Overseas military bases of the United Kingdom

Overseas military bases of the United Kingdom enable the British Armed Forces to conduct expeditionary warfare and maintain a forward presence. Bases tend to be located in or near areas of strategic or diplomatic importance, often used for the build-up or resupply of military forces, as was seen during the 1982 Falklands War and the use of RAF Ascension Island as a staging post. Most of the bases are located on British Overseas Territories or former colonies which retain close diplomatic ties with the British government.

Apart from the main operating bases, the British military has personnel stationed at approximately 145 overseas military installations located across 42 countries. Most of these are small contingents. However, some sixty facilities are run directly by the British Armed Forces, including seventeen installations on Cyprus. Allied countries host British military personnel in some sixty-nine facilities, including in Oman, at sixteen locations, and Saudi Arabia, where there are fifteen. Six of the countries with a fixed UK military presence are featured on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's list of 30 "Human Rights Priority Countries": Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.

A number of British military operations have relied heavily on the strategic island of Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands. It has been used for major operations during the War on Terror, Operation Granby (1991), Operation Herrick (2001–2014), Operation Telic (2003–2011), Operation Shader (2014–present), Operation Desert Storm (1991), Operation Desert Fox (1998), Operation Enduring Freedom (2001–14), Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003–11), and Operation Inherent Resolve (2014–present).

The Ministry of Defence has publicly stated that the British Armed Forces only operates on military bases in the UK, the United States (Creech AFB), British Indian Ocean Territory, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Singapore and the South Atlantic.

Facilities by continent
Six of the countries with a fixed UK military presence are featured on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's list of 30 "Human Rights Priority Countries": Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Several bases are located in tax havens.

Africa
There are five bases/training facilities in Kenya, including the Kifaru Camp, which is part of the BATUK at the Kahawa Barracks in Nairobi.

British personnel also run the International Military Advisory and Training Team (IMATT) in Sierra Leone, providing the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces with training and mentoring, following the country's civil war.

In the Chagos Islands, the British and American military jointly operate the Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia. The command's mission is "[t]o provide logistic support to operational forces forward deployed to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf AORs in support of national policy objectives." The facility started construction in 1971 and was complete by 1976, becoming operational the very same year. Despite the fact that it is technically owned by the Ministry of Defence, the facility is primarily occupied by U.S. Navy elements.

Antarctica
The British Rothera Research Station is located on Antarctica. HMS Protector supplies the civilian scientific research station and patrols nearby waters, including those around the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Asia
The Royal Air Force operate a permanent facility in the United Arab Emirates known as Donnelly Lines. The Royal Navy has a base known as HMS Jufair, or the United Kingdom Naval Support Facility, in Bahrain, where the 9th Mine Counter-Measures Squadron is based.

In Sembawang of Singapore, there is British Defence Singapore Support Unit which is operated by Royal Navy and could be positioned as the logistic centre and supporting base of British Armed Forces in Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania.

Brunei hosts approximately 2000 personnel as part of British Forces Brunei, which includes one roulement battalion of the Royal Gurkha Regiment, with supporting signals, engineer and military police units, and helicopters from No. 230 Squadron RAF.

The UK Joint Logistics Support Base is located in Oman, and is a joint logistical support facility used to facilitate the deployment of the British Armed Forces in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. There is also the Omani-British Joint Training Area, which is also used as a Land Regional Hub for expeditionary warfare by the British Army. Oman's RAFO Musannah is also home to 902 Expeditionary Air Wing and Merlin helicopters.

No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group of the Royal Air Force is currently based at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, to lead air operations in the Middle East.

Kathmandu, Nepal is home to the Headquarters British Gurkhas Nepal. The British Gurkha Camp in Pokhara is the main recruitment centre, where the annual selection course is run, and Dharan Station is small regional recruitment station in eastern Nepal.

Europe
The British military operates seventeen military facilities in two 'sovereign base areas' on Cyprus, Akrotiri and Dhekelia, which are host to 2,290 British personnel. There are also four bases in Germany and one each in Gibraltar, Jersey, Lithuania, Estonia, Czech Republic and Norway, with the Norwegian base, Camp Viking, opening most recently, in 2023.

The Americas
As British Overseas Territories, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands have all established locally-recruited units which are reserve components of the British Army. The most recently established of these is the Turks and Caicos Islands Regiment, which was officially raised in April 2020.

RAF Mount Pleasant is the largest of six sites in the Falkland Islands, which is the only territory in South America with British military personnel. Mount Pleasant is supplied from a dockyard at Mare Harbour. The islands are monitored by three radar sites at Mount Alice, Byron Heights and Mount Kent, respectively.

Significant overseas military deployments
The British Armed Forces maintain a number of larger garrisons and military facilities around the world:

Locally raised units of British Overseas Territories
Six British Overseas Territories also maintain their own locally raised units for home defence and security: