The Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme (AFPS) offers Members of Parliament and Peers experience of the United Kingdom's

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

. The Scheme runs annually and gives an insight into military life for all three Armed Services,

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

and

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. The minimum commitment is 15 days over a 12-month course. Its aim is to improve the quality of debate on military issues by exposing its members to first-hand experience of the service. The AFPS is administered from within Parliament under the chairmanship of James Gray and one full-time employee. The Scheme is endorsed by the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

with a staff officer from each of the three single Services. It was founded in 1989 by Sir Neil Thorne, a former

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

MP, for the benefit of members of both houses of

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. It was sponsored by three defence companies -

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

and

AgustaWestland AgustaWestland was an Anglo-Italian helicopter design and manufacturing company, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica (now known as Leonardo). It was formed in July 2000 as an Anglo-Italian multinational company, when Finmeccani ...

. Since 2013, the Armed Forces Parliamentary Trust is the overarching body that provides governance in the form of a board of trustees and financial support is provided from industry. The trust is registered with The Charities Commission. It is chaired by James Gray MP and trustees include John Gardner, Baroness Hodgson of Abinger CBE, Sir Bill Jeffrey KCB, Air Vice-Marshal Honourable David Murray CVO OBE, The Lord Rogan, The Right Honourable Colonel Robert Stewart DSO MP, William Thomas Tew and Sir Neil Thorne OBE TD DL. The Armed Forces Parliamentary Trust operates from

industry sponsorship Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

. The current sponsors are

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

Operations UK,

Babcock International Babcock International Group plc is a British aerospace, defence and nuclear engineering services company based in London, England. It specialises in managing complex assets and infrastructure. Although the company has civil contracts, its main b ...

Group,

, Boeing Defence UK,

DXC Technology DXC Technology Company is an American multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia. History DXC Technology was founded on April 3, 2017, through a merger between Hewlett Packar ...

Elbit Systems Elbit Systems Ltd. is an Israel-based international military technology company and defense contractor. Founded in 1966 by Elron, Elbit Systems is the primary provider of the Israeli military's land-based equipment and unmanned aerial v ...

UK,

General Dynamics UK General Dynamics UK is the British subsidiary of the American defence and security corporation General Dynamics. Founded in London in 1962, the company has grown to include eight sites across the United Kingdom, including in Bristol, Chippenham ...

, Leonardo UK,

Lockheed Martin UK Lockheed Martin UK Limited (LMUK) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, headquartered in London. The company was created on 1 July 1999, combining all of Lockheed Martin's UK operations into one company. Divisions Below is a list of ...

QinetiQ QinetiQ ( as in '' kinetic'') is a British defence technology company headquartered in Farnborough, Hampshire. It operates primarily in the defence, security and critical national infrastructure markets and run testing and evaluation capabili ...

Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with Unite ...

UK and

Footnotes

Organizations established in 1989 Parliament of the United Kingdom Military of the United Kingdom {{UK-org-stub