Operation Rescript
Operation Rescript was the code name for the British military operation to help tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies between 2020 and 2022.[1][2] It was described as the UK's "biggest ever homeland military operation in peacetime" by the Ministry of Defence (MOD),[3] involving up to 23,000 personnel within a specialist task force, named the COVID Support Force (CSF).[4] The support was given at the request of the UK government, its devolved administrations and civil authorities (including the National Health Service (NHS)) through the Military aid to the civil authorities (MACA) mechanism.[5]
Operation Rescript
Maintain public order, assist public services and civilian authorities in tackling the Coronavirus outbreak.
23 March 2020 – 2022
Launched in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic's first wave, the operation began with the airlifting of critical COVID-19 patients, logistical support, planning support and the formation of a helicopter task force. From April 2020, the CSF began helping plan, construct and staff several temporary critical care hospitals across the UK and also provided drivers and call handlers to reinforce ambulance services. In May 2020, the CSF helped with mass COVID-19 testing across the country to help reach a government target for 100,000 tests per day. These tests were largely carried out at mobile testing units which had been set up by the CSF in areas such as police stations, fire stations, care homes, prisons and benefit centres.
During the pandemic's second wave, from September 2020, the CSF assisted with more mass testing and, from December 2020, began assisting with the UK's vaccination rollout through providing planning support, medical staff and constructing vaccination centres — a task which was described as "unparalleled in its scale and complexity" by Brigadier Phil Prosser, Commander of Military Support to the Vaccine Delivery Programme.[6]
Other support provided by the armed forces included the testing of the NHS' contact tracing phone application, NHS Test and Trace, the manufacturing of personal protective equipment (PPE), the creation of disinfectants, including the Virusend formula,[7] and countering COVID-19 misinformation. It was one of two British military operations to assist with tackling the pandemic; the other being Operation Broadshare which focuses on activities overseas, including within the British Overseas Territories (BOTs).
In November 2022, Defence Minister James Heappey stated that the operation had concluded, although the exact date of its conclusion was not specified.[8]
Tasks[edit]
Medical evacuations[edit]
The British military first supported the COVID-19 response on 31 January 2020, when RAF Brize Norton and defence medics assisted with the first COVID-19 repatriation flight from Wuhan.[1] MoD Boscombe Down was subsequently designated the preferred airfield for future COVID-19 repatriation flights.[1]
On 15 March 2020, the Royal Air Force responded to its first MACA request to airlift a critically ill COVID-19 patient from the Isles of Scilly to Newquay Airport using a Boeing Chinook helicopter.[21] Further medical evacuations took place in other remote areas, including in Shetland[22] and Northern Ireland[23] utilising a range of military aircraft equipped for the task, including Airbus A400M Atlas, Airbus Voyager and Westland Puma. Other types, such as British Aerospace 146, were converted to bolster the RAF's capacity.[24]
Scale[edit]
The scale of Operation Rescript grew in proportion to the pandemic. On 12 April 2020, during the pandemic's first wave, the COVID Support Force had responded to 76 requests for assistance from government ministries with 2,680 personnel deployed from a total of 23,000 on standby. 2,300 vehicles were also in use, as temporary ambulances or for transportation, in 34 locations across the country.[106] During the same month, Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter described the operation as the "single greatest logistic challenge" he had come across.[107] As the first wave subdued, the CSF was downscaled by 12,500 personnel to a force of 7,500 on 20 May 2020, in line with a consistent decrease in daily COVID-19 cases. 162 MACA requests had been responded to, in addition to 29,100 COVID-19 testing kits being delivered to 191 facilities.[108][109]
In January 2021, the Ministry of Defence revealed that over 5,000 military personnel were deployed on 70 different tasks, making it the largest "homeland military operation in peacetime".[3] It also revealed that nearly 3,300 military personnel had tested positive for the virus since the outbreak began, with the majority of them contracting the virus in the United Kingdom.[110]
According to the Ministry of Defence, even at its peak readiness of 20,000 personnel on standby, Operation Rescript placed no constraints on the ministry's prioritised operations and defence outputs, such as Quick Reaction Alert, Operation Shader and Operation Temperer.[1]
Medal[edit]
Following a Freedom Of Information (FOI) request in April 2021 to the Ministry of Defence, it was stated that Operation Rescript was under consideration for medallic reward by the Cabinet Office.[111] A subsequent FOI request was made to the Cabinet Office in December 2021 to which it was stated documentation or minutes relating to the creation of an Operation Rescript medal was not held by the Cabinet Office and that the Ministry of Defence should be consulted. In February 2022, a petition was launched via the UK Parliament petitions website asking the UK Government to consider the introduction of an Operation Rescript medal.