Army to lose 17 units in cuts, defence secretary announces Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, admitted morale in the armed forces remained 'fragile'. Photograph: Gaz Faulkner/Press Association Seventeen units are to axed from the British army as part of sweeping reforms that will reduce its overall strength by 20,000, the defence secretary, Philip Hammond, has announced. The cuts will require at least two more tranches of redundancies next year and in 2014 - meaning soldiers will hear about their future at the same time as British forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan. Hammond acknowledged that morale in the army was "fragile." He said the Ministry of Defence had a lot of work to do to explain the changes and restore confidence. "People never like change ... change brings uncertainty," he said. However, he insisted the scrapping of units was the right thing to do, and had, in part, been forced upon the government by the "shocking mess" and mismanagement of the military budget by Labour. In a statement to the House of Commons, Hammond said five battalions would disappear in the reorganisation - the 5th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, 2nd Battalion the Royal Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire regiment, 3dr Battalion the Mercian Regiment and the 2nd Battalion the Royal Welsh. The Royal Logistics Corp will lose three units, as will the Royal Engineers, and the Army Air Corps will lose one unit. Some units will be merged. "In reducing the number of the regular army there must be a reduction in the number of units otherwise we would become top heavy," Hammond said. This reduction will fall across all the various services of the army. This has been a difficult process. I understand the attachment of regions to specific units and the pride that they have in those units. And I understand this will be difficult for many people. But we must be absolutely clear that this is about the delivery of the future army, recognising and honouring the golden past of the army. Our first priority is to the army of the future. The head of the army, General Sir Peter Wall, said he wished the structural changes could be made more quickly, but that for practical reasons it would take five years to introduce. It is longer than any of us would like. There will be more redundancies, continuing the programme already under way with tranches in 2013 and 2014. I wish the rate of change for some of this could be faster. Historic regiments that have been spared include the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, the Queen's Dragoon Guards, Royal Dragoon Guards, the Rifles and the Parachute Regiment. The changes will form part of plans to implement a new structure, which will see the army split into three; reaction forces, adaptable forces, and force troops. The adaptable forces will take over from the reaction forces, but will take 18 months to prepare for combat. Underpinning both will be the force troops, or "theatre troops," which will comprise all the units required to support the front line - such as the artillery, engineers, signals, intelligence and medical corps. The reforms have caused anger and frustration within senior ranks. Earlier this week, a leaked letter to General Wall from one senior officer in the Royal Fusiliers showed the anger brewing over the scale of the proposed cuts. Brigadier David Paterson, the honorary Colonel of the Regiment of Fusiliers, said the decision to axe one of its battalions would not "best serve" the armed forces and "cannot be presented as the best or most sensible military option." He added: "I, as Colonel, have the duty to tell my men why it is their battalion, which at the time of the announcement will be the best manned battalion in the army, with recruits waiting in the wings, was chosen by CGS.