A third round of Army redundancies has been announced under plans by the Government to reduce Armed Forces numbers.

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed 5,300 job losses as part of cuts aimed at reducing Army numbers from 102,000 to 82,000 by 2017.

The Government has already announced that reservist numbers are to be doubled to 30,000 to help fill the gap.

Redundancy notices will be issued on June 18. 

Last summer Dorset MP Richard Drax branded moves to reduce the size of the army "irresponsible."

He said then: “If politicians have learned nothing from history that is you do not cut our armed forces without a large amount of thought and planning for the future. It’s the height of folly.”

The statement from the MoD reads: 

"Today the Army are announcing the fields from which they will select personnel to be made redundant in the third tranche of the programme; this will comprise up to 5,300 Army Personnel. There is likely to be a need for a further tranche for Army personnel and medical and dental personnel from the RN and RAF in due course.

The same selection principles as used in the last two tranches will be applied. The Army will seek to maximise the number of applicants from all personnel that meet the published criteria.

The redundancy programme will not impact adversely on current operations in Afghanistan, and no one who is serving on specified operations on the day the redundancy notices are issued on 18 June 2013 will be made redundant unless they are applicants.

Similarly, those preparing for, or recovering from such operations on the day the redundancy notices are issued will not be made redundant unless they have applied.

Those personnel who are liable to deploy with their units to Afghanistan in Autumn 2013 on the day the redundancy notices are issued will be exempt from Tranche 3 unless they are an applicant; as a result of the drawdown plans already announced, those units liable to deployment will not be confirmed until April 2013.

Any applicant who is selected for redundancy and whose unit is subsequently deployed will be able to choose whether to deploy with the unit, or not. Personnel who are assessed as being permanently below the level of fitness required to remain in the Forces will not be considered for redundancy, and will instead leave through the medical discharge route at the appropriate stage in their recovery.

Throughout the redundancy process, we will ensure that we retain the capabilities that our Armed Forces require in order to meet the challenges of the future."