Army 2020: regiments, roles, ORBAT

I must warn you all that the ORBAT described and visualized in this article cannot, for a whole range of reasons, be definitive. The Review of the army reserve has not yet been announced, for example, so we don't yet know the identity of the TA formations and, even if the roles and general positions have been announced, there might still be changes to come. There are also some residual uncertainties about the regulars, of course: for example, while it has not yet been clearly stated, i do not think that the Foxhound-mounted battalions will deploy to Cyprus with their vehicles, as someone suggests after reading the documents released so far by the MOD. I think the Foxhound vehicles will remain in Catterick and Cottersmore, and will be used by the battalions posted to the two garrisons.
Other uncertainties regard the integration of some regular and reserve elements into hybrid formations (details to follow later) and, of course, late changes to plans: for example, 299 Signal Squadron (Special Communications) had been announced as part of the restructured 11 Signal Brigade, but at the end of the day it was actually resubordinated to 1 Signal Brigade instead. There might be more rethinks to come.

However, thanks to the good source documents i used, i believe that this ORBAT is the most accurate currently available outside of the Army's restricted circles.

Source: Uploaded by user via Gabriele on Pinterest

This ORBAT includes the Reserve units, which, under Army 2020, are no longer kept in separate Brigades and Divisions but, as we know, are integrated into the Regular structure. The ORBAT also includes the Army units deployed overseas, the forces of the overseas territories (Bermuda Regiment, Royal Gibraltar Regiment, Falklands Islands Defence Force) and the army units commanded by other HQs (air defence units, for example, which are under the control of Air Command). Reserve units can be identified by color and, of course, by the indication (Volunteers) or (V).

Excluded from the ORBAT are the training units such as 14 Regiment Royal Artillery, or 11 Regiment Royal Signals (Royal School of Signals). I took the decision to exclude these formations because the ORBAT looks already crowded as it is. In addition, admittedly, i've been trying to work out the exact chain of command for the training units but i've not yet quite managed to work it out. While most Army training units report to the 3-star Commander Force Development and Training at Andover, there are exceptions and complications due to "jointery" of various nature: for example, the Royal School of Signals (11 Signal Regiment) reports to No 22 (Training) Group Royal Air Force  as part of the Defence College of Communications and Information Systems (DCCIS).
Thanks also to how horribly outdated the MOD's websites usually are, map out the changes and restructurings and draw on paper the current structure is, if you ask me, immensely complex.

NOTES TO THE ORBAT: 

16 Close Support Medical Regiment is the only medical regiment directly assigned to a brigade. It looks almost certain  that it will maintain 144 (Parachute) Medical Squadron (Volunteers) as part of its structure.

The Scots Guards will be in the Heavy Protected Mobility role (mechanised infantry mounted on Mastiff) in the Reaction Force "at least until 2019". The idea is that the rotation of the Guards battalion is organised so to enable a battalion to spend a full six years in the Heavy Protected Mobility Role. At any one time, two more guards battalions are assigned to 11 Infantry Brigade (Adaptable Force), with one of them mounted on Foxhound (Light Protected Mobility). The remaining two battalions, posted to Windsor and Hounslow, are engaged in Ceremonial/Public Duties and respond to London District HQ (2-star).

The London Regiment (TA) is shown under London District. Take this with more than a bit of salt, because i suspect it will actually respond to 11 Infantry Brigade, but could not find anything in support of my guess, for the moment.

16 Air Assault Brigade used to be under Joint Helicopter Command, but all documents released by the MOD suggest that it will be now resubordinated to 3rd (Reaction) Division.

The two Logistic Brigades (101 and 102) are assigned to the Divisions, with the Logistic Support Brigade (104) assigned to Force Troops.

The assignment of the TA infantry and cavalry to the different brigade HQs is currently only my educated guess. For sure we only know that 4 PARA will respond to 16 AA brigade, with the remaining 13 infantry battalions assigned to the Adaptable Force. The ORBAT shows a likely structure, based on geography and on the long-standing assignment of the battalions to the various regional brigades.

The reserve Medical Squadrons in 102 Logistic Brigade are currently shown as indipendent units, but i actually think they are likely to be assigned to 2 and 3 Medical Regiments.

We are also told that there will be four reserve Close Support engineer squadrons in the Adaptable Force. Apparently, they will be assigned to 21 and 32 Engineer Regiments, which will each lose a regular squadron, giving them a 2-regular, 2-reserve squadrons structure.

The Reaction Force logistic brigade is to include 2 reserve REME Force Support battalions. I've guessed their identity, and i'm relatively confident that 104 REME is going to be in the Reaction Force. But, again, it is a guess.
Added to 5 Force Support REME battalion (regular), the 2 reserve battalions cover the whole of the 3 Armoured Infantry brigades of the Reaction Division. There are also going to be 3 Transport Regiment of the RLC TA component.

102 Logistic Brigade will have 4 reserve Force Support REME battalions, 2 supply and 2 transport regiments, plus a Fuel Support regiment, widely expected to be 152 (Ulster) Transport Regiment, properly reconfigured.
A number of TA Transport Regiments are set to disband, apparently, since there are currently 9, and the future requirement is given as 5 plus the Fuel Support Regiment.

