The Ministry of Defence is set to outline an increased emphasis on rapid reaction forces in the post-September 11 security climate.

Interviewed on Sky News' Sunday with Adam Boulton programme, armed forces minister Adam Ingram said the government was preparing to announce the early results of its re-examination of the deployment of armed forces abroad.

"What the secretary of state will be announcing later in the week is our early thinking, our fairly advanced early thinking, as to what we think should happen, both in terms of our homeland security, but importantly in terms of how we should be prepared to deploy into the external theatres," said Ingram.

With the Special Air Service reported to be heavily involved in ground operations and nearly five thousand troops on maritime patrol in the Gulf region, the MoD is likely to conclude that the emphasis on rapid reaction forces set out in its 1998 Strategic Defence Review was correct, but force numbers may need to be increased.

"We do need as part of our evolving utilisation of our armed forces a greater enhancement of what we call the Joint Rapid Reaction Force, and we've seen evidence of that in Sierra Leone and Macedonia, to great effect in Macedonia, and probably also we could see it in the future in Afghanistan," Ingram told Sky News.

"The important thing about the Rapid Reaction Force, of course it can be rapid in, but it is equally important that they can be rapid out. If the mission is complete then they should be able to withdraw quickly as well, Macedonia was a very good example of that".

With reports that defence officials have been examining the future of a number of RAF bases in the UK, which could now be facing closure, Ingram promised "it won't be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul".

"Clearly the events of September 11th give us a new focus...we now need to look at all of the aspects of this, and make sure that we have the right balance both to protect our own country, and to assist in international efforts as well," he said.