THE Army's top officer has admitted the degree of sexual harassment faced by women soldiers is "totally unacceptable".

General Sir Nick Carter spoke as an Army-commissioned survey of 7000 soldiers shows nearly 40 percent of servicewomen reported receiving unwanted remarks of a sexual nature in the past year.

Some 13 percent of women had had "a particularly upsetting experience".while around three percent of those who were very upset made a formal written complaint.

The figures emerged two months after the conviction of Sgt Edwin Mee from Glasgow for 16 sex attacks on nine female recruits at Croydon's Mitcham Barracks in 2010 and 2011.

Research conducted last year by the charity Business in the Community found that 23% of women in the armed forces had experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the last three years.

Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request show that 75 allegations of rape and 150 of sexual assault were made to military police between 2011 and 2013

Sir Nick said he was "disappointed" by the figures.

"But they do provide me with a baseline from which I can move forward and change the Army's culture," he said.