The reserve artillery units are located, alongside the regulars, under 1st Artillery brigade. There will be two Light Gun regiments (down from 3), 1 STA regiment (Honourable Artillery Company, i'm betting) and 1 GMLRS regiment (will it continue to include STA batteries as well?).
There is also going to be a reserve Air Defence regiment (106 RA), almost certainly to be directly subordinated to Joint Ground Based Air Defence, under Air Command.
My guess for the reserve UAV regiment (104 RA) is that it will follow the regular units with the same role and resubordinate under the Intelligence brigade.

The Air Defence Units are all relocating to Thorney Island, and the command is consolidated under RAF Air Command. Included in the Joint Ground Based Air Defence force is the 49 (Inkerman) Battery, in charge of the LEAPP (Land Environment Air Picture Provision) system. As of early 2013, the battery is manned jointly by army (roughly two thirds) and RAF. A quick overview of LEAPP is available, among with other information regarding the artillery, in this older article.  

8 Force Engineer brigade's structure is tricky. There is little available information about its future shape. My guess is that the current Groups (12 (Air Support), 29 (Land Support) and 170 (Infrastructure) will all remain.
29 Group is mostly known for being the EOD centre of excellence, but it will likely take on 36 Regiment (Force Support) and one or more of the TA regiments in the Force Support role.
39 Regiment, the second force support regular regiment, is notoriously the Air Support formation, so it is under 12 Group, but under Army 2020 there is a possibility that its land support role will expand too. Currently, two TA regiments are in Air Support role (71 and 73 regiments), which means having two thirds of the TA Force Support element dedicated to airfields: i wouldn't be surprised if this changed.
29 Group will command 11 (EOD) Regiment RLC and the Military Working Dogs regiment as well. The reserves are expected to contribute with 4 Search squadrons and 2 Military Working Dog squadrons, probably integrated into the relevant regular regiments.  
My guess is that a new Group will be formed as the Close Support engineer regiments are moved into the brigade. Once, there were Divisional Engineer Groups: under the 1998 SDR, for example, the assumption was that 1st and 3rd Division would each have an Engineer group comprising one Force Support regiment (28 and 36) and a Close Support regiment for each brigade.
Now, i expect that all Close Support regiments will be grouped together under a new Group.

The Royal Engineers will also contribute 42 Engineer Regiment (Geographic) to Joint Forces Command. The regiment will be an integrated formation, including the reserve squadron 135.
The formation will transfer to Wyton, under the command of the 3-star Joint Forces Intelligence Group (one of many components of Joint Forces Command), which also controls the Joint Services Signals Organisation, which includes some 200 Royal Signals posts. The Army also contributes to the Defence HUMINT unit. 

A similar path has been chosen by the Royal Signals, in fact, with 11 Signal Brigade: as the signal regiments move in, the brigade will be divided in two Groups (7th and 2nd), with the first holding the five regular Multi-Role signal regiments and the second comprising the specialist regiments and the TA formations.
4 TA Signal Regiments are planned, a reduction from the current five. 251 Squadron (V) will be taken into 10 Signal Regiment.
There will also be 3 TA Specialist Technical Support Signal Squadrons.

The number of Military Intelligence battalions in the reserve will double, from 2 to 4. There will also be a  Special Military Intelligence company.

The Medical Brigade will benefit froma substantial reserves contribution: 3 medical regiments, 10 field hospitals, 1 hospital support regiment and the MEDEVAC Group.

The Security Assistance Group's structure is not yet set entirely in stone, but it is currently planned to include the Military Stabilisation Support Group, the 15 Psychological Operations Group and the Defence Media Operations Group.

The Military Police brigade will command all provost companies, which will be centralised in three homogeneous regiments comprising a TA contribution of 3 MP companies.
Doubts in this area include the fate of 156 Provost Coy, the Military Police unit of 16 Air Assault Brigade. I think it might well remain were it is, judging from what happened with all other brigade support elements: all maneuver brigades lost their CS and CSS elements to Logistic and Force Troops brigades, but 16AA retained its signal squadron, its artillery, its medical, REME and Logistic support formations.
Another doubt is about the position of the Military Provost Staff units: initially it seemed like the new Military Police brigade HQ would somehow include the 1-star Provost Marshal HQ, but now it seems both 1-star posts will continue to exist, with the MPS and MPGS units assigned to the Provost Marshal and the RMP to the Police Brigade. The Provost Marshal will also control the Special Investigation Branch RMP and the Special Operations Unit RMP.


104 Logistic Support Brigade will include several TA elements, such as the Catering support regiment and the reserve Port & Maritime Regiment (165 Regt).
It will also have an integrated Postal Courier & Movement regiment, which suggests that the current 88 P&C and 162 Movement Control regiments will merge.
The Pioneer regiment is set to share the fate of the last regular Pioneer regiment and disband, becoming history.

