The British Forces Germany (BFG) is the successor of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) and Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG) which were disbanded in 1994 after the end of the Cold War.

The BAOR was composed of four divisions which formed I Corps but the BFG was considerably reduced from such number; it is now comprised of three main armoured brigades and 1st (UK) Armoured Division whose HQ is based in Herford near Bielefeld. In addition to this, there are many garrison units located at Gutersloh, Hohne, Osnabruck and Paderborn.

The United Kingdom Support Command (Germany) has responsibility for all units, of all three services, on the continent which are not part of 1 (UK) Division. The British Forces Liaison Organisation (Germany) is responsible for negotiations and relations with German authorities. The RAF presence has virtually disappeared, now reduced to just RAF Nordhorn, a bombing and gunnery range. The last operational base, RAF Brüggen, was closed in 2002.

The current BFG total is about 55,000 people, although only 25,000 are actual serving personnel. The equipment level of the BFG is rather high, with 216 Challenger 2 MBTs, 306 Warrior APCs, 66 AS-90 Braveheart howitzers, 18 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, over 1,000 other armoured personnel carriers, and 12 Gazelle and Lynx helicopters. The main areas of British presence are North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony.

During the height of "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland, the IRA targeted the BFG between 1988 and 1990 and its personnel; the attacks resulted in the deaths of 9 people, including three civilians, and many more wounded.

The British presence in Germany is vitally important to British interests. The Army is able to carry out large-scale armoured warfare training and also allows the Army to be rapidly deployed abroad as seen during the Kosovo War in 1999 and during the preparations for war with Iraq in 2003. The British presence is also important to the German economy, especially to specific communities dependent upon the BFG for employment and local businesses. According to the BBC [1] the BFG presence contributes 1.5 billion Euros annually to the German economy.