. The rest was not enough to cover inflation, so the overall effect on Defence spending outside of these hypothecated areas was a real cut.

    • A veteran called Alexander Clark posted the following on a fb site called B.A.O.R. Photos:

      “Our Chancellor yesterday He was accused of being ‘incredibly shortsighted’ for refusing to earmark extra money. The Budget’s ‘Red Book’, in fact, suggests that there will be a £2.5 billion reduction in 2024-25.
      Tables published in the Financial Statement and Budget Report indicated routine spending on the already cash-strapped Armed Forces will shrink by £2.2 billion next year.
      Meanwhile, spending on major procurement projects is forecast to fall by £0.3 billion next year.
      The combined totals for both categories will fall from £54.2 billion in 2023/24 to £51.7billion in 2024/25 – at a time of war in Ukraine and the Middle East.”

  2. This whole Cyprus peacekeeping issue should have been resolved by now. Resume Greece-Turkey peace talks, they’re both in NATO for goodness sake. And let other countries start pulling their weight for the UN mission there. Troops don’t learn anything out in Cyprus, they would be better off in the Baltics. We shouldn’t be in Iraq anymore either. We’ve got enough on with Yemen and Ukraine and being prepared for a major european war.

  3. No chance Andy, that’s one nasty little issue that is still waiting to bite everyone ( well NATO) in the arse…at some point grease and Turkey are likely to have a shooting war, the Aegean Sea is just so enclosed and so important to both Greece and turkey that they will probably go kinetic at some point.

    • UK..​USA… Etc will never pressurise (too much) Turkey…​To solve the Cyprus problem…. They’re in bed together…. NATO lovers….. As long as status quo allows UK to safely carry on with its military bases in Cyprus all is good.
      Problem is.. TURKEY plays everyone for its own gains even at the expense of its so called allies.
      Cyprus problem could have been resolved long ago….with crippling embargoes on Turkey…​BUT.. they won’t as economicaly Turkey is a large market.

      • To be fair the Cyprus issue was actually started by Greece, the government of Greece organised an overthrow of the Cypriot government, which was aiming to annex an independent Cyprus into Greece….at this time Greece was run by a far right Military dictatorship that was in trouble decided to have a land grab to make the public happier ( the who external enemy thing dictators do when their population gets pissed off with being suppressed) against the agreement with turkey in which Cyprus was to remain a neutral independent state.

        in reality Turkey has some justification for invading….the question is around when should it have withdrawn.

    • Greece and Turkey accept the status quo in Cyprus. I had no idea they were aquabbling about control of or dominance in the Aegean Sea. Really?

      • Greece and Turkey are effectively in a cold war. The reason both have relatively large conventional forces has very little to do with Russia, or NATO commitments, it’s all about their Agean rivalry.

      • Yes it’s a massive flash point Turkey and Greece has been within a hairs breath of a war over the Aegean Sea a number of times..I think 86 and 96 were the two closest it was getting close again in 2023 but the Turkish earthquake happened..Greece sent a lot of aid and support really quickly and they both used it to step back.

        The big problem is over the geography of the Aegean..basically there are so many Greek islands spread across the access to the sea and right across the coastline with Turkey that if Greece ever took its 12mile limit rights it would essentially cover the whole access to the Aegean and also the entire Turkish Aegean coastline would have Greece national waters and air space within spitting distance of the entire coast…Turkey would essentially loss all military access and use apart from basic transit rights.. because of this Turkey never signed The UN convention on the laws of the sea and therefore refuses to be bound by them.,and has voted in its parliament in 1995 that if Greece ever tried to take its 12 mile limit right around the Aegean as its rights under the UN convention on the laws of the sea Turkey would consider it an act of war and go to war…Greece maintains its right to take this action and has come close three times but always stepped back..

        There are also a couple of grey zone islets that Turkey has claimed in the middle of the Aegean ( for EEZ reasons) that Greece disputes.

        To be honest it’s probably going to come to violence at some point.

      • I am sure that’s right. 73 Engr Regt, their predecessors, are Army Reserve.

        I thought I would make my point as some do not know that formed Army Reserve units deploy on operations. The battalion is under command of multi-national UN Force HQ, not a British HQ/commander, of course.

        I did an UNFICYP tour in ’81 – I was 2IC UNFICYP Wksp REME, Blue Beret Camp, Nicosia.

        • I recall a reserve company has done the FI Roulement Company role too, though I might be mistaken and it was just a platoon.

        • It’s not a Unit however, it’s Sub-unit strength. This is my complaint about the AR: You can give them all the lead up in the world, but they consistently fail to deploy a formed unit. Best effort with everything you can give them and they send out a company group.

          • The article says 4 PARA (a unit, not a sub-unit), and a photo of a Lt Col in blue beret (the CO?) heads the article. But the kicker may be that point that the unit has just 250 soldiers. So things are not that clear.

            Is it BHQ 4 PARA plus two AR companies each of about 110-ish plus a 3rd reg rifle coy and HQ Coy…or something else. Not sure what is going on here.

            It’s always going to be hard to get 500-550 civvies (ARs) to volunteer for a tour and get time off work to do a 6-month tour plus trg package/post-tour leave etc.

            I am reasonably impressed that the AR can ‘nominally’ do an Op TOSCA tour.

          • Let me clarify: It’s not 4 Para that’s deploying, it’s a company group that is chiefly built around an element from 4 Para. Essentially it may be a Coy and and HQ element from Para with the remaining hundred odd drawn from across the wider army reserve.

          • We need to invest more in the Regular Army.No disrespect to Reserve soldiers,but its not realy fit for perpose.Just a penny pinching cheaper option than paying for regular forces.

    • 4 Para would have had over a years advance warning for this op, and still managed only to scrounge up a reinforced Company.
      Not really impressed.

        • Not really. The Army Reserve/TA couldn’t deploy a single formed unit in 20 years of afghan, just individual augmentees and (largely composite) sub-units. If the AR is to be included in our Orbat then they need to demonstrate the ability to deploy as formed units taking the role of manuever units within 3 Div, or CS/CSS for 1 Div. If 250 at advance notice drawn from a variety of units is the bar then who are we really kidding?

    • Mate that’s still the norm! It is very very rare to get this many lads in one place for a tour. It’s an absolute admin and pre deployment nightmare which starts 2 years prior. As an ex SPSI (not my choice, but it had some great moments) it’s not easy at all to plan for. It does happen but it’s mainly with the more motivated units and the more motivated individuals 👍

      • I want to know how the National Guard managed to get entire Brigades to deploy. It’s not “because the US is much bigger” since the National Guard is regional (so when the 38th Division sends one of its Brigades to Iraq, it’s effectively drawing it from a region that’s got about half the UK’s population). What is the US doing with it’s reserves that enables it to call up a Brigade when we struggle to call up a Coy?

  5. Apparently, the flat where my parents lived in Famagusta in 1957 can still be seen from one of the Green line o/p’s. There’s trees growing out of the windows now. I was born in BMH Nicosia in ’57.

  8. The UN and UK should stop being so petty and accept that TRNC is a state and open up normal relations with them. Thus avoiding all this nonsense in the first place.

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