“Rationalisations”
HQ 102 Logistic Brigade, 32nd Regiment Royal Artillery, 35 Engineer
Regiment, Headquarters 64 Works Group Royal Engineers, 2 Medical Regiment,
Headquarters 4th Regiment Royal Military Police, 33 Field Hospital and
104,105 and 106 Battalions of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
reserve will be rationalised, with all manpower in those units being redeployed
to other areas of the Army.
Armoured Infantry Brigades
The armoured
brigades of Army 2020 Refine will be 20th and 12th Brigades. 1st
Brigade will convert into a Strike Brigade.
The armoured
brigades will have two armoured infantry battalions and a tank regiment each.
The transfer of Ajax into the Strike Brigades apparently leaves the armoured
infantry brigades without a cavalry element, with an obvious negative impact on
the overall capability of the formations.
The loss of a tank
regiment (King’s Royal Hussars, to convert into a “Medium Armour” regiment
mounted on Ajax) is also a particularly negative development.
To this day it is
not clear whether anything will be done to expand the surviving tank regiments
and/or remedy somewhat to the loss of organic recce cavalry.
The heavy brigades
of the French army do not have a dedicate cavalry regiment for reconnaissance,
but they have two tank regiments and each formation includes a couple of
117-strong reconnaissance squadrons. The British Army might or might not
attempt a similar mitigation of the problem.
The MOD says that
the Challenger 2 LEP programme has a 700 million budget, which is, depending
from where you look at it, both small and gigantic, since on the other side of
the Channel, France is paying a third of that sum for a very substantial update
to as many as 225 Leclerc. The extent of LEP modifications isn’t clear yet, and
the MOD is of course not saying how many tanks will be life extended. Army 2020
downsized the active fleet to 227, and a further shrinkage seems assured.
At the same time,
the Army is giving vague hopes by dropping messages such as:
“The Army has conducted initial planning to understand how a further armoured or medium armoured regiment (equipped with Challenger 2 or Ajax) may be generated from both the Regular and Reserve component. This work will inform the final decision on the future Challenger 2 Life Extension Project fleet size.”
A number that has circulated is 160 to 170
tanks retained, one of the smallest fleets in the world. As for the LEP,
although everyone knows that the rifled gun and the powerpack are big
weaknesses, there are currently little hopes to see big changes.
Strike Brigades
The Strike Brigades will be 1st Brigade, converted from the armoured role, and a "new" brigade.
This year will see the Scots Guards and the Household Cavalry move into a "Strike Experimentation Group. In 2019 they will be joined by King's Royal Hussars and 4 SCOTS, and at that point the Group will become a brigade, picking a badge. To me, 4th Infantry Brigade, being based in Catterick, continues to seem the best positioned candidate, but it seems the deal is not quite sealed.
The planned structure of the two brigades is as follows:
Specialised Infantry Group
The newly formed Specialised Infantry Group will take command of 4 RIFLES and 1 SCOTS in April this year, to achieve an IOC hopefully by the autumn. The Specialised Infantry Battalions are expected to take a permanent regional focus. 4 RIFLES has been assigned to the Middle East.
1 SCOTS will move
from Belfast to Aldershot in 2019, to be co-located with the Specialised
Infantry Group and its other constituent units.
There is
uncertainty still about how large these “specialized” infantry units will be in
the end, with figures having given as 200, 270 or 300. There is much still to
do to actually build these units and their very peculiar role.
In 2019, two more battalions will
join the group: 2nd Battalion The
Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment (currently Light Role)
and 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment (currently
Light Role). The requirement for a fifth battalion hasn’t yet been ruled out.
Royal Armoured Corps
The Queen’s Royal Hussars and the
Royal Tank Regiment will continue to employ Challenger 2. As said before, there
is no telling at the moment if they will see any expansion to compensate
somewhat for the loss of a tank regiment and the absence of dedicate recce
cavalry in the armoured brigades.
The King’s Royal Hussars will
convert from Challenger 2 to Ajax during 2019 and are now expected to be the
first operational formation on the new vehicle. Their new role will be “Medium
Armour”, which the MOD describes by saying that “specific
tasks are expected to be similar to those conducted by Challenger 2, albeit
against a different threat”. They’ll have, in other words, to play tanks with
Scout vehicles.
