Further clarity on restructured Royal Signals

I've updated the Army 2020 report on the Royal Signals structure to include the latest details released: article here.

Royal Signals and Army 2020

A rather detailed overview of the Army 2020 impact on the Royal Signals has appeared on the August issue of their magazine "The Wire", courtesy of Col G Norton, Corps Colonel, so that now we know the general ORBAT of the Corps.
In detail:

The new Royal Signals ORBAT as part of Army 2020. 11 Signal Brigade is set to become the largest formation in the Corps by far. It'll also include, as shown, the Central Volunteer HQ (CVHQ) which looks after the TA specialists and after the Full Time Reserve Service. It also is responsible for organizing mobilisation efforts. 1 Signal Brigade is to be the top level Strategic Communications enabling formation, closely related to ARRC and JRRF. Very interesting to see the 14 Regiment (EW) assigned to the Surveillance and Intelligence brigade.

2nd (National Communications) Signal Brigade is, as we know, disbanding after the end of the Olympics, and 7th Regiment is to disband as well. There won't be other regiment-level losses.


11 Signal Brigade is to become a massive formation. Its new ORBAT includes:

7 Signal Group; Reaction Forces

Under 7 Gp, there will be 5 "Multi-Role" Theatre Support Regiments, evolution of the "Campaign Regiments" formed to support operations in Afghanistan. These regiments will provide signals support to deployed brigades and divisional HQs, with the loss of all but 16 Air Assault Brigade's Signal Squadrons.

Each Multi-Role regiment will have four squadrons (1 Support Squadron and 3 Field Squadrons). The Multi Role regiments are:

1st Signal Regiment (ex 1st UK Division signal regiment)
2nd Signal Regiment (To maintain a Queen's Gurkha Signals (QGS) squadron in its force)
3rd Signal Regiment (ex 3rd UK Division signal regiment)
16th Signal Regiment
21 Signal Regiment (ex Air Support signal regiment)

Each of the above regiments will come with some TA contingent components posts to facilitate regular/reserve integration. The exact detail of which squadrons will make up the Regiments, and the transition and implementation plans will follow on later this year.
The only ones who seem to already know their future are the men in the Queen's Gurkha Signals: their 3 squadrons all seem set to survive, and stay where they already are. 

2 Signal Group; UK Resilience and Adaptable Forces

Under 2 Gp will be grouped the Territorial Army signal formations, which are being reorganized under the Reserves plan, hopefully to be announced by year's end.

In addition, there will be the 10 Signal Regiment (regulars), in ECM(Force Protection) role and Information Communication Systems (ICS) infrastructure support. The Regiment will have the Squadrons 225, 241, 243, 251 and 81 (Volunteers), the latter being a TA formation.

Again, 2 Gp will have 15 Regiment (Information Support). The regiment provides Level 3 support, deploying elements abroad and providing "reachback" support. The Regiment was born only recently, on 30 September 2011, by re-titling the Unified System Support Organisation, which had steadily been growing in size and relevance over the years. The regiment will also include the Land Information and Communications Services Group (Volunteers), LICSG(V).

Finally, there will be 299 Signal Squadron (Special Communications).

New info has been provided with the January 2013 issue of "The Wire", magazine of the Royal Signals. The above graphic shows the current structure of the brigade. 1st and 3rd Regiments haven't yet moved in, 14 (EW) Regiment hasn't yet moved out and the two Groups (7 and 2) haven't formed yet. TA regiments from the disbanded 2nd Signal Brigade have moved in.

For a while, the brigade will also include the Land Information Assurance Group (Volunteers), which is however expected to move under the newborn Joint Forces Command at some point in the future.

11 Signal Brigade will also have the Central Volunteer HQ, which looks after the TA specialists and after the Full Time Reserve Service and is responsible for organizing mobilisation efforts.

Lastly, the brigade is due to assume the function of regional 1-star HQ over the West region, and will do so thanks to the Regional Point of Contact RPOC(West). This suggests that the current Regional Brigade (West), 143 Bde, is sadly going to vanish as part of the restructuring.

The future plan (Army 2020) on the left, and the current Regional Brigades structure on the Right. The 11 Signal Brigade is to take over the West Area. 143 Regional Brigade HQ seems set to go, and the direct comparison of the maps helps in guessing which other regional brigades are likely to vanish.

1 Signal Brigade will have the role of supporting deployed strategic communications for the ARRC and for the Joint Rapid Reaction Force. It will meet its requirements by lining the following regiments: 

22 Signal Regiment; on 1 Support and 4 Field Squadrons, with one being Queen's Gurkha Signal (QGS). 

30 Signal Regiment; on 1 Support and 4 Field Squadron, again with one being QGS. 

Allied Rapid Reaction Corp Support Battalion  


In addition there will be several more formations under other Commands, namely:

11 Signal Regiment (Training), to remain part of the Defence College of Communications and Information Systems (DCCIS) under 22 Group (Training) RAF.
The regiment provides training, and is based in Blandford Camp along with the DCCIS HQ.
DCCIS also includes the No 1 Radio School in Cosford and the Royal Navy CIS training unit at HMS Collingwood.

18 (UKSF) Special Forces Support Regiment; undergoing no changes from current structure and strenght and staying under control of the Director Special Forces.

216 (PARA) Squadron; the communications element of 16 Air Assault brigade.

628 Signal Troop; british contribution to the 1st NATO Signal Battalion. There are also another 74 or so posts for Royal Signals personnel within NATO. 

660 (EOD) Signal Troop; assigned to direct support of the EOD force

Joint Service Signal Organisation; around 200 Royal Signals posts within the JSSO. This organization, part of Joint Forces Command, has its headquarters in RAF Digby and is commanded by a RAF Operations Support Branche group captain.
The JSSO delivers support to deployed operations and contribute to innovation by researching new CI systems and techniques.

JSSO is divided in three Joint Service Signal Units, one in Cyprus JSSU(Cyp), one in Digby and one in Cheltenham.

A further 154 or so Royal Signal posts will be kept to provide support to Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) in several locations. 

Finally, and very importantly, 14 Regiment (Electronic Warfare), on 1 Support and 4 Field Squadrons, is being assigned to the newly formed Surveillance and Intelligence brigade. 
This reinforces in me the belief that this particular 1-star command is going to become one of the most important components of the Army, bringing together a wide array of enablers. 

My guess is that 32 and 47 Regiments Royal Artillery, with their UAVs including Watchkeeper, will be part of this new brigade, along with the Military Intelligence battalions. Possibly, even 5 Regiment Royal Artillery (Surveillance and Target Acquisition) could move under this new command. 
Currently, 5 Regt is part of 1st Artillery Brigade along with 39 Regiment (GMLRS) and the UAVs regiments. 

I'm expecting the UAVs and possibly 5 Regt to move into the Surveillance Brigade, and as we know 39 Regiment is to disband. 1st Artillery Brigade will however receive, in my opinion, the 5 "Fires" regular regiments, with the exception of 7 Royal Horse Artillery and 29 Commando which will stay with 16 Air Assault and 3rd Commando brigades. 

In any case, 14 Regiment (EW) has received a good news in these last few days, with the announcement that the ROKE Resolve manpackable EW system has been accepted into Core budget and will live on after Afghanistan, where it has been introduced as UOR under Project SEER. 
The RESOLVE system can be used on the march, in the backpack of a soldier, or on the move when installed on a vehicle, or, of course, it can be used from a base or any stationary position, with the option of erecting it on top of a mast to gain better coverage. 
While the press releases do not talk of it, the selection of Resolve is almost certainly part of the LANDSEEKER programme for the renewal of the Electronic Warfare equipment of the Army and Royal Marines. 