Another mistery is the effective role, usefulness and stance of the 2-star "UK Support Command" created after the SDSR to replace the Regional Division HQs.
This HQ is the son of a plan which pre-dates the 82.000 regulars figure introduced in the summer of 2011: it was originally part of a plan which called for 94.000 regulars in five multi-role brigades (plus 16AA brigade) in two regular Divisions and up to 10 regional brigades in support, controlled by the UK Support Command.
Inside Army 2020, this command now seems redundant, but apparently it remains planned. HQ London District also remains, and Cyprus stays as a 2-star command as well. In my opinion, none of this is actually necessary.  

The Roles of the TA under Army 2020 as disclosed so far by the Army

Anyway, as always, i will work to keep this article and you all up to date about the next moves and changes. I also plan to eventually put together an "alternative Army 2020" plan showing how i would have organised things had i been in general Nick Carter's place, because on several aspects i do disagree with this plan.


Official document showing basing, roles and subordinations of the regular army units: http://www.aff.org.uk/latest_news_information.htm#rebasing

Budget and updates

Budget: a simple explanation of the defence situation

The Budget 2013 brings further pain to the armed forces, with a reduction of 249 millions in 2013/14 and 247 millions in 2014/15. 

These cuts are in addition to the Autumn Statement reductions of 250 and 490 millions, and in total mean that over the next two financial years the MOD is seeing its funding reduced by roughly 1.3 billion pounds, making it (once more) one of the biggest contributors to spending cuts, regardless of the disproportionate damage that such cuts (relatively tiny in comparison to wider government spending) have on military capability. 

The MOD has been given permission to carry over into the next two financial years the huge underspend of the year 2012, accounting for between 1.5 and 1.6 billion pounds. 

This may look good on the Chancellor's spreadsheet, but it does not represent a particularly good item of news for the MOD. 500 millions out of that figure were unallocated money built in the 2012 budget, which was not used. It will now be clawed back by the Treasury with the new wave of cuts. This is a relatively neutral budget measure, in theory, but the MOD naturally was hoping to be able to employ that money in the coming financial years to cover some of the many requirements that remain without a budget. 

Potentially much worse is the fact that the remaining one billion of "underspend" is made up by money which was originally reserved for very specific needs: 500 millions were planned to be spent on ongoing equipment programmes, but weren't use in 2012 because of changed programme timelines. We have to assume that this money will still be needed in the coming years, however.

Similarly, the remaining 500 millions had been set aside to cover the costs of industrial liabilities and redundancy payments connected to equipment and manpower cuts. They ended up not being needed over the course of the year 2012, but we can safely assume that most, or all of this money will need to be used in coming years.

In practice, the MOD is carrying over 1.6 billion of which up to 1 billion was needed (and planned to be used) for several voices of expenditure. 

The MOD also has roughly 200 millions of uncommitted money in the 2013 budget and 200 millions in the 2014 budget. 

The 1.3 billion cut can be managed without eating into the Contingency money and the 8 billion uncommitted money for the White Board list of future programs, but it is going to be more of a problem than the Government wants you to believe. 

Using the carried-over 2012 underspend and the uncommitted in-year reserves, the MOD can probably manage. Just. 

However, there's up to 1 billion of expenses that the MOD hoped to cover with the 2012 underspend, and if all of that expenditure does indeed come up, the ministry will have to eat away all the contingency money built into the next two financial years and still have to find up to 300 millions from within its accounts.   

The Treasury is also cutting 300 millions from the Treasury Special Reserve which pays for Afghanistan operations. This is made possible by the accelerated withdrawal of combat troops. 

Such war expenditure fell from £3.777 billion in 2010-11 to £3.458 billion in 2011-12. In December last year, the MOD estimated the war costs for 2013 to go down all the way to 2.5 billion: it is not clear at the moment if the 300 millions removed from the Treasury are part of the planned reduction in spending or in addition to that original target. 

In any case, it is to be hoped that such reductions does not damage the forces on the ground and the withdrawal of equipment and stores back to the UK, which is also going to be funded by this Campaign budget. 

The real battle for the future of the Armed Forces will be fought to ensure the Treasury does not slash the baseline budget for the MOD for the spending period starting in 2015/16. The assumption is that the MOD will get a general budget flat in real terms, with a 1% uplift to the sole equipment budget. The uplift seems safe, but the Treasury will no doubt seek to calculate a lower than promised baseline budget for the MOD, and if it does, the impact will be devastating. 

Unfortunately, Osborne's words from yesterday's announcement read: 

Departmental budgets have yet to be set for the year 2015-16, which starts before the end of this Parliament. This will be done in the spending round that will be set out on 26 June. I said last autumn that we would require around £10 billion of savings from that spending round. I confirm today that we will instead be seeking £11.5 billion of current savings. We have got to go on making difficult decisions so that Britain can live within its means. And because we make those decisions, we can get our deficit down and focus on our nation’s economic priorities.

