Geoff Hoon has dismissed claims that he is about to scrap historic army regiments and make thousands of soldiers redundant.

The defence secretary said on Thursday that he was planning changes to the armed forces because the nature of warfare had change radically.

Modern armies are now more reliant on high-tech weaponry and sophisticated intelligence-gathering systems, not on tanks and soldiers with bayonets.

"I would want to have the same size army in five years' time as it is today (about 103,000 trained soldiers)," he said.

Hoon added that with the growing number of military commitments facing Britain he needed every soldier he could get.

"There certainly won't be wholesale redundancies," Hoon said.

That would not change even if there was progress in Northern Ireland which would reduce troop numbers there by up to 9000.

The defence secretary will publish a defence white paper setting out his plans next month.