Afghanistan chief is new Army head

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Sir David Richards, the current Commander-in-Chief Land Forces, will succeed the outspoken General Sir Richard Dannatt as Chief of the General Staff in August next year.

At the same time, it was announced that Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope is to become the next head of the Royal Navy while Air Marshal Stephen Dalton will become the head of the Royal Air Force.

Both will take up their posts next July.

Gen Dannatt, the current head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, and the head of the RAF, Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy, will all retire when they stand down next year.

The announcement means that the next overall head of the services, the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), will be drawn from the new generation of service chiefs.

It was confirmed earlier this year that the current CDS, Sir Jock Stirrup, will remain in post until 2011. The move was widely seen as a sign that ministers did not want Gen Dannatt to succeed to the top job.

The General has ruffled feathers in Whitehall with his readiness to speak out on issues like military pay and the strain that operations in Iraq have imposed on the Army.

Gen Richards has however also shown his willingness to speak his mind in public, calling in a recent interview for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan, although not necessarily from Britain.

According The Independent, he privately believes that a "surge" of 30,000 troops is needed to fight the Taliban, with 5,000 from the UK and rest from the United States and the newly trained Afghan Army. His appointment now as Chief of the General Staff puts him in pole position to succeed Air Chief Marshal Stirrup when he retires.