Total managed expenditure for 2015-16 will be set at £745 billion. How the savings will be achieved will be a matter for the spending round, but existing protections apply. We are also taking steps to help all Departments to achieve the savings required. Together, my right hon. Friends the Chief Secretary and the Minister for the Cabinet Office have indentified that a further £5 billion of savings in efficiency and cutting the cost of administration can be made. This will go a huge way towards delivering the spending round in a way that saves money but protects services.

So too will action on pay. The Government will extend the restraint on public sector pay for a further year by limiting increases to an average of up to 1% in 2015-16. This will apply to the civil service and work forces with pay review bodies. Local government and devolved Administration budgets will be adjusted accordingly in the spending round. We will also seek substantial savings from what is called progression pay. These are the annual increases in the pay of some parts of the public sector. I think they are difficult to justify when others in the public sector, and millions more in the private sector, have seen pay frozen or even cut. I know that is tough, but it is fair. In difficult times with the inevitable trade-off between paying people more and saving jobs, we should put jobs first.

The crux of the matter is that "existing protections apply". That is almost certainly going to condemn the MOD to further, devastating cuts that the armed forces are simply no longer able to absorb. Worse, those devastating cuts are unlikely to significantly change the country's financial situation. You cannot fix the economy of the nation if you refuse to touch departments that represent some of your biggest voices of expenditure. It is impopular? Oh yeah, probably. But you have to do it all the same. You can't fix things destroying the small to tiny budgets while protecting to the end the huge budgets. 

Typhoon progresses 

The Typhoon Tranche 1 is receiving the Drop 2 upgrades, after they were trialed and evaluated on the nine aircrafts the RAF sent to the Red Flag exercise in the US. 

The Drop 3 upgrade for the Tranche 1 aircrafts is already undergoing flight testing, and a Drop 4 is also planned. It is not clear if these upgrades mean the RAF is indeed going to retain its Tranche 1s for the time being, equipping six or seven squadrons with Typhoons to keep the frontline relevant, but i can only hope it is the case. This plan, a dramatic rethink of the long-standing idea of retiring all Tranche 1 Typhoons by 2019, maintaining only 107 aircrafts in 5 frontline squadrons, has been in the rumors for a while, ever since sources such as Jane’s and Combat Aircrafts Monthly reported about it.

The “Drop” approach is a RAF idea to keep the Tranche 1 aircrafts relevant despite their official, four-national plan of development having been finished, as planned, with the Block 5 software release.

Work on the Tranche 1 aircrafts was expected to end then, and all Eurofighter development activities would focus on Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 only. The RAF and BAE, however, have collaborated to develop Drops of improvements, and the other Eurofighter countries have now joined in the development programme. Hopefully, this will allow the Tranche 1 to serve for a much longer time than initially envisaged.

Meanwhile, the first Tranche 3A Typhoon is being tested in the anechoic chamber, and the day of its delivery draws near. Tranche 3A aircrafts incorporate many advancements and improvements, and are ready for the fitting of AESA radar and Conformal Fuel Tanks, both of which have the RAF’s attention.

An excellent article on the future of Typhoon was recently published by the Royal Aeronautical Society, and you really don’t want to miss it, so click on the link straight away. 

Conformals, Meteors and Storm Shadow missiles. In time, this is how the Typhoon could go to war

The Phase 1 Enhancement will be complete by February next year, when the upgrade P1EB will be rolled out on the fleet. The P1EA part of the upgrade has been fully developed and trialed and will be rolled out in the next few months: this will enable the RAF Typhoons (not the Tranche 1, though) to finally use the Paveway IV bomb. Software and hardware improvements are also included in the enhancement package, which will finally make of the Typhoon a true swing-role fighter, opening up the capability to simultaneously employ Air to Air and Air to Ground weaponry. The Helmet Mounted Display is also getting its air to ground mode, enabling pilots to sled the laser targeting pod on targets on the ground simply looking at them.

The Typhoon will acquire complex attack capabilities: it will be able to engage simultaneously four targets with six bombs, or to attack one or multiple targets with multiple weapons having each different attack patterns and parameters. HOTAS commands will be doubled, from 60 to 120, and the autopilot and Direct Voice Data Imput will be improved and expanded to reduce pilot workload even in complex fighting.  

There will also be upgrades to the IFF, Defensive Aids (DASS) and communications.

The Phase 2 Enhancement programme is being planned out. Meteor integration, ASRAAM improvements and Storm Shadow are high on the list of priorities. Storm Shadow, in particular, is now seen as the main focus of the next enhancements, also because partners such as Saudi Arabia are impatient to get the missile.

The first flight of a Typhoon fitted with Storm Shadow missiles is expected this year, with the aim of putting the capability in service by 2015/16. It has been suggested that Saudi Arabia is urging a faster integration, aiming for 2014.

The full integration of Meteor has instead been delayed to 2017, as the NAO 2012 report noted. 

BS116, the first Typhoon Tranche 3, shows the small "bumps" where the Conformal Fuel Tanks will be installed.

Early tests to design the Conformal Fuel Tanks.

The notional calendar for the Phase 2 Enhancement was to see a focus on improved air dominance capability in the 2014/15 timeframe, with Meteor integration and ASRAAM improvements, but the delay imposed to the Meteor and the urgency accorded to Storm Shadow has probably changed things significantly.

