Thousands of soldiers could face compulsory redundancy over the next two years as the army pushes through radical reforms that will be outlined on Thursday.

With the army needing to axe 20,000 posts because of budget cuts, commanders are pushing to downsize as quickly as possible rather than prolong the process.

This means the next two tranches of redundancy will be huge - and are likely to coincide with the draw-down from Afghanistan, leaving the army to start afresh in 2015.

Though it is hoped many soldiers will leave under the voluntary redundancy scheme, the Ministry of Defence acknowledges the target cannot be reached without pushing some to the door.