Resolve will provide the Light, man-portable EW solution to the Royal Signals of 14 Regiment and to the Royal Marines of Y Squadron (EW), 30 Commando. 

Interestingly, the ROKE Resolve is being installed on the Marshal TRAKKAR Unmanned Ground Vehicle, which is being evaluated by the British Army as an Assisted Load Carriage platform for the Infantry. While the Army's priority is to procure a platform capable to carry north of 25 kg of load from each soldier in a Section, to keep the men light and agile and comfortable, a longer term aim is to have the UGV provide ISTAR and possibly even Fire Support. 
Good news for once, and lots of potential for future improvements to the armed forces.

Royal Engineers and Army 2020

As i had imagined and anticipated in the previous posts on Army 2020, all Field Army Engineer formations are being removed from the single brigades and grouped together under 8 Engineer Brigade, under Force Troops command.

"All capabilities have been retained, and in some case enhanced" is the official position. I hope "all" means "all" and not "most". My worries mainly relate to the M3 rigs (mothballed out to 2015 as the RE focuses on Afghanistan, and with their Regiment, 28th, now planned to disband as part of Army 2020) and the long-term retention of the precious, hard-won capability provided by Talisman in the route clearance role.  Unfortunately, for the moment there is no greater detail in the exact composition of the force elements.

The greater integration with the Territorial Army reserve personnel is a target, obviously, but the Royal Engineers are not meeting their current targets, and have recruitment and retention problems already now, and this, of course, does little to inspire confidence for the future. As of June 2012, the TA element of the Royal Engineers numbers 230 officers (70% manned) and 2230 other ranks (just 55% manned) with more than 600 undergoing training.

Army 2020 in detail

I'm finally able to provide much greater detail on the shape of the Army 2020 regular force, thanks to this internal Army 2020 briefing made by the Army, which beats in clarity and detail the brochure for the general public.
Even this new document does not answer all questions, but it does provide many valuable informations.

There is also an equally interesting introduction, which provides some hindsight into why the Army 2020 structure has been shaped this way. Interestingly, the Army's doctrinal and technological considerations are:

Separating the strategic from the tactical level and resetting the brigade and divisional levels of command accordingly.

Armoured infantry as the core capability on which manoeuvre is built with armour organized primarily for intimate support.

Institutionalizing the integration of ‘soft effect’ into manoeuvre.

Resetting the balance between precision and suppression fires.

De-centralized command and control with broadband connectivity to more points of presence.

Organizing for joint, inter-agency and multi-national integration.

An ‘end to end’ approach to logistic supply and distribution.

An ability to learn and adapt at a tempo that will retain our ‘edge’ against future threats.

The Defence Planning Assumptions remain the same of SDSR 2010 despite the regular manpower being further reduced from a planned 94.000 to 82.000:

The Army must be able to conduct simultaneously:

An enduring stabilisation operation at around brigade level (up to 6,500 personnel);
A single, non-enduring complex intervention (up to 2,000 personnel);
A single, non-enduring simple intervention (up to 1,000 personnel).

Or:

Three non-enduring operations if we are not already engaged in an enduring operation.

Or, at best effort:

A non-enduring intervention operation of up to three brigades within a divisional context.
 

Very important is the passage about reserves:

The Army 2020 proposition for the Army Reserve sees a fundamental change as it is fully integrated into the whole force. From the outset Reservists will be required to contribute routinely to military outputs – not simply in extremis – at every level from individual reinforcements to complete units depending on the nature of the task. This will include overseas engagement, UN commitments and domestic resilience tasks, as well as more accustomed roles such as supporting enduring commitments and intervention operations at larger scale.

The Army Reserve will provide, at lower readiness:

Specialist roles, such as medical, cyber, intelligence, languages, and stabilization;

Roles requiring less collective training to maintain readiness, such as sustainment (fuel, transport and distribution); light gun artillery and air defence; and certain aspects of combat engineering and counter-IED; Combat roles, principally for resilience and regeneration, but useable in formed elements on lower risk and less complex tasks, given adequate notice.

Reserve units will be partnered with Regular units for training and force generation purposes, which will enable combined training and links with local communities and local employers to aid recruitment of Reservists.

Individuals up to formed units will be integrated at readiness to deploy on operations as an integral part of any force. Key to this is ensuring that they are fully recruited and trained to the level required to maintain their currency and readiness.

Reaction forces are structured to deliver:

Reaction Forces. Comprising predominantly Regular units, brigades within the Reaction Forces will deliver the force elements to meet the Army’s contingent tasks. The core of the Reaction Forces will be an air assault brigade, three armoured infantry brigades and a logistic brigade, under the command of a deployable divisional headquarters. Reaction Forces will deliver the following force elements at required readiness:

o An air assault task force at very high readiness;
o A lead armoured infantry battlegroup and the headquarters of the lead armoured infantry brigade at very high readiness;
o The balance of the lead armoured infantry brigade at medium readiness to provide the first roulement of an enduring stabilization, along with the other armoured infantry brigades to provided the second and third roulements;
o At best effort, up to three brigades within a divisional context at lower readiness for a non-enduring intervention operation.


In the 18 months covered by the first 3 roulements, the 7 Adaptable Infantry Brigades would be prepared to deliver a single brigade-sized force capable to hold the terrain for the fourth roulement. They would again supply a brigade-sized formation for the fifth roulement, and then the Regular brigades would return on the field if the operation was not yet over by then, starting the cycle all over again.


Adaptable Forces will constitute a pool of Regular and Reserve units configured on a functional basis and commanded by the headquarters of seven infantry brigades, under an outward looking divisional headquarters (my interpretation of this imaginative description is that the HQ is geared to control operations abroad, but will only be deployable following augmentation). They will also be responsible through the inward looking Headquarters Support Command (newly created 2-star UK Support Command in Aldershot) for delivering command and control of homeland resilience and the Firm Base, including engagement with UK society, within their regional areas.

Adaptable Forces will not only deliver the Army’s standing tasks (i.e. Brunei, Cyprus, the Falklands and Public Duties), but also, at graduated readiness, the means to deliver a broad range of other tasks including:

o Overseas capacity building in support of Defence Engagement; involving training and developing indigenous armies in order to strengthen their nations and thereby help prevent future conflict.
o Military aid to homeland resilience; including provision of military aid to civil authorities in responding to natural disasters, industrial action and bespoke tasks such as the provision of venue security to the London 2012 Olympics.
o Follow-on forces for future enduring stabilization operations, based upon bespoke task organization. This will require units within the Adaptable Forces to maintain their core war-fighting capability and institutional readiness.

As Adaptable Forces will be held at lower readiness, the Army Reserve will form a core component, delivering structural mass and resilience for Regular units when they deploy through the provision of individuals and formed elements. 


Force Troops will be integral to Reaction and Adaptable Forces, providing them (and other Joint Forces) with specialist support. Units will train and sit at readiness simultaneously with the forces they are supporting, but will be based in functional groups (seven Force Troop brigades and a Security Assistance Group (SAG)) to maximise efficiency and sustainability. The SAG will focus on upstream engagement, with close links to the FCO, DFID and the Stabilisation Unit.

The seven brigades are 104 Logistic Brigade, 1st and 11 Signal Brigades, 1st Artillery Brigade, the Engineer Brigade (8th?), the new Surveillance and Intelligence brigade, 2nd Medical Brigade.   