In the 2015/16 period, the ground attack capabilities of the Typhoon should be expanded significantly. Some customers (Saudi Arabia, it has been suggested) have required an anti-shipping attack capability as well: for the UK, the focus will almost certainly be on integration of Brimstone 2 and Storm Shadow.

In the same period, the AESA radar will finally begin to be available, and depending on how funding will be released, it is expected that all capabilities will be demonstrated and integrated, in time to reach Full Operational Capability in 2018. This target is very important for the RAF, considering the March 2019 withdrawal date for the Tornado GR4. 

Meanwhile, works continue at Lossiemouth to enable the transfer of the Typhoons squadrons and QRA service from Leuchars. 
1 Hangar Annexes are being refurbished to enable 6 Squadron to move in by December this year. The Hangar number 3 is being prepared for the arrival of 1 Squadron instead. 
A Typhoon Availability Service (TAS) building is planned, which will host maintenance and support mostly carried out by BAE personnel. A facility will also be built for Rolls Royce personnel and equipment supporting the availability of the EJ200 engines and the C4I Squadron infrastructure on the base will be expanded to take in the Ground Support System for the Typhoon.  

Tornado GR4’s last updates

The Tornado GR4s are getting their last updates, as their planned retirement date draws near. A number of Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems have been acquired for use in Afghanistan but are available for use on the wider fleet. The Tornado has benefitted of UORs which have expanded its self-protection capability, thanks to the Advanced IR Counter Measures (AIRCM) pod (a customised version of Terma's Modular Countermeasures Pod/MCP) and its communications capability, but it has also finally been getting the SCOT (Secure Communications On Tornado) package, a software-defined radio system embodying the Have Quick II waveform used for air-ground communications with JTACs and other waveforms including SATURN (Anti-jam Tactical UHF). 

Took a long time, but the Tornado GR4 is better equipped than ever thanks to Terma pods, TIEC and SCOT

An extremely relevant update which has been in the works for years, the TIEC (Tactical Information Exchange Capability), is finally being rolled out onto the frontline fleet. The TIEC, which first flew on Tornado in 2010, will finally introduce a tactical data link 16 capability on the GR4 fleet.

The lack of data link has been one of the biggest limitations to the Tornado’s capability in recent times. Over Libya, the problem was mitigated by pairing Typhoons (fitted with full Data Link 16 capability) to the Tornado GR4. The Typhoon crews would share on the radio the information coming to them via data link.

Now, thanks to SCOT and TIEC, the GR4 will finally be networked in. 

F35 updates

The first british squadron on the F35 will be 17 Sqn, which will work as joint RAF/RN Operational Evaluation Unit. The squadron is currently mounted on Typhoons, but it will “merge” this April with 41 Sqn, the multi-type RAF Test and Evaluation Squadron, which will thus fly with Typhoons and Tornado.

17 Sqn will then reform, in the USA, with the F35B. The first frontline squadron on F35B will be 617 Sqn, and it is expected to stand up on the new type in 2018. In spring next year, 17 Sqn will be operational at Edwards AFB, in the USA, where the first two or three british F35Bs will be based, serving as part of the Operational Evaluation Fleet.

Not far away, at Yuma, the US Marines are standing up their first operational F35B squadron (VMFA(AW)-121) and conducting their own Operational Evaluation with the squadrons VMX-22 and MAWTS-1. The VMX-22 squadron introduced the MV-22 Osprey to service, while the Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron MAWTS-1 will work to develop training and tactics for the F35B, inserting it in the Marines’ air force, getting it to work in complex environments alongside Prowlers, F/A-18s, Hueys, Cobra and all other aircrafts part of the USMC arsenal.

The british OE squadron will as a consequence be in the best possible place to gain access to a huge amount of knowledge on how best to employ the new aircraft.

The third british F35B will not be delivered before April, and it will initially move out to Eglin AFB. We will by then learn if this aircraft will be part of the Eglin-based training fleet or if it will also move to Edwards.

The F35B plan, in fact, includes having a training fleet of 6 jets based at the Eglin training centre, alongside the USMC F35B training squadron.

The jets based at Edwards will be busy in Operational Evaluation until 2015/16 at least. Afterwards, they’ll possibly move back to Eglin to be part of the training fleet: it is not yet clear.  

At least a second frontline squadron will stand up with part of the 48 aircrafts to be acquired as part of the 10-year budget, and the expectation is for this second unit to wear Fleet Air Arm colors. It is to be hoped that a third squadron can be squeezed out of the fleet, though.

The british order book so far includes 2 aircrafts delivered, one soon to be delivered, a fourth ordered as part of the LRIP7 and four more in the LRIP8.   

In an interview to a specialized Italian publication, the Italian General Defence Secretary, general Claudio Debertolis, revealed that the british MOD has launched the studies for the integration of the Meteor on the F35 and has formally asked Italy to join a common integration programme. According to Debertolis, the cost would be of about 100 million euro for each country, and Italy is “evaluating its options”.  

