Dozens of Kent-based soldiers are to lose their jobs in the latest round of swingeing defence cuts.

In total, 42 of the county's Gurkhas will be made redundant.

Most of them belong to the Royal Gurkha Rifles, based at Shorncliffe Barracks in Folkestone, although 12 soldiers will be cut from the Queen's Gurkha Engineers, based at Invicta Park Barracks in Maidstone.

A further nine Maidstone-based soldiers who are not part of the Brigade of Gurkhas will lose their jobs.

Soldiers who volunteer to leave will go by the end of February and those forced to go will be laid off by next August.

A spokesman for the British Army confirmed that most of the Gurkha redundancies would be compulsory because some units were overmanned.

Changes to the soldiers' terms and conditions in 2007 mean they are now able to serve for 22 years instead of 15.

"we need to remain focused on operations and maintaining the quality that makes our armed forces the finest in the world." – chief of the defence staff, general sir david richards

Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir David Richards, said: "I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who will be leaving for their substantial contribution to our armed forces and the nation's security.

"For some, redundancy may be seen as an opportunity but for others it will represent a challenge for both the individual and their families.

"I'm aware that this continues to be an unsettling time but we need to remain focused on operations and maintaining the quality that makes our armed forces the finest in the world."

The Ministry of Defence says that 920 Army jobs will be axed, including 260 compulsory redundancies.

A further 930 redundancies will be made by the RAF, around half of which are compulsory.