Britain's most famous regiments spared in defence cuts As part of the restructuring - known as Future Force 2020 - the number of infantry battalions will reduce from 36 to 25. The "untouchables" are understood to include the entire Household Division, which is composed of the five Foot Guard battalions - the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards - as well as the Household Cavalry, composed of the Blues and Royals and the Life Guards. The Parachute Regiment, which supplies more than 50 per cent of the troops to the SAS and the majority of soldiers for the Special Forces Support Group, will remain as a three-battalion regiment. The Royal Irish Regiment, the last single battalion regiment in the Army, will also escape the axe. Among the less "glamorous" units, the Royal Logistic Corps is facing a cut of 25 per cent down to 12,000 soldiers, although its bomb disposal arm, which has grown in recent years to deal with the improvised explosive device threat in Afghanistan, will remain untouched. The Corps of Royal Engineers will be reduced by 30 per cent to 5,500 troops, with a similar cut to fall on the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. The 15 Royal Artillery regiments will be reduced by a third to 5,000 troops, with almost its entire fleet of AS90 self-propelled guns being mothballed or held at "readiness" by territorial units. The five tank and five reconnaissance regiments of the Royal Armoured Corps are also facing a similar reduction, with many of the tanks being passed to Territorial Army units and held at "readiness" so they can be brought into action when needed. The Army Air Corps will see some of its older helicopters, such as the Lynx, being axed, but its fleet of Apache Helicopter Gunships, which counts Prince Harry among its pilots, will not face any reductions. The infantry units at greatest risk of cuts are those of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, which will lose one or possibly two of its five battalions. The regiment has struggled to recruit for many years. Both the Yorkshire Regiment and the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, which recently had members killed in Afghanistan, and The Rifles, are also thought to be vulnerable. There is also a growing view within the Army that the Gurkhas should be axed before "any British regiments go to the wall" . All infantry regiments will discover their fate in the coming weeks. After 2020, the regular Army's 82,000 soldiers will be supported by 30,000 territorial troops. It will be composed of five multi-role brigades together with 16 Air Assault Brigade, the Army's high-readiness rapid-response unit. Under the new structure commanders will move away from "enduring operations" such as Iraq or Afghanistan, and instead focus on short-term "contingency operations" such as in Libya, where Special Forces supported rebels. The Army will remain committed to "homeland resilience," such as supplying assistance to the Government during strikes or times of national crisis, such as the foot and mouth epidemic. A special cadre will also be created to provide what has been called "upstream engagement" - where military trainers deploy to foreign countries in an attempt to prevent future conflicts. But months of redundancies being announced, and what has been described as an "unrelenting" assault on the organisation's terms of service, have resulted in a "catastrophic" collapse in morale among the "institutional Army" - those troops not on operations. The Army will announce another 3,000 redundancies in June but sources said 70 per cent of the number required had been filled by volunteers. One senior officer said: "The future is more uncertain and complex than it has ever been and to deal with this we are creating the smallest Army the country has seen for more than 100 years - added to that, defence is broke. That is not the basis of a good strategy. It is a dangerous way to do business. Maj Gen James Everard, the Assistant Chief of the General Staff, said: "The Army needs to adapt to the operational challenges of the future. Enhanced capabilities in a range of priority areas will be achieved through reductions in, for example, heavy armour and artillery. Some regular force tasks will be assumed by a much enhanced Army reserve. All of these issues are currently the subject of a review.