UK and MBDA hoping in good decisions

2013 is going to be a very important year for MBDA, which waits and hopes for a series of important decisions to be made by several countries.

As mentioned above, a decision is expected rather urgently from the UK and, hopefully, Italy, regarding the go-ahead order for the integration of the Meteor missile on the F35. A decision made rapidly would allow both countries to insert the missile in the list of requirements for the Block IV development of the Joint Strike Fighter. The requirements for the F35 Block IV are expected to be finalized soon.

MBDA, and the UK MOD as well, are also impatiently waiting for the French defence White Paper, which should be published by mid April. The planning document will determine the fate of the FASGW(H) missile destined to the Royal Navy Wildcat helicopters, and it will have an impact on other cooperation programs including Aster, Storm Shadow mid-life upgrade and on the joint development of a new MALE unmanned aircraft, which is effectively stalled and motionless in absence of a firm commitment from Paris.

More promising is the situation of other possible cooperations, including future generation unmanned mine countermeasure drones for use at sea, the Future Combat Air System UCAV for the 2030s, and possible future joint satellite communications programs. These are generally seen as more secure, also because decisions on them are less urgently needed. 



Army 2020 full overview  

I'm not done working and studying on the Army 2020 plan, and i will certainly write more about it in good time. But you can access excellently informative documents thanks to AFF, which has a document ten times better then the ministerial announcement available from the MOD. This document also lists out how battalions and regiments are assigned to the various commands: http://www.aff.org.uk/latest_news_information.htm#rebasing

Among the news, the passage of the Royal Artillery air defence regiments under Air Command control, presumably meaning that the 57-strong HQ Joint Ground Based Air Defence, already based at High Wycombe, will become essentially a light blue affair. 
Second loss to the RAF for the Army, after the passage of the whole CBRN role to the RAF Regiment. 
My expectations regarding the Intelligence and Surveillance Brigade have been proven entirely right, as 5, 32 and 47 Regiments Royal Artillery, plus 14 Signal Regiment (Electronic Warfare) have been resubordinated to this command. 

I continue to most vehemently contest the decision to put all artillery, logistic and engineer formations under formal command of the Artillery, Engineer and Logistics brigades. I continue to think that no advantage at all can come from this arrangement. 
I also personally entirely disagree with the creation of a new 1-star command in the Military Police Brigade at Andover, especially since the expanded Provost service doesn't even get into the Military Police Brigade but remains under HQ Provost Marshal, meaning that yet another 1-star command has been preserved. With the creation of the Police brigade, at least they could have rationalized this aspect. 
I will write more in detail about these issues in the future, however. 

The basing announcement

Here you can download the documents from the MOD with the Army basing plan. 

I've put together a map visualizing the laydown of the major Headquarters as announced:

In the end, it seems the Army decided to go ahead with the retention/creation of brigades meant to group up the combat support elements. All 21 announced brigade HQs figure in the basing plan, including the new 1st Intelligence and Surveillance Brigade and 1st Military Police brigade, the first based in Tidworth and the latter to stand up in Andover. The Engineer brigade is also going to stay. It is still to be seen how this will effectively impact the assignment of the artillery and engineer regiments, since despite the announced "centralisation" under the relative specialist brigades, the formations have been physically distributed in a way that suits the daily training and work within the relevant manoeuvre brigades. In fact, the 3 artillery regiments for the reaction force will be reunited in Larkhill, alongside the UAS regiments (32 and 47), while the Adaptable artillery regiments remain one in Topcliffe (4 Royal Artillery) and one in Abemarle barracks, near Newcastle (3 Royal Horse Artillery).
For the engineers, the approach is roughly the same, with the Reaction formations at Perham Down and the Adaptable regiments in Catterick.   

I was proven right on the disappearing regional brigades, with only one surprise: the South-East is now assigned to 11 Infantry Brigade, a new HQ identity coming from the "merge" of 145 and 2 Regional Brigades.
In my graphic i had shown 20 Brigade going to the Cottersmore area (HQ in Chilwell, to be precise) and the Desert Rats going to Salisbury. It was a 50/50 chance to be right, but i was wrong: rather surprisingly, in my opinion, the Army chose to remove the heavy armor from the 7th Brigade, despite it being worldwide-known for its historical armored role and exploits.
I'm sure the army has reasons for this choice, but it did surprise me, it saddens me, and it allowed the press to make a lot of noise ever since the announcement came out. Inevitable, really: the Desert Rats losing their heavy metal was inexorably going to be a loud thing.

