FOR years Britain has relied on traditional armed forces to keep the peace and defend the realm.

But the UK's armed forces will look very different by the end of this decade.

By 2008 the RAF will shed 7,500 jobs, the Navy 1,500 with a further 10,000 civilian posts lost. Aircraft, tank and ship numbers will also be cut.

Ministers have decied Britain can no longer afford the luxury of heavy armour, aircraft and naval firepower needed to fight a conventional war alone.

Instead, the armed forces are to be slimmed down and better equipped to carry out action against more lightly armed opponents.

When the USSR collapsed so did the threat posed by an enemy that relied upon tanks, aircraft and tens of thousands of soldiers.

Today's enemy is more likely to be categorised as a terrorist - small numbers utilising hit-and-run attacks against better equipped soldiers.

The changes are likely to have a significant impact on the North-East, not least because they will involve one of the region's best loved regiments - the Green Howards.

The infantry unit, which is based in Richmond and recruits throughout North Yorkshire and Teesside, is one of a number likely to be amalgamated into bigger regiments.

The merger could see the unit join with the Prince of Wales's Own from York and the Duke of Wellington's Regiment from Halifax.

Other ramifications of yesterday's Ministry of Defence reforms for the North-East include the decision to phase-out RAF Leeming's Tornado fighter squadron from 2008.

The fighter is to be replaced by the much delayed Typhoon Euro Fighter.

But the Euro Fighter is unlikely to be stationed at the North Yorkshire base.

Jobs are likely to go at military bases across the North-East, with 20,000 military and civilian posts to be cut nationwide.

Reforms of the Royal Navy will also have implications for the region. The Type 42 Destroyer HMS Newcastle is to be paid off.

The anti-submarine vessel and Middlesbrough-affiliated HMS Marlborough - which played a key role tracking down smugglers trying to break the trade embargo against Iraq prior to the Gulf War - is also earmarked for the scrapyard.

Further north, RAF Boulmer in Northumberland is to move all its operations to RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire.

The Defence review was not all bad news for the region, however.

Mr Hoon reaffirmed the Government's commitment for the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers.

The medium-sized carriers will be twice the displacement of the navy's carriers Ark Royal, Invincible and Illustrious. The orders will provide work for shipyards across the country including the Tees and the Tyne.

Major Roger Chapman, spokesman for the Green Howards, said: "The Government intention to merge the county regiments is a bitter blow for the Green Howards, who are immensely proud of their distinctive and famous name.

"They have had a 315-year unbroken service for the Crown and been connected for over 220 with North Yorkshire and Teesside."

"The Green Howards, like other infantry regiments, is very concerned at the risk the Army is taking in reducing the number of infantry battalions at such a critical and dangerous time to the nation when the infantry is already over stretched on so many fronts and is in such demand for its skills and adaptability."

A period of consultation will now be held within the Army.

"The regiment will be fully and positively engaged in responding to these proposed changes to the regimental system which has served this country so well.

"A final decision is not expected until later in the year. Until then, any speculation about the cuts of four battalions will be an unhelpful distraction for the officers and men of the regiment who are currently serving on operations in Afghanistan," Major Chapman said.

Announcing the changes yesterday Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said they would make Britain's forces more flexible and give them the ability to fight far from the UK.

Career soldiers, sailors and airmen have heard the same thing so many times before.

Announcing the Ministry of Defence's Options for Change defence review 14 years ago, the then Defence Secretary Tom King said cutting manpower and scrapping armour would create a "leaner, meaner and more flexible armed forces" - almost exactly the same words used by his successor yesterday.

All it did was reduce the armed forces' fighting potential and left the MoD's top heavy bureaucracy untouched. The Navy already has more admirals than it has warships. Nothing announced yesterday will change that situation.