The formations of the Reaction and Adaptable Forces (both Regular and Reserve) will be in a cycle of graduated readiness, trained for their prescribed tasks under an Operational Readiness Mechanism (ORM) still being refined. A study is apparently ongoing in Harmony Guidelines and deployment guidelines, and it is not so certain that at the end of things the Army will still work to the rule of the 5 (5 men in uniform are needed to be able to sustain constant deployment of one of them on rotation).
For sure, the ORM will be based on a 36 month cycle comprising:

Other Tasks Year. Units of the Reaction and Adaptable Forces, will conduct individual training, focusing on career courses, whilst also providing a pool of manpower to conduct experimentation and support training for other units within their own cycle.

Training Year. Units will conduct a series of simulation, procedural and field exercises within a context appropriate to either the Reaction or Adaptable Forces.

Contingency Year. Reaction Forces will continue to train to ensure that they maintain the skills required to deploy on contingent operations. Adaptable Forces units will deploy on standing commitments or be held at readiness for overseas engagement tasks.

In practice, a brigade will have a turn at readiness of a whole year. Tour lenght is still envisaged at 6 months, with the cycle of an enduring operations being made up by Reaction Bde, Reaction Bde, Reaction Bde, Adaptable Bde, Adaptable Bde, Reaction, Reaction, Reaction...

It has been indicated that Reserve personnel in future will be required to commit to the possibility of being deployed for 6 months (plus pre-deployement training times) in any 5-year period.

The Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) is staying as UK contribution to NATO and as an HQ for large scale multinational operations. It is the only 3-star HQ. 


The substantial manpower reduction and the just as ambitious expansion of the Reserve are to be achieved incrementally in the coming years:

The Regular Army has already undergone two tranches of redundancies to reduce manning to around 90,000 by 2015. The Defence Secretary has stated that two further tranches of redundancies will be required over the next five years to bring the Army’s Regular strength down to around 82,000 by 2020. Meanwhile, the Army Reserve is already recruiting to increase its manning to a trained strength of 30,000 by 2018 with a waypoint of 22,500 by 2015.

Lastly, the introductory documents comprises a warning about funding:

Delivery of Army 2020 depends upon a balanced, coherent and affordable equipment programme. The resources confirmed for land environment equipment in the latest planning round provide a base-line upon which to build. Delivery of an upgraded WARRIOR infantry fighting vehicle, a new family of specialist vehicles (SCOUT and variants to replace CVR(T)), a utility vehicle (to replace BULLDOG) and a life extension for CHALLENGER 2 will form the cornerstone of the land environment’s mounted close combat capability in the future. The confirmed investment in the helicopter fleet, in complex weapons, in modern communications and electronic countermeasures demonstrates a genuine commitment across a range of capabilities. However, funding has not been secured for all of the equipments that the Army will require in the future; in some areas it falls a long way short. Thus securing additional resources in the next budgetary cycle to deliver a number of unfunded core equipment projects and bring a significant proportion of the UOR equipments procured for recent operations into the core programme remains a high priority. CGS (supported by the Army Staff) will continue to be, closely engaged in this task. Modernisation of equipment held in the Reserves in already under way as part of the Army’s implementation of FR20; in future the Army Reserve will be equipped to a sufficient standard to undertake force preparation and generation as part of the integrated force.

The Royal Armoured Corps is being restructured to deliver the following force structure:

Three (regular) armoured regiments equipped (each) with 56 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks.

Three (regular) armoured cavalry regiments equipped with (FRES) Scout.

Three (regular) light cavalry regiments equipped with Jackal. The light cavalry regiments will each be partnered with a Yeomanry regiment from the reserve to deliver an integrated structure for operations and training.

The fourth Yeomanry regiment will provide replacement crews for armoured regiments.

The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (Public Role)


It is evident from the above that all 9 Regular Regiments are going to have a frontline role. Two are the questions:

1) How the "pairing" of regular and Yeomanry light cavalry affect the distribution of regiments among the 7 Adaptable brigades?
Personally, i'd have 6 brigades each with a Regular or Reserve light cavalry regiment, with the London-centered adaptable brigade being more of a container for light role infantry, including the battalions in their Public Role period, obviously. But this is a personal interpretation.

2) Is the Training and Demonstration role vanishing? So far, this role was met by A Sqn, 1st Royal Tank Regiment: how will it be met in future? My guess is that a regular squadron might be attached to the Yeomanry regiment in the Armour Crew Replacement role, but it is just my guess. For now, there is no detail on this particular aspect.



The Regular Component of the Royal Regiment of Artillery will reduce from fourteen to twelve regular regiments. The removal of 40 Regiment RA from the ORBAT had already been announced as part of the earlier cuts, when 19 Light Brigade itself (of which 40 was a part) was selected for disbandment.
The Army documents says:

Restructuring close support regiments with both AS90 and MLRS batteries leads to the removal of the Regimental Headquarters and two batteries from 39 Regiment RA from the ORBAT by Oct 15.

Details on the formal integration of the Reserve with affiliated regiments will follow. 

First of all, this confirms that GMLRS is safe and staying, and this already is reassuring.
Second, this passage, while not providing details, strongly suggests that there will be at least 3 Close Support Regiments (one per each reaction brigade) on AS90 batteries and, differently from earlier plans, a GMLRS battery each (was expected to be L118).
Numbers fit, as 39 Regiment had recently been expanded to 5 batteries to sustain enduring operations (one battery is constantly part of each Herrick tour), and the loss of 2 would leave just enough for the reaction brigades.  

The Royal Regiment of Artillery will provide the following capabilities:

Seven regular close support artillery regiments supported by a number of reserve artillery and MLRS regiments. (3 Regiments on AS90 and GMLRS, 7 RHA on L118 for 16 Air Assault Brigade, 29 Commando for the Royal Marines and 2 more regiments, either on AS90 and L118 or just on L118, i guess. There are two reserve batteries on GMLRS into 101(V) Regiment)

Two regular unmanned aerial systems regiments supported by a reserve capability (32, 47 Regiments, with the reserve regiment 104, if there are no changes, and there should not be).

One regular area air defence regiment (16 Regt).

One regular close air defence regiment supported by a reserve capability (12 Regiment supported by 106 Regiment, if there are no changes).

One regular surveillance and target acquisition regiment, supported by a reserve capability (5 Regiment, hopefully on 5 batteries, plus 2 or more batteries from 101(V) and Special Observation Patrols from the Honourable Artillery Company, barring changes and/or additions).

The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery. (Public role)



The restructured Regular component of the Corps of Royal Engineers will deliver:

Military engineering support to the Reaction and Adaptable Forces, thanks to five close support regiments, two of these will have reduced regular capability and will be integrated with a reserve capability, details of which to follow.
Three will be fully capable and obviously mainly meant to support the armored brigades.


24 Commando Engineer Regiment is being removed from the ORBAT, with the loss of regimental HQ and HQ&Sup Squadron. 59 Commando Engineer Squadron returns to its pre-2008 state of independent sqn.
24 Engineer Regiment had been meant to expand with a second regular squadron (56 Sqn), but this never actually happened. Some press reports that the Royal Marines had little voice in the decision, and their protests were pretty much ignored. There's no way to tell if this is true, but the message/lesson for the Navy is clear: make an effort, and finance a full size engineer element for 3rd Commando Brigade on your own.

