§ Lord Rowallanasked Her Majesty's Government:
How long they consider it possible to keep British and American servicemen in a state of Red Alert. [HL23]
§ Lord GilbertThe term "Red Alert" has no meaning as a measure of readiness of UK armed forces. The highest state of readiness of UK forces is "ready and on90WA task". All forces deployed on operations—such as those currently in Bosnia or the Gulf—are constantly at this state of readiness. Other deployable forces are kept at graduated readiness states, of which the shortest is normally 24 hours. In order to reduce the burden on those forces held at the highest state of readiness, we undertake regular roulements. For example, aircrew serving with Tornado squadrons in the Gulf are rotated every two months. We have no responsibility for the states of readiness of US forces.