By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent
Around 5,000 soldiers will be made redundant in the latest round of job cuts, the Government will announce today.
The Army will bear the heaviest burden in this third tranche of redundancies, the Navy and RAF having already completed most of their necessary cuts.
Sky News understands that soldiers fitting the redundancy criteria will be informed by their superiors later this morning.
Anyone currently serving in Afghanistan is likely to be exempt from this round of job cuts, so too are soldiers preparing to deploy within the next six months and anyone recovering from a recent operational tour of duty.
No-one will actually be made redundant immediately and the announcement marks the start of the process for the latest round of cuts. Final decisions will be made by June.
In the last round of cuts, 72% of redundancies ended up being voluntary. Military leaders and politicians are hoping for a similar outcome this time round.
Anyone accepted for voluntary redundancy will be expected to work a six-month notice period and those selected for compulsory redundancy will have a full year to find alternative employment before leaving the service.
They will be given resettlement support.
Around 9,000 British personnel are deployed to Afghanistan By the end of the process the Army will have shrunk to 80,000 soldiers, a reduction of around 20,000, mostly through a redundancy process but also achieved through slower recruitment.
A fourth round of cuts is expected but has not been confirmed. It is likely this would happen at around the same time next year.
The job losses are part of a strategic review driven by budget cuts which aims produce a new look military by 2020.
The biggest commitment by some way is in Afghanistan - 9,000 personnel are deployed in the country - but the withdrawal process is due to start this year and by the end of 2014 most soldiers will have returned home.
Final numbers have not been announced.
In October last year the Defence Secretary announced plans to rename the Territorial Army the 'Reservists' and double its members to 30,000.
There is also a hope that some of those leaving the military because of the redundancy scheme might sign up to the TA so their experience is not lost.
By the end of the redundancy process the number of serving personnel in all three services will be reduced to 150,000 from 180,000.
It will result in the smallest army since the 18th century and plenty of concerns over effectiveness.
It is not just serving military personnel taking the hit - the Ministry of Defence is in the process of cutting around 25% of its staff. The aim is to save £3.8m a year and to make the department less top-heavy with management.
The UK still faces real or potential threats around the globe, demonstrated in the past few weeks by the hostage situation in Algeria and conflict in Mali.
Some, particularly retired service chiefs, question the UK's ability to face these threats with a reduced military and gaps in the equipment locker.
The Government will again need to convince detractors, home and abroad, that the UK military can still earn international respect despite its reduced size.
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