23 Air Assault Engineer Regiment is staying as part of 16 Air Assault Brigade.

Two force support engineer regiments will meet the demands of the land and air environment theatre entry tasks.
It is not specified, but it is pretty much sure that 39 Regiment (Air Support) and 36 Regiment (General Support) are the two future Force Support Engineer regiments. Apparently, both regiments will have capabilities in the Land and Air Support domain. Hopefully, among their squadrons, Talisman and M3 rigs will find a new home for the future.  

Two integrated explosive ordnance disposal regiments (33 and 101).

One integrated geographic regiment (42 Regt).

Four regular works groups (plus one mainly made up of Reserves).



The Regular component of the Royal Corps of Signals will reduce by one regular regiment. The removal of 7 Signals Regiment from the ORBAT had already been announced from some time, along with the future loss of HQ 2nd Signals Brigade.
As widely and repeatedly announced on this blog, command support to the field force in future will be delivered through the creation of five Multi-Role Signal Regiments; these are generated by merging the current brigade signal squadrons into the Op ENTIRETY campaign signal regiments.

The command support regiments required in support of ARRC and the JRRF are re-structured to optimise their capability. (these are 22 Regt and 30 Regt, no idea how the "restructuring" will work though)

Specialist command support units supporting 16 Air Assault Brigade (Squadron) and UKSF (18 Regiment) are retained, as are the specialist technical capabilities of ECM(FP), level 3 support and communications infrastructure installation.

A total surprise is the reduction in size of 14 Regiment (Electronic Warfare) by one squadron. It has just been expanded by one squadron by literally weeks, and was supposed to be ringfenced...  

Regular capability for UK Resilience will be delivered by a single high readiness regular squadron.

The following Regular capabilities will be provided by the Royal Corps of Signals:

Five multi-role signals regiments.(1, 2, 3, 16, 21 Regts)

Two ARRC/JRRF signals regiments. (22 and 30 Regts)

One ECM (Force Protection) regiment. (10 Regiment)

One UKSF signals regiment. (18 Regt)

One information support signals regiment. (15 Regt)

One electronic warfare signals regiment. (14 Regt)

One air assault brigade signals squadron.



Regular Infantry capability in the new structure will consist of:

Six armoured infantry battalions equipped with Warrior.

Three heavy protected mobility battalions equipped with the new utility vehicle (FRES UV from mid 2020s, Mastiff in the interim).

Two air assault battalions.

Six light protected mobility battalions equipped with Foxhound. 

Fourteen light role battalions. There are 14 TA battalions. If each Infantry battalion (included those mounted in Foxhoud) are to be paired with a reserve battalion, we can expect the TA to increase by 6 infantry battalions, but this is all to be seen. 


Numbers are not an opinion. 2 Air Assault Regiments mean the sole 2 and 3 PARA. This seems to suggest that the announced move of 1st Royal Irish under the Prince of Wales' administrative division is the start of a reversion back to Light Role infantry.
Is 16 Air Assault being reduced to just 2 battalions...?

As for the 6 battalions mounted in Foxhound, it is absolutely clear that 300 vehicles will never be enough. Even before Afghan IEDs and wear and tear claim some of those deployed. New orders will be necessary.

Also, how will the Training Requirement be met? One battalion normally works as training and demonstration formation. 



The Army Air Corps will be reduced by one regular regiment. 1 and 9 Regt AAC will merge under one headquarters (1 Regt AAC) and re-locate to Yeovilton to form a large (3 squadrons?) regiment equipped with the new Wildcat helicopter not before Oct 15. The attack helicopter structure remains largely unchanged. The details of the Reserve component structure to follow.

The Regular component of Army Air Corps capability will consist of:

Two regular aviation regiments equipped with Apache. (3 and 4 Regts)

One large regular aviation regiment equipped with Wildcat. (1 Regt)

One regular manned aerial surveillance regiment. (5 Regt - flies on Islander and Defender light fixed wing airplanes)

2nd Regiment, as all training/school regiments, is curiously not mentioned. The Army has this weird habit of overlooking training formations in this kind of lists (it does not include 14 Regt Royal Artillery, for example, nor 11 Regt Royal Signals and so along).



The structure of the Royal Logistic Corps will be reduced by six regular regiments. It had already been announced that 8 Regiment RLC, 19 (CSS) Battalion and 24 Regiment RLC would be removed from the ORBAT.

Three close support logistic regiments and three theatre logistic regiments will support the reaction forces, resulting in 1 Logistic Support Regiment being removed from the ORBAT not before Apr 15, and 2 Logistic Support Regiment being removed from the ORBAT not before Oct 14.

23 Pioneer Regiment will also be removed from the ORBAT not before Oct 15.

Force logistic regiments will be a fusion of supply and transportation from point of entry to foxhole for the entire force. In order to mount, deploy and sustain future operations, approximately 20% of the logistic output will be delivered by the reserves. The increased reliance on the Reserve will see a restructuring of RLC reserve units, which will be paired with regular regiments across a number of RLC capabilities; details of which to follow.

The Regular component of the Royal Logistic Corps will deliver the following capabilities:

Three close support logistic regiments. (1, 2, 12 Regts)

Three theatre logistic regiments.  (7, 27 and [10 Queen's Own Royal Gurkha?]) 

Two force logistic regiments. (6, 9 Regts)

An air assault support regiment. (13 Regt)

One regular port and maritime regiment. (17 Regt)

One regular postal, courier and movement regiment. (29 Regt)

An explosive ordnance disposal regiment. (11 Regt)



Current regular and reserve structures in the Army Medical Service will remain largely unchanged, although recent operational experience will be incorporated in minor amendments to the establishment. The Army Medical Services will remain an integral part of the Defence Medical Services. The AMS will provide:

Three regular (22, 33, 34) and ten reserve field hospitals.

Six regular and three reserve medical regiments. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Regiments will be armored and clearly destined to the reaction brigades. 16 Medical Regiment is for the Air Assault brigade, leaving 4 and 5 Regts for the Adaptable forces.

Reserve medical evacuation and specialist staff capability.

One military working dogs regiment. (1 MWD)



The regular component of the REME structure will reduce by one battalion to seven regular battalions. 101 Force Support Battalion will be removed from the Regular Army ORBAT not before autumn 2015 and will transfer to the Reserve.

Details of the reserve component structure to follow and will be based on centralisation of 1st and 2nd line manpower under battalion structures providing a mixture of close and force support capability.

The Regular component of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers will provide the following capabilities:

Three regular armoured close support battalions.

Two regular close support battalions.

One regular force support battalion.

One regular air assault battalion. (7th Battalion, supports not just 16AA Brigade but the whole helicopter force)



As part of the drawdown from Germany the Royal Military Police will lose one regiment, 5 Regiment RMP, from the ORBAT.
The three remaining regiments will be re-organised, retaining integration with the reserves, and involving minor basing changes to better police the UK footprint. It will also re-organise its structures to integrate all Special Investigation Branch capability under one headquarters, increase the size of the Military Provost Service and create a specialist Support Operations group.

Royal Military Police will provide the following capabilities:

Three military police regiments. (1, 3, 4 Regts)

One special investigation branch regiment. (SIB Regt)

One specialist operations regiment. (Spec Ops Regt)

One military provost staff unit. (MPS)



The Intelligence Corps retains 3 regular battalions, but one of the "silent cuts" the army apparently doesn't even think it's worth reporting is that of the Military Intelligence Brigade as now present in the ORBAT. It is not specified by any official source for now, but as i've already written i think that the MI battalions will joint the UAVs into the "newly created" Surveillance and Intelligence brigade.