This is one of the most extraordinary blunders of all times in British
Army history, and a spectacular example of utter confusion on the future of the
force, because a specific “Medium Armour” variant of FRES SV, then Scout, then
Ajax, used to exist. It was part of the requirement, and the base hull was
specifically given a very wide turret ring to support a variant armed with
large guns, up to 120mm smoothbore.
The Medium Armour Segment was however sacrificed to pursue a large
purchase of vehicles in Recce configuration and Recce support only. The
contract was signed in September 2014, and the vehicles aren’t even in
production yet, but already the army has managed to completely change the
requirement that shaped said contract, and now the Scout will be rammed into a
completely different role, for which it is ill suited. That the Army could,
from within, mess up its biggest contract in decades in about two years is the
demonstration that not all problems in the UK armed forces are due to
politicians. The services sure know how to create chaos in their own plans.
Four, rather than three, regiments will be mounted on Ajax: Household
Cavalry, King’s Royal Hussars, Royal Lancers and Royal Dragoon Guards. Two
regiments will be tasked with reconnaissance, and two with “Medium Armour”. One
between RL and RDG will join KRH in the Medium Armour role.
In theory, with Ajax not having entered production yet, as I said, it
would be possible to procure a true medium armour variant, which General
Dynamics is offering to the US Army for their Mobile Protected Firepower
requirement. However, there is no sign of willingness on the MOD part to try
and renegotiate the contracts and change the number of variants. In addition,
245 CTA 40mm guns have already been ordered for the Ajax programme.
In the land of dreams, a part of those guns would be directed to a turreted
MIV variant and a part of the Ajax vehicles would get the 120mm smoothbore, but
in the land of harsh reality MIV will have nothing more than a Protector RWS
and Ajax will be a Scout out of role.
 |
| FRES SV when it was a much larger programme. In 2013 it became evident that the Medium Armour and Manoeuvre Support segments had been abandoned, as well as Recce Block 3. Recce Block 1 and Block 2 were then merged together, and a Ground Based Surveillance sub-variant of Ajax added, to be purchased in very little numbers in the September 2014 contract. To this day it is not clear what kind of sensors the GBS will come equipped with. Curiously, both the GBS and Joint Fires sub-variants, once expected to be variant of the turretless APC variant (now known as ARES), are now sub-variants of the turreted Ajax. |
 |
| General Dynamics, and maybe the Army itself, continued for a while to hope that bridgelaying, ambulance and direct fire / Medium Armour variants of Ajax would one day follow. |
 |
| General Dynamics is now capitalizing on work done initially for the British Army to propose the Griffin, a medium tank with 120mm gun, on Ajax hull base, for the US Army's Mobile Protected Firepower requirement. |
Nothing has emerged about the remaining regiments, currently in the
Light Cavalry role with Jackal: Royal Scots Dragoon Guards; The Queen’s
Dragoon Guards and the Light Dragoons. They will probably stay more or less as they are, lost in those
six highly questionable, support-less infantry brigades that will be part of 1st
Division. However, there have been reports in the past of CBRN returning from the RAF Regiment entirely to the green army, while the future of the Protected Mobility fleets (from Foxhound to Mastiff) is still up in the air. Among possible outcomes, it cannot be ruled out that one regiment becomes a "protected mobility provider", driving Foxhounds and Ridgback and Mastiff in order to provide lift, mobility and protection to supported infantry formations.
Infantry
The introduction of
the Specialised Infantry capability will be accompanied by a restructuring of
the infantry divisional structure, within which infantry regiments are
administered, from seven to six divisions. The Scottish and The Prince of Wales’s Administrative
Divisions of Infantry will merge, incorporating The Royal Regiment of Scotland,
The Royal Welsh Regiment and The Royal Irish Regiment. This administrative
division will be called The Scottish, Welsh and Irish Division. The Mercian
Regiment from the Prince of Wales’s Division will join with the King’s
Division. Army administrative divisions of infantry are the groupings within
which the Army manages its infantry soldiers and officers to give them the
necessary broad spread of relevant career experience from across a number of
different units and activities. They have no operational role. There will be no
changes to the names or regimental construct of The Royal Regiment of Scotland,
The Mercian Regiment, The Royal Welsh Regiment, or The Royal Irish Regiment as
a result of these administrative changes.
1st Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment) will re-role from
Warrior-equipped Armoured Infantry to become a Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV)-equipped
battalion. The change is expected to happen in 2020 and will also see the
relocation of the battalion from Warminster to Catterick.
1st Battalion, The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment
will re-role from Warrior-equipped Armoured Infantry to become a Light Role infantry
battalion.
