British Armed Forces: Difference between revisions

===Role of women===

{{Further|Women in the military by country#United Kingdom}}

[[Women]] have been part of the armed forces, on and off, for centuries, more fully integrated since the early 1990s, including flying fast jets and commanding warships or artillery batteries. As of 1 April 2014, there were approximately 15,840 women serving in the armed forces, representing 9.9% of all service personnel.<ref name="PersonnelGOV"/> The first female military pilot was [[Flight Lieutenant]] Julie Ann Gibson while Flight Lieutenant [[Jo Salter]] was the first fast-jet pilot, the latter flying a Tornado GR1 on missions patrolling the then [[Iraqi no-fly zones|Northern Iraqi No-Fly Zone]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Haynes|first=Deborah|author-link=Deborah Haynes|date=23 May 2009|title=The Top Gun girl and the Tornado fast jet|work=[[The Times]]|location=London|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-top-gun-girl-and-the-tornado-fast-jet-svdtwdzbm8b|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|access-date=31 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512175444/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article6344981.ece|archive-date=12 May 2011}}</ref> Flight Lieutenant Juliette Fleming and [[Squadron Leader]] Nikki Thomas recently{{when|date=February 2024}} were the first Tornado GR4 crew.<ref>[http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/news/Tornados-Taliban-day-s-work-Nikki-navigator/article-1652922-detail/article.html Tornados and Taliban are all in a day's work] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513182051/http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/news/Tornados-Taliban-day-s-work-Nikki-navigator/article-1652922-detail/article.html |date=13 May 2011 }}. This is Devon (29 December 2009). Retrieved on 24 August 2013.</ref> While enforcing the Libyan No-Fly Zone, Flight Lieutenant Helen Seymour was identified as the first female Eurofighter Typhoon pilot.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/8402845/First-woman-to-fly-Typhoon-enforces-no-fly-zone.html|location=London|work=The Daily Telegraph|first=Nick|last=Collins|title=First woman to fly Typhoon enforces no-fly-zone|date=24 March 2011|access-date=5 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180211152403/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/8402845/First-woman-to-fly-Typhoon-enforces-no-fly-zone.html|archive-date=11 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>