3 Military Intelligence Battalion (1, 2, 3)

Land Information Centre (LIC)

Defence Humint Unit (DHU)




The Special Forces remain unchanged, with the regular element comprising

22nd Special Air Service Regiment (22 SAS)

Special Forces Support Group (1 PARA) (SFSG)

Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR)




Previous Army 2020 articles:

http://ukarmedforcescommentary.blogspot.it/2012/07/army-announcement-not-all-questions-get.html
http://ukarmedforcescommentary.blogspot.it/2012/07/some-more-info-arrives.html

Source of the documents shown in this article: 

http://www.rfca-yorkshire.org.uk/News/Army-2020-Announcement-and-message-from-the-Chief-Executive-RFCA/438

Some more info arrives

The Army has released a new, brief pack of information:

The Army of 2020 will be an adaptable and integrated structure that is broken into two forces: a Reaction Force and an Adaptive Force that are both supported by Force Troops.

The Reaction Force will provide the lead Armoured Infantry Battle Group and the lead Airborne or Air Assault Force to provide a rapid reaction war fighting/deterrent capability.
It will consist of three Armoured Infantry Brigades and 16 Air Assault Brigade under the command of a divisional headquarters. Each Armoured Infantry Brigade will have three manoeuvre units: a type 56 tank regiment and two armoured infantry battalions. They will also have a heavily protected mobility infantry battalion, and an armoured cavalry regiment which will be able to task organise with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The Reaction Forces will also have 101 Logistic Brigade under their command for logistic support.

The Adaptable Force will be a pool of Regular and Reserve forces held at lower readiness. They will provide further capacity when required and be able to generate additional brigade-sized forces for enduring operations. However, more routinely these soldiers will carry out wider engagement overseas to help to build capacity in friendly nations’ armies, and fulfil the UK’s standing garrison tasks in Brunei, Cyprus and the Falkland Islands. In addition, these troops will be responsible for public duties and state ceremonial tasks.
Adaptable Forces will encompass seven Regular infantry brigades, paired with a Reserve unit, reporting to a divisional headquarters. How these paired forces will be deployed will depend on the operational requirement, but the Reserves could make up as much as 30 per cent of a deployed unit in an enduring operation, whereas simple operations could have the Reserves deployed as a complete battalion.

Like the Reaction Force, the Adaptable Force will have its own logistic support provided by 102 Logistic Brigade, which will be predominantly made up of Reserve troops.

Force Troops will support both of these forces. They will consist of an Artillery brigade with supplementary Fire Support Teams, and an Engineer Brigade that will integrate the Explosive Ordinance Disposal squadron in response to the improvised explosive device threat of the modern battlefield. It will also include the Medical Brigade, and 104 Logistic Support Brigade, which might take on the Joint Force Logistic Support role.
In addition, there will be two Signals brigades, one of which will include five multi-role signals regiments providing Information Communication Support, together with a newly created non-deployable Surveillance Brigade under a 1-star headquarters. Furthermore, there will be a newly created Security Assistance Group pulling together the soft effect capabilities of the Military Stabilisation Support Group, 15 Psychological Operations Group and potentially Media Operations Group.

"This is not something that will be delivered overnight, and indeed it is going to take till 2020 for it to be fully implemented," said Lieutenant General Nick Carter, "but the capabilities of the structure we have created is one that we have measured against the hardest threat we could have to fight in the future."

I'm proven right on 104 Logistic Brigade surviving the cut, as i wrote yesterday, and the 5 Theatre Support Signals Regiments are also a pretty official reality.
My guess is that the other Signals brigade will get the "specials", so 10, 14(EW), 15, 22 and 30 Regiments.

The Artillery brigade also seems to be heading in the path i expected it to go: it will probably contain the 5 Fires regiments. However, this new release makes me think that Fire Support Teams will be removed from the single Fires regiments and centralized on their own, and assigned for deployment each time. For the non-initiated, the Fire Support Teams are 6-man squads capable to direct Mortar, Artillery and Air Attacks against the enemy, and they are the british answer to the ANGLICO squads of the US Marines, which so impressed the british army during operations in Iraq in 2003.

The Engineer Brigade will take over the EOD force (squadron...? Weird term, and rather scary, but EOD capabilities shoud be ringfenced, so no worries) and, i believe, will actually centralize the 5 Engineer Regiments, which will be pulled away from the frontline brigades and assigned for deployment/training exercises.

The news release does not really make clear what the Surveillance Brigade is. The non-deployable attribute bugs me, but i actually think that none of the 1-Star Force Troops HQs will be deployable. The units within each brigade will be.
I stand by my guess that the Surveillance and Intelligence brigade will bring together Royal Artillery UAVs and Intelligence Battalions.


Interesting bit of information on the Security Assistance Group, too, which will bring together the Military Stabilization Support Group with the PsycOps group and the Media Operations Group.

The MSSG was formed on 1st April 2009, following 8 months of successful training and operations. Soon after its formation the Group provided vital support to Operation PANTHERS CLAW in Afghanistan, for which it was awarded the Firmin Sword of Peace.

The MSSG current establishment consists of 65 Regular staff drawn from across the three services, up to 60 individual augmentees and 115 reserves predominately from the TA, but also from the RAF Reserves. The Group operates from Its Headquarters at Gibraltar Barracks, Camberley and delivers training and doctrinal responsibilities out of Corunna Barracks – Ludgershall, Tidworth.

The Group answers to the task of Military Assistance to Stabilisation and Development (MASD) to ensure that the Armed Forces have the capability to support stabilisation and reconstruction efforts after war operations.
The new task formally recognised that the Armed Forces should plan and conduct operations to help stabilise and reconstruct in those locations where the security situation is too difficult to allow civilian agencies to work alone. MASD has three defined requirements: Military Assistance to Civil Effects (MACE), Military Capacity Building (MCB) and Cultural understanding and specialisation. MACE is the working term used to describe the tactical level military capability which assists civilians in the delivery of Civil Effect (CE).



The MSSG mission is to prepare and deliver MACE Planning Teams and functional specialists capable of providing stabilisation support to all deployed Formation and Battlegroup HQs in order to contribute to Permanent Joint Head Quarters (PJHQ) and Joint Task Force (JTF) operational capability.

It does make sense to bring together the MSSG and the Psyops and media group, it should better enable the british forces to interact with foreign populations both during peacekeeping and stabilization operations and during "upstream engagement" efforts during peacetime.


Reading on ARRSE forums, it also seems that RAC personnel was briefed about the 4 Territorial Army regiments being all re-roled to Light Cavalry, as i expected. 

I'm trying to get even more info, so stay tuned for further updates as they come! 

Army announcement: not all questions get an answer - UPDATE

The Army is to be reduced by 23 Regular units to meet the manpower and budget targets for the future. The changes are due to be implemented by 2015, with the overall mandate to reach the capacity of 82,000 for the Regular Army and 30,000 for the Reserves by 2018, meaning that the whole reduction process was speeded up even further since the reduction to 82.000 was first announced in July last year.

The announcement came today in the House of Commons by Secretary of State for Defence the Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP after months of work by the Army to create a modern force for the challenges of 2020 and beyond. The force structure is the brainchild of the Army 2020 team, leaded by General Nick Carter.


The complete list of the victims of the Army reform which will deliver Army 2020, as for today's long awaited announcement, is as follows:

Household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps
• The Queens Royal Lancers will amalgamate with 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) upon completion of scheduled operational commitments and not before October 2014.
• The 1st Royal Tank Regiment and the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment will merge upon completion of scheduled operational commitments and not before April 2014.

Royal Regiment of Artillery
• 39 Regiment Royal Artillery and 40 Regiment Royal Artillery will both be removed from the ORBAT by October 2015.

