Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force personnel have been deployed on operations, exercises, civilian support and training around the world and at home.
The onset of the coronavirus pandemic saw a swift and wide-ranging military response – from building NHS Nightingale hospitals across the UK, to conducting mobile testing and airlifting casualties or supplies.
Ongoing operations and exercises continued, whilst new frontiers were reached.
Here is a selection of snapshots which capture the UK military’s major moments of 2020.
January 2020: Victory Building at HM Naval Base Portsmouth joins others across the UK in being lit up to mark 20 years since the lifting of LGB military ban (Picture: MOD).February 2020: An aircraft repatriating British and other citizens to the UK from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, arrives at RAF Brize Norton (Picture: PA).February 2020: The British Forces Germany base at Bielefeld is handed back to Germany.February 2020: HMS Prince of Wales arrives in Liverpool, where it opens its doors for the first time (Picture: Royal Navy).March 2020: British troops in Poland clap NHS staff on the frontline in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic (Picture: MOD).March 2020: Personnel from 1 Royal Anglian Regiment, 36 Engineer Regiment, help to build an NHS Nightingale Hospital at London's Excel Centre (Picture: MOD).April 2020: HMS Tamar, the Royal Navy's newest and greenest warship, arrives in Portsmouth for the first time (Picture: Royal Navy).April 2020: Armed Forces helicopter personnel train with NHS critical care staff for coronavirus medical evacuation (Picture: MOD).April 2020: Army veteran Captain Tom Moore completes 100 laps of his garden in Bedfordshire in an effort to raise money for the NHS. More than £32m was raised as part of his efforts (Picture: PA).April 2020: Personnel on board an RAF Puma helicopter for evacuation training in the Western Hebrides, Scotland (Picture: MOD).April 2020: An engineer from 22 Engineer Regiment prints PPE components as part of the military's coronavirus response (Picture: MOD).April 2020: An oxygen tank is loaded onto an RAF aircraft to deliver to the Falklands as part of COVID-19 support (Picture: MOD).April 2020: Royal Marines from 42 Commando conduct coronavirus testing at a mobile testing unit in Salisbury (Picture: MOD).May 2020: The Red Arrows fly over London as part of commemorations for the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Many of the celebrations were disrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic (Picture: MOD).May 2020: New Royal Navy recruits train at HMS Raleigh amid the coronavirus pandemic.May 2020: 2 SCOTS soldiers train in a socially-distanced manner amid the COVID-19 pandemic.May 2020: The first group of soldiers to complete basic training since the coronavirus lockdown are welcomed into the British Army at Pirbright (Picture: British Army).June 2020: 13th Signal Regiment becomes the Armed Forces' first dedicated cyber regiment (Picture: MOD).June 2020: The Forces world waves goodbye to its 'sweetheart' Dame Vera Lynn, who died at the age of 103 (Library Picture: PA).June 2020: It is announced the Royal Marines Commandos are to get a brand-new uniform, as part of the 'Future Commando Force' programme (Picture: MOD).July 2020: Second World War veteran and NHS fundraising hero Captain Sir Tom Moore is knighted by the Queen in a ceremony at Windsor Castle (Picture: PA).July 2020: Military personnel in London train civilian contractors to run coronavirus mobile testing sites.August 2020: The first female RAF Regiment officers graduate from RAF Honington after the corps opened up roles to women in September 2017 (Picture: RAF).September 2020: RAF personnel in hi-vis jackets as they help with Birmingham's Drop and Collect coronavirus testing initiative (Picture: RAF).October 2020: HMS Queen Elizabeth forms a UK Carrier Strike Group for the first time during NATO's Exercise Joint Warrior in the North Sea (Picture: Royal Navy).October 2020: Exercise Crimson Warrior, the largest military exercise run by the Royal Air Force in the UK for more than a decade, gets under way (Picture: RAF).October 2020: The Royal British Legion's London Poppy Day is held under coronavirus restrictions (Picture: MOD).October 2020: Royal Navy patrol ship HMS Forth pays her second visit to the 'Gateway to Antarctica' (Picture: Royal Navy).November 2020: The Overseas Operations Bill is voted through at third reading in the House of Commons (Library Picture: PA).November 2020: Members of the public register at Liverpool Football Club's Anfield stadium for testing as part of the city's mass testing pilot (Picture: MOD).November 2020: A flag bearer at Westminster Abbey in London with Boris Johnson in background, during a socially-distanced service to mark Armistice Day and the centenary of the burial of the Unknown Warrior (Picture: PA).November 2020: The RAF assists with testing in Merthyr Tydfil – the first region in Wales to participate in the UK's mass COVID testing scheme (MOD).December 2020: The Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment says his unit is the first to move to another country during a global pandemic.
Cover image: An F-35B Lightning jet on HMS Queen Elizabeth’s flight deck during her Westlant 19 deployment by Kyle Heller (Picture: Royal Navy).