The MOD says that: “A2020 Refine force structure will
have sufficient Warrior platforms to field two armoured infantry brigades each
containing, amongst other capabilities, two armoured infantry battalions.
Should the Army require additional personnel capable of operating Warrior, they
would be trained as individual battle casualty replacements to be employed
within these battalions and might initially be drawn from their paired Reserve battalions. “
At the same time, the MOD refuses to provide numbers for the Warrior
Capability Sustainment Programme. 245 guns have been ordered for it, and 245
IFV and IFV-command variants are more or less what is needed to support the
four battalions planned, plus a margin for training and support.
The remaining uncertainty is almost certainly not on the number of “turreted
variants”, but on the number of the supporting variants: Repair, Recovery,
Artillery Observation Post, and, hopefully, Armoured Battlegroup Support
Vehicle.
The Warrior CSP programme is part of a wider “Armoured Infantry 2026”
programme, which should modernize the capability as a whole. Clearly, the
replacement of the FV432 in its sub-variants (command and communications, APC,
mortar carrier, ambulance) is necessary but the status of this workstream, as
always, is mysterious. The Army has allocated designations for an APC and an
Ambulance variant of the Warrior, however; the FV525 and FV526, in a
confirmation of what, for well over 12 years, has been the general direction of
travel for the Armoured Battlegroup Support Vehicle. Turretless conversions of
surplus Warrior hulls, in addition to the supporting variants of Ajax (Athena
and Argus, mostly), should eventually replace FV432 and CRV(T) vehicles
(Spartan, Sultan, Samaritan).
Considerable uncertainty surrounds the FV514 variant as well, the Artillery Observation Post. The Royal Artillery wants to transform the vehicle in a modern Joint Fires direction platform able to direct mortar, artillery and air attacks, and was experimenting for a suitable mission kit already back in 2010 and before. Funding and timelines, however, were up in the air: the Royal Artillery needs to find the money for its own specific upgrades and additions, and hopefully have them included in the final manufacture contract.
Considerable uncertainty surrounds the FV514 variant as well, the Artillery Observation Post. The Royal Artillery wants to transform the vehicle in a modern Joint Fires direction platform able to direct mortar, artillery and air attacks, and was experimenting for a suitable mission kit already back in 2010 and before. Funding and timelines, however, were up in the air: the Royal Artillery needs to find the money for its own specific upgrades and additions, and hopefully have them included in the final manufacture contract.
Warrior
CSP and ABSV are key elements of the future armoured infantry brigade, which
will only work if the programme is brought to a satisfactory conclusion.
FV510
Warrior Section Vehicle ----- FV520 after CSP
FV511
Warrior Infantry command ----- FV521
FV512
Warrior Repair ------ FV522
FV513
Warrior Recovery ------- FV523
FV514
Warrior Artillery Observation Post ------ FV524
FV515
Warrior Battery Command Post ------ no
longer employed
Conversion
of surplus hulls ------ FV525 Warrior Ambulance
Conversion
of surprlus hulls ------ FV526 Warrior
APC (and sub-variants such as mortar carrier)
 |
| 245 between FV520 and FV521 are expected. The FV514 has the turret as well, but the gun is a dummy. |
 |
| Warrior bridgelayer. It is tracked, but so is Ajax: can it be the Strike Brigade's close support gap crossing capability? FRES once called for several medium weight bridgelayers. |
 |
| From FV514 to FV524. One of the most complex and uncertain elements of Armoured Infantry 2026. But the ability to direct supporting fires from under armor is absolutely crucial. |
Light Protected Mobility battalions seem to entirely vanish from the
ORBAT, reverting to Light Role infantry. The future role and employment of
Foxhound has yet to be determined.
Light Role battalions will rebuild
the 3 rifle platoons they lost in the original Army 2020, thanks largely to
manpower released with the creation of the tiny Specialised Infantry
Battalions. The establishment for Light Role battalions grows from 561 (580 for
those currently on Foxhound) to around 630.
In connection to the “Better Defence
Estate” review, a good number of battalions will have to move to new bases over
the next decade and beyond.
Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers are
working on their own restructuring plan for Army 2020. What is already decided
is that 35 Engineer Regiment, on return from Germany, will re-role to EOD &
Search. As part of the process it will lose 29 Sqn, re-subordinated to 21 Engineer
Regiment; and 37 Squadron, which will go to 32 Engineer Regiment. This will
bring the future Strike Brigade engineer regiments up to strength. Currently,
as part of the earlier Army 2020, both 21 and 32 are severely understrength,
missing a whole regular sub-unit, although they control a reserve squadron
each.