Corps of the Royal Engineer
• 24 Commando Engineer Regiment will be removed from the ORBAT not before April 2013.
• 25 Engineer Regiment and 28 Engineer Regiment will be removed from the ORBAT not before October 2015.
• 38 Engineer Regiment will be removed from the ORBAT.
• 67 Works Group will also be removed from the ORBAT not before April 2015.

Royal Corps of Signals
• 7th Signal Regiment (Allied Rapid Reaction Corps) is to be removed from the ORBAT.

Infantry
• 5th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland (The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders,) will be reduced to form a Public Duties Incremental Company on completion of current task and not before August 2013.
• 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers will be removed from the ORBAT and absorbed into the rest of The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers upon completion of scheduled operational commitments in the autumn of 2014.
• The 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howard's) will be removed from the ORBAT and absorbed into the rest of The Yorkshire Regiment on completion of their Cyprus tour and not before the Autumn of 2013.
• The 3rd Battalion the Mercian Regiment (Staffordshire) will be removed from the ORBAT and absorbed into the rest of The Mercian Regiment on completion of Op HERRICK 19 and not before October 2014.
• 2nd Battalion the Royal Welsh (The Royal Regiment of Wales) will be removed from the ORBAT and absorbed into the rest of The Royal Welsh Regiment not before Autumn 2013.
• 1st Battalion the Royal Irish Regiment will join the Prince of Wales’ Division.

Army Air Corps
• 1 Regiment Army Air Corps will merge with 9 Regiment Army Air Corps, bringing the Wildcat force under a single HQ based at Yeovilton not before October 2015.

Royal Logistic Corps (RLC)
• 1 Logistic Support Regiment will be removed from the ORBAT not before April 2015.
• 2 Logistic Support Regiment will be removed from the ORBAT not before October 2014.
• 23 Pioneer Regiment will be removed from the ORBAT not before October 2015.
• 8 Regiment, 19 Combat Service Support Battalion and 24 Regiment RLC will be removed from the ORBAT.

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineer
• 101 Force Support Battalion will be removed from the Regular Army ORBAT not before Autumn 2015, and will transfer to the Reserve.

Royal Military Police unit
• 5 Regiment Royal Military Police is to be removed from the ORBAT as part of the drawdown from Germany. The three remaining Regiments will be re-organised.
• All SIB capabilities will be reorganised under one headquarters, while the Military Provost Service will be increased, and a specialist Support Operations group will be created.

There were a couple of surprises in the announcement: first of all, the loss of 39 Royal Artillery regiment. This is the only Regular regiment equiped with GMLRS, and it is the regiment introducing Fire Shadow into service. 

It is not clear at the moment if the loss of the Regiment implies the loss of GMLRS as well. Obviously, i hope it doesn't. The SDSR names GMLRS as a capability that would stay, so perhaps it will move entirely into 101 Regiment TA, which is the GMLRS reserve unit, or be maintained with some other kind of arrangement.  

Dispelling some of the fears about "shared support elements" for the Reaction brigades, both 29 Commando Royal Artillery and 7 Royal Horse Artillery are staying. 

The survival of

• 1 RHA
• 3 RHA
• 4 Regt RA
• 19 Regt RA
• 26 Regt RA

is also promising: perhaps, as i hoped, the RA will be able to stand up the 5 combined AS90/L118 regiments as planned. 

The UAV regiments (32 and 47) are staying, and both air defence units (12 and 16) are safe. We do not know the structure of any regiment, though, so there might be changes we are not yet aware of. Surely, all regiments will get smaller.

Weirdly, 14 Regiment (Training), is not named as part of the cuts, but does not appear in the Army 2020 Brochure. Mistake? 

Same situation for 11 Regiment Royal Signals, 5 and 25 Regiment RLC, the training formations, which again are not mentioned. 

What does it mean? Aren't the Training regiments worth reporting as part of the force...? 

The other surprise is the loss of the only Pioneer regiment of the Army, 23 RLC. Apparently, judging from Army documents, all 3 Logistic Brigade HQs could survive in a form or another, differently from what was announced in news reports. The document contains a graphic that specifically names 101 and 102 Brigades, but also shows a further 1-star Logistic formation, which i guess could be 104 Bde. This third "Logistic Support Brigade" is shown as having a secondary role as Regional HQ for the South of England area, giving it control over the variety of units which will be based there.

Differently from what i thought, however, a few parts of 104 Bde are going to be lost. I thought this would not happen, since 104 Brigade is unique in its nature, but 23 Pioneer is nonetheless being disbanded. 24 Movement Control and Postal & Courier Regt will also be lost. Evidently their capability was assessed deliverable under other means (contractors or reserves). The other two Logistic Brigades (101 and 102) will stay for sure, 101 supporting the Reaction Division and 102 supporting the Adaptable force, according to the Army document.  

17 Port and Maritime Regiment, thankfully, is safe. 

8 Regiment, a Transport regiment based in Germany, will disband. The loss of 19 CSS Battalion is no surprise, as it was the supporting unit of 19 Light Brigade, which is itself disbanded. 

1st and 2nd Logistic Support Regiments will be gone. 1st Regiment used to be the Divisional logistic element of 1st UK Division, but its role currently is direct support to briga of 1st and 3rd Division, even if their effective role is direct support to brigades. 2nd Regiment is the support element of 7th Armoured Brigade. 

The Army 2020 brochure gives the future regimental structure of the RLC as: 

1 Close Support Logistic Regiment [isn't 1st Regiment being cut?] 

2 Close Support Logistic Regiment [isn't 2nd Regiment being cut?]

6 Force Logistic Regiment

9 Force Logistic Regiment

10 Gurkha Logistic Regiment

12 Close Support Logistic Regiment

13 Air Assault Support Regiment

27 Theatre Logistic Regiment

7 Theatre Logistic Regiment 

29 Poastal and Courier Regiment 

17 Port and Maritime Regiment

11 EOD Regiment

The Army Brochure is good under many aspects, but i've located a problem: despite being in the list of units being cut, 1st and 2nd RLC regiments are also listed into the future regimental structure of the RLC for Army 2020.   

What is the right story?    

My interpretation is that the Close Support Logistic Regiments would go to the 3 Armored Brigades of Reaction. 13 Air Assault Support is obviously for 16AA brigade. 

While 101 and 102 Logistic brigades would each have 1 Theatre and 1 Force Logistic regiments. 

But we'd need to know what actually happens to 1st and 2nd regiments, obviously. 

Another little mystery is that there is no mention anywhere of the Commando Logistic Regiment. The Regiment is a Royal Marines formation, so it should be safe, but it is not clear if the RLC will continue to contribute to it. Probably, it will.  

The Engineers are losing 25 Regiment: no surprise, it had already been announced: it is being merged with 39 Regiment as both are in the Air Support role. I've extensively reported of this change in previous posts. 

No surprise is the loss of 38 Regiment either, as it was part of the disbanded 19 Light Brigade. 

The loss of 28 Regiment General Support is a whole different story. It is a large Germany-based regiment which includes the only Amphibious squadron of the Army, equipped with the M3 rigs, which have been mothballed until 2015. 

Like with the GMLRS case, my hope is that the loss of the regiment does not imply the loss of the one unique capability it offered. 

The Army is also divesting the 24 Commando Engineer Regiment, unfortunately. This regiment was stood up in 2008, with around 340 men, with the aim of expanding to over 500 by adding, in time, a second regular squadron. 

