Military Insignia 3D is expanding: meet Britain, Australia, Germany and France

When I just started working on my “Military Insignia 3D” project, I have decided that the emphasis will be put on insignia of Canadian Armed Forces and Armed forces of the USA. However, at some point, I was planning to expand the project to encompass military heraldry of other countries as well. So, at this point I have decided that the time has come. You all know the sad story behind the Canadian chapter of the project. In case if you missed it, you can find it here. Hopefully, my other international galleries will be in for a better and brighter future. Only the time will tell. Nevertheless, I continue having fun, and the project keeps getting bigger and better. 

At this stage of the project, I have decided to recreate major emblems of the British, Australian, German and French armed forces. Business as usual. I keep improving my M-LETT (Multi-Layer Enhancement & Texturing  Technique), and keep delving into the limitless possibilities of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator CS5. The end results speak for themselves. Be the first to take a glimpse at my international entries of the “Military Insignia 3D” …  

Her Majesty's Armed Forces

The armed forces of the United Kingdom, known as Her Majesty's Armed Forces or sometimes the British Armed Forces, and sometimes legally the Armed Forces of the Crown, encompasses the Royal Navy, the British Army, and the Royal Air Force. The British Armed Forces are a purely professional and volunteer force, and constitute the second largest military in the EU in terms of professional personnel and reserves.

The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the United Kingdom and its overseas territories, promoting Britain's wider security interests, and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in NATO and other coalition operations. Britain is also party to the Five Power Defence Arrangements. 

Recent operations have included wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the 2000 intervention in Sierra Leone, ongoing peacekeeping responsibilities in the Balkans and Cyprus, and participation in the UN-mandated no-fly zone over Libya. Overseas garrisons and facilities are maintained at Ascension Island, Belize, Brunei, Canada, Diego Garcia, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kenya, Qatar and the Sovereign Base Areas (Cyprus).

Australian Defence Force (ADF)

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organization responsible for the defence of Australia. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Air Force and a number of 'tri-service' units.

During the first decades of the 20th century, the Australian Government established three separate armed services. Each service had an independent chain of command. In 1976, the government made a strategic change and established the ADF to place the services under a single headquarters. 

Over time, the degree of integration has increased and tri-service headquarters, logistics and training institutions have supplanted many single-service establishments.

The ADF is technologically sophisticated but relatively small. Although the ADF's 57,697 full-time active-duty personnel, 21,248 active reserves and 22,166 standby reserves make it the largest military in Oceania, it is still smaller than most Asian militaries. Nonetheless, the ADF is able to deploy forces in multiple locations outside Australia.

ADF has three priorities. The first of these priorities is to maintain the capability to defend Australian territory from any credible attack, without relying on help from the combat forces of any other country. The second priority is to contribute to the security of Australia's immediate neighbourhood through working with neighbouring countries and participating in United Nations-sanctioned peacekeeping operations. The third priority for the ADF is to contribute to international coalitions of forces outside of Australia's immediate neighbourhood where Australian interests are engaged. The ADF is also responsible for contributing to coastal surveillance and responding to emergencies, including natural disasters.

German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr)

The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities. The States of Germany are not allowed to maintain armed forces of their own, since the German Constitution states that matters of defense fall into the sole responsibility of the federal government.

The Bundeswehr is divided into a military part (armed forces or Streitkräfte) and a civil part with the armed forces administration (Wehrverwaltung), the federal bureau of procurement (Bundesamt für Wehrtechnik und Beschaffung) and the federal bureau for information management and information technology of the Bundeswehr (Bundesamt für Informationsmanagement und Informationstechnik der Bundeswehr, sometimes abbreviated as IT-AmtBw). 

The military part of the federal defense force consists of Army (Heer), Navy (Marine), Air Force (Luftwaffe), Joint Support Service (Streitkräftebasis), and Central Medical Services (Zentraler Sanitätsdienst) branches.

French Armed Forces

The French Armed Forces encompass the French Army (Armée de Terre), the French Navy (Marine Nationale), the French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) and the National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie nationale). The President of the Republic heads the armed forces, with the title "chef des armées" ("chief of the military forces"). The President is the supreme authority for military matters and is the sole official who can order a nuclear strike. The French military has, as some of its primary objectives, the defence of national territory, the protection of French interests abroad, and the maintenance of global stability. The French Armed Forces is the largest military in the European Union in terms of man-power and the third largest in NATO. In 2009, the French Armed Forces had the third highest expenditure of any military in the world, as well as the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world, behind only the United States and Russia.

As I mentioned earlier, the above insignia is available on a limited number of selected high quality products via my “Military Insignia” galleries exclusively from Zazzle.com. You can just follow the links in the article to navigate to the corresponding galleries. 

I will also make my insignia designs available free of charge to any non-profit/non-commercial and charitable causes, benefiting troops and their families, as I have already done on a number of occasions.

Information provided in part by websites of the British, Australian, German and French armed forces and Wikipedia