At the moment they are under control of 12 Force Support Engineer Group, but they continue to support the brigades in the Adaptable Force.
The enlarged EOD & Search group will be reorganized, but details are still being worked out. However, the hybrid Regular – Reserve regiments created by the original Army 2020 plan are already coming to an end. The four reserve squadrons (217, 221, 350, 579) will re-subordinate under a newly formed Reserve regiment HQ, which will take the already existing 101 Regt title.
At the moment they are under control of 12 Force Support Engineer Group, but they continue to support the brigades in the Adaptable Force.
The enlarged EOD & Search group will be reorganized, but details are still being worked out. However, the hybrid Regular – Reserve regiments created by the original Army 2020 plan are already coming to an end. The four reserve squadrons (217, 221, 350, 579) will re-subordinate under a newly formed Reserve regiment HQ, which will take the already existing 101 Regt title.
35 Engineer Regiment will take the place of the current 101 and will
apparently be composed of regulars, not reserves as it initially appeared from
the announcement made by the secretary of state for defence. At the moment, the
EOD regiments are structured as follows:
33 EOD & Search Regiment
-
58
Field Sqn
-
821 Sqn (Very High Readiness, contains two PARA
and two Commando elements that support 16 Air Assault and 3 Commando Brigades)
-
217 Sqn (R)
-
350 Sqn (R)
101 EOD
& Search Regiment
-
22 Sp Sqn
-
17 Field Sqn
-
21 Field Sqn
-
221 Field Sqn (R)
-
579 Field Sqn (R)
 |
| 29 EOD & Search Group as of now. 35 Regiment coming in and all reserve EOD going into a new 101 (Reserve) Regt. |
The
transfer of the Reserve squadrons will, I assume, be compensated by increasing
the regular component. 35 Regiment currently includes, in addition to the
already mentioned squadrons headed for re-subordination, 44 HQ & Sp Sqn and
77 Armoured Engineer Squadrons, and their fate hasn’t yet been detailed: they
might convert to an EOD role.
While
waiting for details to emerge, my comment to this restructuring is that the
Strike Brigades, if they are to be anywhere near as independent and highly
mobile as Carter seems to expect, will need greater availability of crucial
Route Proving and Clearance capabilities, because mines and EODs are not going
away.
This EOD
restructuring might be connected to this need. If this is the case, 20
Squadron, currently part of 36 Engineer Regiment, Force Support, and in charge
of the TALISMAN equipment and Route Proving & Clearance know-how, might be
involved in the reshuffle. If it depended on me, I would want a TALISMAN squadron
for each Strike Brigade.
Growth is expected in Wide Wet Gap Crossing, which might be a way to say that some regulars will get back in the M3 rig business, after it was offloaded to 75 Engineer Regiment (Reserve) in the earlier version of Army 2020. Another effect of the "return to East Europe"?
Again, no details have been released yet.
Another requirement that the Strike Brigades re-introduce is one that
was once part of FRES: the need for a medium weight close support gap crossing
capability. TITAN is tracked and Challenger-sized, so is obviously not an
option, while REBS and ABLE are too vulnerable on their current truck bases.
Will a MIV, Ajax or perhaps Warrior-based bridgelayer emerge? The Warrior
bridgelayer has already been demonstrated to the army, but did not receive
funding. This is one of the areas in which 21 and 32 Engineer regiment will
have to try and find solutions.
Works Groups will also face yet a new reorganization as HQ 64 Works Group disbands.
 |
| 170 Engineer Group, the changes it was undergoing as part of Army 2020. Now it will have to reorganize again as 64 Works Group disbands and Better Defence Estate measures hit home. |
Royal Engineer Reserve units will be realigned to better support the new
structure and new aims. An unknown number of reserve squadrons will be
aligned, for the first time, with the Heavy Armour regiments. At the moment,
however, the Royal Engineers have very little in the way of reserve field
squadrons: 131 supporting the Commando regiment; 299 supporting the PARA
regiment; 103 and 106 in the Field Army. 71 Engineer Regiment is part of Force
Supports (Air) and 75 Regiment is currently in the Wide Wet Gap Crossing and
Land Force support role, so there aren’t many squadrons to re-role or move
around unless new ones are formed or the reserve regiments get re-focused.