So, the new ORBAT as announced includes the following Divisions and Brigades:

3rd (UK) Division, Bulford

1st Armoured Brigade, Tidworth

12th Armoured Brigade, Bulford 

20th Armoured Brigade, Bulford

               16th Air Assault Brigade, Colchester




The Adaptable Force should all come under the command of 1st Division HQ:

 1st (UK) Division, York

 



7th Infantry brigade, Chilwell
 




4th Infantry Brigade, Catterick

 






11th Infantry Brigade, Aldershot

 

160th Infantry Brigade, Brecon

 


42th Infantry Brigade, Preston

  


 51th Infantry Brigade, Edinburgh 


 


38th Infantry Brigade, Lisburn


There are two other Division-level headquarters of not very clear usefulness: 






HQ UK Support Command (2-star), Aldershot

London District (2-star), London




And then the Force Troops element:



 



HQ Force Troops (2-star), Upavon 


 



101th Logistic Brigade, Aldershot
 




102th Logistic Brigade, Grantham 
 




104th Logistic Brigade, South Cerney
 



11th Signal Brigade, Donnington
 





1st Signal Brigade, Innsworth

 











1st Artillery Brigade, Tidworth



Badge not yet known - 1st Intelligence and Surveillance Brigade, Upavon



Badge not yet known - 1st Military Police Brigade, Andover








8th Engineer Brigade, Minley


 



2nd Medical Brigade, Strensall 




Below is a map of the Salisbury Plain area, with the Army 2020 units listed out for location.

Here is a map of the East region, controlled by 7th Infantry Brigade, with HQ in Chilwell.

Scotland is controlled by the HQ 51st Infantry Brigade, in Edinburgh.

North East, responsibility of 4th Infantry Brigade, in Catterick.

The Home Counties include the Aldershot super garrison.

Aldershot is the base for some elements of the Reaction Force, such as 4th Armoured Medical Regiment. Although for now it is unconfirmed, i suspect the 3 infantry battalions to be based in Aldershot (4 RIFLES and a couple of Guards battalions on rotation) will be the ones roled as Mechanised Infantry in the Reaction Force.
Windsor remains the home of the Household Cavalry Regiment, expected to be mounted on FRES Scout to serve as a reconnaissance regiment in the Reaction Force.
Guards battalions will also rotate into the barracks at Pirbright and Windsor.
In Andover, the Army is standing up the HQ of the newly-created 1st Military Police Brigade, which will assume control over all RMP elements. These will comprise:

three identically structured RMP Regiments (1st, 3rd and 4th Regiments) fully integrated to maximise the utility of the Provost Reserves with fewer, but larger and more capable Regular and Reserve Provost Companies and larger Regimental Headquarters;

an integrated RMP Special Investigation Branch Regiment with a small RMP SIB Reserve element and with a new deployable capability to meet the requirement of contingency;

a new RMP Specialist Operations Unit, which groups existing, but disparate, specialised capabilities (the Service Police Crime Bureau (SPCB), the Close Protection Unit (CPU) and the Operational Support Unit (OSU)), and allows for the appropriate depth of command so that the delivery of scarce and highly skilled niche specialist capabilities, such as Cyber-Crime and covert policing, can be better managed while also interacting in the national policing landscape at home.

The military provost staff (MPS) will see its Regular capability growing to number 191 personnel (up from 106 personnel) and will have an enduring Reserve component.
In future Tier-1 Service Custody Facilities (SCF) in Garrisons will be manned by MPS, along with the Tier-2 The Military Corrective Training Centre (MCTC). The aim is to  professionalise and optimise Firm Base custody thereby increasing surety.
The enlarged MPS will be better able to meet future contingency capability by drawing across the whole MPS structure to deploy personnel to man Tier-3 Operational Facilities.

The Military Provost Guard Service (MPGS)  of the future will have its structure changed somewhat as it'll need to adapt to the changing disposition of the army, as a number of Military sites are closed, security levels are reviewed and other bases are expanded. 

I've also prepared a map of the South-West and Cornwall. Included on the map are the bases of the Royal Marines and the two defence colleges at Lyneham and Worthy Down.

Worthy Down is due to become the tri-service school for catering and logistics/administration under Project Wellesley. It all began with Project Kestrel, the planned relocation of the Royal Logistic Corps headquarters and Phase 2 training from Deepcut (which will be disposed of), but it expanded to include the relocation of RAF and RN elements: the RAF Catering training moved to Worthy Down before 2012 came to an end, and RAF Administration training followed. RAF Logistics training will also move in, from RAF Halton, and the Royal Navy will relocate its own logistics training from HMS Raleigh in the coming years. 
The space freed at HMS Raleigh was at one point expected to be used to allow the relocation of 45 Commando battalion from Arbroath, but, as of Army 2020 plan, the idea of moving the commandos south has been abandoned. Honestly, i expect the idea to resurrect in the future, though. 

Lyneham will be the tri-service technical training centre, while Bovington is a fundamental training ground for vehicle fleets. The Royal Marines are getting a purpose-built facility in Bovington to support their training with the Viking armored vehicles of the Armoured Support Group, which is based in Yeovilton. 

