Britannian Military

The Britannian Military includes all Armed Forces of the Holy Empire of Britannia. It is believed to be one of the largest, most powerful, and most technologically advanced military in the world. Members of the military play an important role throughout the series.

Ground Troops
The use of footsoldiers within the Empire is fairly unknown, and only a few instances of them being deployed are shown, usually when a Knightmare would be too large to use. When they are, squads of Honorary Britannians and Britannians are likely to be used, as "grunt work", like hunting down rebels in a ghetto. Britannian soldiers are typically outfitted with assault rifles, pistols, body armor, and helmets with electronic visors.



Royal Guard
The Royal guard is a personal group of soldiers that serves the members of the Imperial Family, and it has also been shown that the Knights of the Round also have their own Royal guards. However the full aspect of the Royal Guard is unknown.

Lelouch's Royal Guard are presented in more detail: all members are dressed in white-and-gray uniforms vaguely similar to the Knights of the Round with black tricorn hats and grey halfmasks, the jacket and hat emblazoned in golden eye symbols similar to the ones on Lelouch's Imperial outfit. The tricorns also have drop-down visors similar to the one on Zero's helmet. Some members can be seen wearing a cape, implying they're commanding officers of the Guard. All officers are forced into loyalty as a result of Lelouch's Geass, and act as his personal enforcers. Jeremiah also comments that he subjugated a former noble, implying he is the leader. During the battle of Mt. Fuji, some of them are seen piloting Gareths in combat.

Knightmares
Knightmare Frames are the most basic type of unit used by Britannian forces, originally developed by the Britannians themselves. Essentially a large armored robotic frame, Knightmares have proven themselves effective in almost all combat situations, and the other world powers have only recently began building their own versions of the Britannian models in order to compete, however often with limited success.

Originally deployed during the invasion of Japan, Knightmares proved that, despite their bulky appearance and high manufacture cost, their agility, maneuverability and adaptability gave them an advantage over simpler, more conventional siege weaponry. By 2017, the Sutherland became the main Knightmare Frame unit of their military. Though it was superior to the Glasgows, it offered little improvements compared to its predecessor. After the introduction of the Lancelot, rapid development of 7th generation Knightmare Frames has been spearheaded by Britannia, with the introduction of their first mass-production seventh generation frame, Vincent. By 2018, though their Knighmare forces are still comprised of Gloucesters and Sutherlands, they are slowly being replaced by Vincents and Vincent Wards.

Armored Vehicles
Conventional vehicles like tanks, armored personnel carriers and other military vehicles are sometimes used by the Britannian military. Large mobile bases, such as G-1 Bases are often deployed as a command center and field hospital in potentially hostile territory. Similar machines can be seen throughout the series being used to quickly deploy large numbers of Knightmares.

Air Force
Actual airplanes are rarely, if never, used in combat by the Empire, though VTOL gunships and Knightmare VTOL are often seen, the latter used as Knightmare dropships. Since the development of efficient float systems, large hoverships like the Avalon are beginning to dominate the Imperial skies. They serve much the same role landcruisers do on the ground, though still heavily-defended and capable of reaching considerable speeds. Similar float systems are now being equipped onto Knightmare frames, rendering them capable of the same role that traditional combat aircraft would have served pre-invasion of Japan.

Navy
While battleships are seen used by the Empire in early battles, ships do not seems to play an important military role in the Empire, usually delegated the role of transport and trade. This is possibly why the Black Knights chose a submarine as one of their first headquarters. However, the Britannian military is by no means incapable of aquatic or even deep-sea combat, as shown by effectiveness of the Royal Marine Infantry (RMI) -13 Portman series of amphibious frames.

Two types of Britannian warship are shown. The most common are the Destroyers (foreground image), which may have been modelled on the real-world Type 45 Destroyer. No class-name or ship names are given. Its armament includes a deck-mounted cannon and a vertical missile system, which can fire ASROC, though it may include missiles of other types. The other type is a larger Carrier-Battleship hybrid (background image). It is shown as having a trimaran hull, with the outboard hulls supporting two flight decks. It's armament includes two twin gun turrets, a vertical missile system, and numerous CIWS turrets, along with a complement of Portman knightmares. No names are given.

Their main appearance is in R2 Turn 07 The Abandoned Mask in which Suzaku attempts to chase down the Black Knights submarine with the help of a naval task force consisting of one Carrier-Battleship and at least 7-8 Destroyers.

Knights
"Knights" are specialized bodyguards or groups of soldiers, usually Knightmare pilots, who operate outside standard Britannian military hierarchy and are under personal command of a member of the Royal family.