"Counter-terrorism and counter-proliferation operations in particular will require rapidly deployable forces able to respond swiftly to intelligence," Hoon told parliament, outlining a series of proposals aimed at radically overhauling Britain's armed services.

Some existing warships, aircraft and heavily armoured brigades would be cut back to facilitate the reshaping of Britain's armed forces to cope with the perceived new threats.

"This is a changing world and we must adapt if our armed forces are to stay ahead of potential adversaries," Hoon said.

"We can start this rebalancing by reducing the size of our heavy armoured forces."

Hoon told BBC radio earlier Thursday that he wanted to spend a significant proportion of a three billion-pound (5.2 billion-dollar, 4.3 billion-euro) rise in Britain's defence budget on new technology.

Hoon told parliament: "Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the threat posed by international terrorism coupled with the consequences of failed or failing states present us with a very real and immediate challenge."

While the Royal Navy would receive two new aircraft carriers early in the next decade and several amphibious airicraft over the next two years to speed up sea to land deployments, older ships would be phased out under the proposals.

Similarly, cutbacks were envisaged in the Royal Air Force where aircraft with "multi-role capability" would allow smaller numbers of aircraft to be deployed to war-zones.

No reduction in the number of actual armed forces personnel was announced by Hoon, who was reading extracts from a report of the plans entitled "Delivering Security in a Changing World".

"To increase our flexibility in responding to crises, a new set of medium weight forces will be developed, offering a high level of deployability (including by air), together with much greater levels of mobility and protection than are currently available to light forces," said the report.

Earlier this week, Britain's top military officer, Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Michael Walker, warned of "tough choices ahead", but said the government's plans had the backing of military top brass and were not being driven by politicians and accountants.

In a speech to the Royal United Services Institute thinktank, Walker said changes were being driven by the need for a more "flexible and agile" armed forces to counter the spread of weapons of mass destruction and to tackle international terrorism.

Walker said that the re-structuring would enable Britain to mount "limited national operations" on its own or take the lead in small to medium-scale operations at the head of an international coalition.

While the forces would also retain the capacity to undertake large-scale operations, he said the "most demanding expeditionary operations" could only "plausibly" be mounted if the United States was involved.

The British government has faced allegations that its armed forces -- recently employed in major operations in Afghanistan and Iraq -- are overstretched.

WAR.WIRE