This squadron (56 Sqn) always remained only on paper, so the regiment effectively has only 54 HQ & Support Squadron, 59 Commando Engineer Squadron and the 131 Commando Squadron (Volunteers) from the TA. 

Now the Army will re-downgrade, down to the sole 59 Squadron plus 131(V) Commando Sqn.

My suggestion is for the Navy to make an effort in the next few years and take directly over the matter, funding the expansion to regiment itself and asking the RE only for help in the training aspect. Making the formation wholly Royal Marines owned, if not entirely Royal Marines manned, is the only way to have control over what is done to it. 

36 General Support Regiment is staying. Until 2015 it will be maily roled in EOD Search and Assurrance, but after that, hopefully, it will be able to be used as a "container" for specialist capabilities, namely Talisman and M3 rigs. It is what i've been proposing all along: retain a single General Support Regiment as centre of excellence for those particular capabilities that aren't used as often as the others, but that are invaluable when the moment comes. 

21, 22, 26, 32 and 35 Engineer Regiments are all staying as well, thankfully. No doubt they'll have to be restructured and made somewhat smaller, but keeping them all is an excellent news. The rule of the 5, as i prayed, is being respected in almost all fields, to enable future enduring operations. 

Safe are also 33 and 101 EOD regiments, 42 (Geographic) Regiment and 4 out of 5 regular Works Groups (62, 63, 64, 66). The 5th Group (65) is a Territorial Army unit, which i think will definitely stay. These specialized Works Groups are invaluable, providing great and much needed services, and it is great to see them safe. 

On the Royal Signals, i seem to be proven consistently right: all brigades will lose their Signal squadron, save for 16 Air Assault. The Army document in fact gives the composition of the force in Army 2020 as: 

1, 2, 3, 16, 21 Regiments (which will likely become Theatre Support regiments as i explained in my post yesterday) 

10, 14 (Electronic Warfare), 15 (Information Support), 22 and 30 Regiments

16° Air Assault HQ and Signal Squadron 

No reason to mention a specific brigade squadron if all other Sqns were staying. This is a cut by stealth. Units vanish, without it being announced.

The Regular component of the Medical Service are interesting: 

1, 2, 3 Armoured Medical Regiments - quite an easy guess what they are meant to do.

4, 5 Medical Regiments - These and the Field Hospitals will be in the Medical brigade along with reserve regiments, i think

16 Medical Regiment (16 Air Assault Brigade) 

22, 33, 34 Field Hospitals 

1st Military Working Dog Regiment, Royal Army Veterinary Corps

The Army Air Corps cut i've long been expecting and i've widely announced it in more than a post. With Wildcat numbers being so low, there was no way to stand up 5 Squadrons. As 1st and 9th Regiments are merged as 1 Regiment AAC, their combined 5 squadrons will become 3, probably. There will be just 30 Wildcat RECCE helicopters, and 6 will go to 847 Naval Air Service for Commando duties. That leaves 24 for the 1st AAC regiment, very few airframes to work with. 

The base at Dishfort will most likely be closed as the regiment relocated to Yeovilton, where Navy and Army will operate the Wildcat squadrons in close collaboration.

Before we take a look at the Army structure, let me say one thing: i'm immensely relieved by the look of things as announced. Even with the wrong note of the reduction of Engineer capability for 3rd Commando Brigade, and even with the fears for GMLRS and M3 capability, i can no doubt say that the relief is immense. 

I'm still full of worries because we don't know the details, the structures and capabilities of the regiments, but the picture is infinitely less scary than it appeared from the press reports. The cuts have been made with some real common sense, overall, at battalion/regiment level. 

Now we have to see what the cost was in terms of sizes and capability of each surviving formation, but retaining, for example, 5 artillery regiments plus specialist elements, 5 Engineer regiments plus specialist elements, is exactly what had to be done. I'm much relieved by the Army 2020 document, honestly. 

Army Structure for 2020 

The Army structure envisaged is surprisingly rational. It is well shown by this graphic: 

So, there will be 2 Divisions, the Reaction and the Adaptable divisions, each with their own 2-star HQ, both of which will apparently be deployable, at least to some degree. The newly created UK Support Command will also stay, and provide Command and Control for internal tasks and Homeland resilience. Each Division will have a Logistic Brigade in support, and deploying forces will "feed" from the centralized Force Troops to obtain the necessary support elements. In addition, there is Joint Helicopter Command (a 2-star HQ) and the Military Police, on three regiments grouped under a 1-star command.

We do not yet know the accurate make up of the brigades making up Force Troops, but i've given my idea for how they could be organized in yesterday's post, and i think i was substantially correct in my analysis.

Note the presence of a "Logistic Support" 1-star formation among the Force Troops: i think that, differently from what appeared in news reports, all 3 brigade commands in the RLC are staying. I think this one formation would be 104 Bde and would include 17 Regiment Port and Maritime.

The current Military Intelligence brigade has instead vanished, replaced by the "Intelligence and Surveillance" command, which in my opinion will bring together the 3 Intelligence Battalions and the UAV and STA regiments of the Royal Artillery.

1st Artillery Brigade will be modified, in my opinion, to contain the five surviving Fires regiments, plus the 2 air defence ones.

The Medical Brigade will in my opinion contain 4 and 5 Regiment (Regular), the regular Field Hospitals and the Reserve medical formations, while 1, 2, 3 and 16 Medical Regiments will stay attached directly to the Reaction Brigades.  

The Engineers regiments could all be centralized in the Engineer brigade, save for the regiment of 16 Air Assault Brigade and 59 Commando Squadron.

The Security Assistance Group is likely to be the new army branch for "upstream engagement" with foreign countries, and will be "feed" personnel and units from within the Adaptable brigades.

The Armored Brigades of the Reaction Division are very, very interesting.

The Armored Brigade will pack quite a punch

 

A new kind of Tank Regiment is adopted, the Type 56, which will have one Command and Recce Squadron (including two Challenger 2 and 8(?) Fres Scout vehicles) plus 3 Sabre Squadrons on 18 Challenger 2 tanks each.

The Recce Regiment will also have 3 Sabre squadrons, on FRES SV in the future, with each squadron having 16 vehicles. My gut feeling is that 12 of these vehicles will be Scouts, but 4 will be FRES SV Protected Mobility Vehicles carrying teams of 8 dismounts. We'll see if i'm right. Incorporating a number of APCs to increase the number of dismounts has been very common in Recce regiments in modern days, so i think i'm likely right.

The two Armoured Infantry Battalions will be roughly the same as today's ones, on three rifle companies, each with 14 vehicles plus the maneouvre support coy.

The third infantry battalion in the force is shown mounted on Mastiff, with the future vehicle for them indicated in the FRES UV, which was confirmed as part of the Core Budget and which will (hopefully) enter service in the middle 2020s. Here is the confirmation that Mastiff will stay post-Afghanistan.

As i expected, there is no organic artillery or engineer formation: these will be sourced from Force Troops prior to deployment.

There is no information on the structure of the various Infantry Brigades, and we don't know if 16 Air Assault will drop down to 3 battalions or if 5 SCOTS battalion will be replaced into the brigade by another one. In any case, there will be 2.5  to 2.7 regular infantry battalions for each of the 7 Infantry Brigades. Most brigades will end up with 3, and some with 2, i'm guessing.

