Operation Temperer

The plan provides for up to 5,100 service personnel from all 3 services to be deployed to "augment armed police officers engaged in protective security duties" at key sites in the United Kingdom.[1] According to government sources cited by the Daily Telegraph, it would only be triggered following a COBR meeting. The plan was put in place following the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks in France. It was intended to be kept secret, but was accidentally disclosed in July 2015 after being inadvertently uploaded to the website of the National Police Chiefs' Council.[3] It was said to have been contentious with the Army leadership, due to concerns about it causing overstretch, morale problems and difficulties with deciding when to end the operation.[4]

The British armed forces have previously deployed to support the police, most notably during the Troubles in Northern Ireland when 21,000 troops were deployed to assist the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Operation Banner. In 2003, Tony Blair's government temporarily deployed 450 troops to Heathrow Airport and other London locations during a period of heightened terrorist threat.[4]

Other European countries have also deployed troops to guard against terrorist threats in cities; France has deployed over 10,000 troops under Operation Sentinelle since the January 2015 attacks in the Paris region,[4] and Italy also deployed 4,800 troops in Rome and other cities in February 2015.[5]

• Military aid to the civil power

• Operation Banner, the operational name for the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland from August 1969 to July 2007, as part of the Troubles.

Foreign Equivalents

• Operation Vigilant Guardian is a similar operation by the Belgian army.
• Operation Sentinel is the French Army equivalent.