Bicester, Abingdon and Hullavington host the logistic support units for two of the 3 armoured infantry brigades. Each Reaction Brigade will in fact be supported by a Close Support Regiment RLC and a Theatre Support Regiment RLC. The third logistic element is based in Aldershot. The pairings would appear to be: 

Aldershot 
3 Close Support Regiment RLC
10 Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment  [will be configured as Theatre Support Regiment] 


Abingdon 
4 Close Support Regiment RLC
27 Theatre Support Regiment RLC 

Bicester - Hullavington 
1 Close Support Regiment RLC 
9 Theatre Support Regiment RLC 

There is no certainty at the moment on how these pairs will be assigned and managed. They could either be assigned directly to the reaction brigades or be assigned to the centralised control of 101 Logistic Brigade. 
The two Force Support RLC regiments will be assigned one to each logistic brigade, with (possibly) 7 Regt in 101 Brigade and 6 Regt in 102 Brigade, considering that the 7th, being based in Cottersmore, is much closer to the reaction force than the 6th, to be based in Dishforth on return from Germany. The Force Support regiments are described as "a fusion of Supply and Transportation from point of entry to foxhole for the entire force".
The Reaction Force is also expected to be supported by three Transport Regiments of the RLC Reserve component, one per each brigade, but we'll have to wait for the Reserves plan in order to get the details.  

Bicester is also the home and training centre for the newly created Defence EOD, Munitions and Search (DEMS) Training Regiment. It is part of the DEMS School (DEMSS) which also includes the RLC training school for ammunition technicians, based just 30 km away, at Kineton.
The DEMS Training Regiment brings together EOD and Search expertise from all three services, and centralizes the DEMSS infrastructure around Bicester and Kineton, allowing the closure of older facilities at Lodge Hill.

In the map you can also see that 539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines is based in Devonport, along with 10 Landing Craft Training Squadron. This is because i'm accounting for their planned move from Poole to the newbuilt facility on Weston Mill Lake.       


London will continue to have its own 2-star HQ, the London District. 
The units based within London are those on Public Duty: at any one time, two battalions of Guards and one battalion of line infantry are busy in the role. The two Guards battalions on public duty are stationed one in Windsor and one in Hounslow, while the line infantry battalion moves into Woolwich. 

Wellington Barracks is the permanent home of the three Guards incremental companies, while Woolwich also hosts The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery. 
The Basing Plan published by the MOD, contains two paragraphs that are incomplete. A lot of text is missing, and this means we do not know the details of the army unit moves rotations. 
The Guards will move regularly between Aldershot (Mons and Keogh barracks), Pirbright, Windsor and Hounslow, but it is not clear how many years will pass between a move and another. As a consequence, currently it is unclear who will fullfil the role of Mechanised Infantry for the three reaction brigades: Aldershot is arguably the best location in which to base them, since there is no space on the Salisbury Plain. And according to the basing plan, there are exactly 3 battalions home-based in Aldershot. One is 4 Rifles, which was indicated time ago for the Mechanised role, but the other two battalions are Guards. Could they serve in the Mechanised Role between a Public Duty tour and another? It might be, if the turnation gives them a full three years to spend assigned to a deployable brigade, enabling them to fit into the Operational Readiness Mechanism, which is based on a 36 months cycle. In this way they could train with the Reaction Brigade and then serve in its ORBAT for its year at readiness, before moving on to Public Duty. 

Unit Moves will be the norm for the King's and Queen's divisions, too. Once more, the paragraph on the official document is incomplete (a mistake that i expected would quickly be spotted and corrected, but that instead seems not to concern anyone...). For the Queen's Division, the battalions to rotate will be 2nd PWRR, 1st and 2nd Royal Anglian. 
For the King's Division, i'm assuming (the relevant text was lost...) that the rotating battalions will be 2nd Yorks, 1st and 2nd LANCS. 
These battalions will rotate into Cyprus (2 battalions, every 3 years) and Woolwich (1 battalion, every 2 or 3? years). 
Lastly, the two Gurkha battalions will rotate between Shorncliffe and Brunei every 3 years.       

The South-East has the Royal Gurkha Rifles battalion in Shorncliffe and one of the two Force Support regiments of the Royal Engineers (the other being 39 Engineer Regiment, in Kinloss). Currently in the high-assurance Search role in support of the anti-IED campaign in Afghanistan, 36 Engineer will return to its broad range of engineer capabilities afterwards, in support of the wider army. My personal hope/belief is that the regiment will inherit equipment such as the M3 rigs of the disbanded 28 Engineer and the TALISMAN route-clearance kit used in Afghanistan. 

 
In the West, the "home of the Signals" is taking shape, with full steam ahead for Project BORONA, the relocation of a further two Signal Regiments to Stafford, where 22 Signal Regiment is already based. The 143rd Regional Brigade, which used to control this region, will vanish, replaced by a Regional Point of Contact (West) in the HQ of 11th Signal Brigade, in Donnington. The ARRC and its support elements remain in Innsworth. 

In Wales, the 160th Infantry Brigade is confirmed and stays with its HQ in Brecon. 14 Signal Regiment (Electronic Warfare) transfers to St Athan. 

The North-West remains under the control of 42nd Infantry Brigade, with HQ in Preston, while Northern Ireland is under the command of 38th Infantry Brigade, in Lisburn. 5th Regiment Army Air Corps will continue to fly from Aldergrove, with its HQ located in Belfast.