An unspecified number of Light Cavalry regiments (mounted on Jackal vehicles) will be part of the Adaptable Division. There is 4 TA armour regiments that could provide the basis for such formations, and there is no indication of how the Army will use the 4th Regular Tank regiment and 4th Regular Recce Regiment. They might be re-roled as Light Cavalry, even if my expectation is that the 4th Tank Regiment will serve as Training and Demonstration regiment (perhaps with one squadron, as has been done so far with A Sqn, 1RTR) and Crew Replacement Unit (with the other two squadrons, allowing the TA formations currently in this role to assume new roles). This is, however, only my personal view.

We are shown, however, a promising example of Brigade-sized formation sourced from the Adaptable Division: this formation is shown with a Regular Light Cavalry regiment (on three Sabre Squadrons with 16 Jackals each) paired with an equal regiment of Reserves. 

Similarly, there are 2 Regular infantry battalions, augmented by 2 Reserve battalions. One Regular and one Reserve infantry battalions are shown mounted in Foxhound protected vehicles.  

The Reserve will lose a "small" number of units because of merges, re-roling and restructuring, as the TA's structure is reorganized and its trained strength increased to 30.000. A number of Regional Brigades HQs are also going to vanish, but details on this part of the Army restructuring will only arrive later on, along with the updated Basing plan.

For now, there is only a map showing the notional geographic distribution of the major commands of the Army.

To the left, the new map relative to Army 2020. To the right, a map of the current Regional Brigades.

Assuming that the Army will want to make the fewest possible changes to save time and money, we can assume that the Irish 38 Brigade will stay, along with 51st (Scotland), 160 (Wales), 42 (North West), 15 (North East), 49 (East). However, the Army might well decide to save the badges of the 2 current regular brigades that will be "lost" as the thick of the regular component is concentrated in the 3 armored formations.

The London Based Brigade [South brigade?] might be given a whole new identity as the current regional brigade HQs based in Southern England, (145, 43, 2) are disbanded//merged. 11 Brigade, which was also re-formed in recent years for a tour in Afghanistan, might be a possible identity, or one of the three regional badges going will be used instead.  

143 Regional Brigade HQ is also likely to go, judging from the map at least.  

In conclusion

We do not have all the answers yet. Arguably, some new questions have come up, such as "what about GMLRS?", but we do have an indication of what's being done, finally, and it luckily is not nearly as bad as it risked being.

The day of doom has, fortunately, been less terrible than feared. Even though, of course, it won't feel this way to a lot of personnel in the Army who found out that their unit will be disbanded. They have my understanding: it's a shame that this has to happen, and i regret each and every redundancy and disbandment to come. 

But at least, for the Army itself, the picture is not one of total gloom as feared. The structure is almost identical to what i painted yesterday in my article.

Now we need to get some more detail over the composition of the Artillery and Engineer regiments that remain, and know more about the Force Troops, to make ourselves a real idea. 

And of course, for it to really work, we need the Reserves boost plan to be successful. And this is probably the biggest challenge of the Army 2020 plan.

Reserves boost 

From Philip Hammond's written statement of today, 5 July 2011: 

To achieve the redesign of the Army required by Army 2020 will require us to expand the volunteer Army Reserve to 30,000 trained strength and better to integrate the Regular and Reserve components of the future Army. Army 2020 has defined the Army Reserves’ role and we are establishing more predictable scales of commitment in the event that Reserves are committed to enduring operations.

In the past, the Reserve was essentially designed to supplement the Regular Army; in future, the Reserve will be a vital part of an integrated Army. The principle of greater integration was established in the Commission’s report and, based on their findings, our concept for Army Reserves sees them ready and able to deploy routinely at sub-unit level and in some cases as formed units. They will be trained, equipped and supported accordingly. Officers and soldiers will have command opportunities which have not always been available in the recent past.

The process of reshaping the Reserves for their future role has already begun: we are recruiting Reserves now for all three Services. The Army has started overseas Reserve training exercises at company level (26 this year, and increasing in number significantly by 2015); we are putting in place routine partnered training of Army Reserve and Regular units, including for operational deployments.

More equipment is arriving in the form of modern support vehicles, the Wolf Land
Rover and Bowman radios. We plan that, over time, the personal equipment of Reservists will be on a par with that used by Regulars. The greater reliance on the Reserve envisaged in Future Force 2020, and the additional £1.8Bn over 10 years that we have committed to the Reserves, ensures that Reservists will receive the kit and the training they need.

But in exchange we expect them to commit to specific amounts of training time and, for the Army in most cases, to accept a liability for up to 6 months deployed service, plus pre-deployment training, in a five year period, dependent on operational demand. There will be opportunities for shorter periods of deployed service commitment for those in some specialist roles.

The Navy’s Maritime Reserves will expand to a trained strength of 3,100 to deliver a greater range and depth of capability, within its well established and integrated model, to provide individual augmentees to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines in specialist and generalist roles. Key areas of growth will be in a range of command and communication, intelligence and surveillance disciplines, including cyber, support to the Fleet Air Arm and the exploitation of niche capabilities in the role of maritime security. The aim is to build Maritime Reserves that are fully integrated and able to provide the Naval Service with a range of flexible manpower, including greater access to civilian skills. The expansion will be supported by an infrastructure programme to provide modern
and efficient training facilities.

The Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF) provides resilience and strength in depth to the Royal Air Force contribution to Defence capability by providing individual augmentees to Regular Forces. It will grow to a trained strength of 1,800. The principal growth will be in the specialist areas of logistics, flight operations, medical, intelligence, media, RAF Police and cyber; individual augmentees will be trained to a sufficient standard to be fully integrated with the Regulars as part of the Whole Force Concept.

Five new Reserve Squadrons will be established:

No 502(Ulster) Squadron will form at JHC Station Aldergrove;

611(West Lancashire) Squadron will form in Liverpool;

614(West Glamorgan) Squadron will form in South Wales, most likely at RAF St Athan.

These squadrons will be general service support squadrons representing various trades and branches from within the RAF.

At RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, 2624(County of Oxford) Squadron will re-form in the force protection role and 622 Squadron will stand-up as the Reserve unit for aircrew augmenting the RAF’s air mobility force.

The Regular Component of the RAF Regiment is expected to shrink by 2 Field Squadrons come 2015, leaving 6 squadrons plus the Defence CBRN Wing (26 and 27 Squadrons).

Is is the end of even the name "Territorial Army"? Army Reserve seems to be the new term. Let's just hope it can be made to work.


As additional information, in the last few months the Territorial Army has seen some of its units re-subordinated to major regular HQs, in particular:

4 PARA (V)
2 Royal Irish (V)

have been re-surbodinated to Joint Helicopter Command, and now are the (integrated) reserve element of 16 Air Assault brigade.
In exchange the brigade might not be given a replacement 4th maneuver battalion when 5 Scots is downgraded to Public Duty company. It is not yet evident.

Honourable Artillery Company
101 (V) Royal Artillery
104 (V) Royal Artillery
106 (V) Royal Artillery

have moved under Theatre Troops, the command now apparently due to re-name as Force Troops. The HAC provides reinforcement patrols to Sphynx battery, Special Observation Posts.
101 (V) is the GMLRS reserve regiment (2 batteries) and also has 2 Surveillance and Target Acquisition (STA) batteries for supplementing 5 Regiment RA.
104 (V) is a drone reserve battalion, if the plan does not change it will support 32 and 47 RA in their Watchkeeper role.
106 (V) is a reserve Air Defence formation on both Rapier and Starstreak.

Also under Theatre Troops moved:

151 RLC (V)
155 RLC (V)
159 RLC (V)
Scottish Transport Regiment

Some of these units might be re-assigned or even re-roled in the coming years, though, as the new Army Reserve structure is rolled out.