Royal Artillery
The Royal Artillery of Army 2020 Refine will have:
2 “Heavy” Close Support regiments on AS90: 1 Royal Horse Artillery and
19 Royal Artillery. Their structure is planned as follows:
- HQ Battery
- 3x AS90 batteries of six guns; 3 Fire Support Teams and 1 Tactical Air
Control Party. Each FST will include 1 JTAC.
The current Tac Group batteries will be re-absorbed and the manpower
used elsewhere.
1 Royal Horse Artillery will leave Tidworth for Larkhill in the Easter
period of 2019.
2 “STRIKE” Close Support regiments, initially with L118 and then with a
future Medium Wheeled Gun. 3 Royal Horse Artillery and 4 Royal Artillery. Their
structure includes:
-
HQ Battery
-
2x Gun batteries of six guns; 3
Fire Support Teams with 2 JTAC each; and 1 TACP.
-
3x Tac Group Batteries with 3
FSTs each, including 2 JTACs each, and 1 TACP
The Reserve gunners in support will be expected to man a third battery
of six guns and an expanded echelon during operations. Probably each regular
regiment will continue to be paired to a reserve regiment (103. 105, 104).
4 Royal Artillery will joint 3 RHA in Newcastle during 2026.
1 “Division Fires” regiment, obtained by removing AS90 from 26 Royal
Artillery in exchange for a re-centralization of GMLRS and Exactor. 26 Regiment
will have 3 batteries of GMLRS each, plus two Exactor batteries. This replaces
the earlier Army 2020 de-centralization that had attached one Precision Fires
battery of GMLRS and Exactor to each of 19 RA, 26 RA and 1 RHA regiments. I
assume the regiment will employ 18 GMLRS in batteries of 6.
The regiment will be paired with 101 RA, in the Reserve, also on GMLRS,
but with a smaller manpower count than currently. The structure should remain
on HQ plus four batteries, however.
26 Royal Artillery will arrive in Larkhill from Gutersloh during 2019.
32 Royal Artillery will have 1 HQ Battery and 4 Batteries of Desert Hawk
III mini UAS, but, and it was one of the most surprising decisions of Army 2020
Refine for me, the regiment has no future beyond 2021, the expected Out of
Service Date for DH III. There will no longer be a dedicate UAS regiment, and
currently the plans for the replacement of DH III in the Find role at Battlegroup
and Brigade level are completely up in the air.
The current infrastructure used by 32 RA will be taken over by 5 Royal
Artillery, which will so be able to move out of Catterick in favor of Larkhill.
It seems unthinkable that in 2021 the Army will want to be without a mini-UAS for battlegroup level FIND functions. The Royal Marines were trying to kick start a Desert Hawk III replacement already last year, and while that failed to progress due to lack of money, new attempts can be expected as time progresses.
Could the mini-UAS mission end up in the Cavalry, as part of reconnaissance tasking?
47 Royal Artillery will continue its Watchkeeper build-up to deliver 1
HQ Battery and 4 UAV batteries.
5 Royal Artillery will deliver an HQ Battery, a “General Support”
Surveillance and Target Acquisition bty, 3 Close Support STA batteries and 4/73
Sphinx special observation post battery. This is more or less today’s
composition, but one battery today (53 Louisburg Bty) is aligned with 16 Air
Assault brigade, while Refine seems to do away with that in favor of a “Divisional”
approach with a battery in the General Service role.
The Honorable Artillery Company, in the reserve, will provide support
with three surveillance squadrons and it will also continue to provide an Air
Assault gun group in support of 7 Royal Horse Artillery.
7 Royal Horse Artillery and 29 Commando are not formally touched by Army
2020 Refine and remain “unchanged”. In reality, the structure of the latter is
under pressure and the loss of an artillery battery cannot be ruled out, amid
uncertainty that lasts since the SDSR 2010. 29 Commando is also in search of a
new base as part of the Better Defence Estate review, that decided to sell
their current home but hasn’t yet shaped an actual plan for providing new
infrastructure.
Bittersweet news come from the air defence regiments: 12 Regiment and 16
Regiment will return to be fully independent and deployable regiments by
splitting the currently shared Support Battery (42 Alem Hamza Bty). However,
one Stormer HVM battery in 12 Regiment will convert to LML.
12 Regiment will have 2 Stormer HVM batteries, one for each armoured
brigade, and 3 LML batteries, presumably one for each Strike Brigade plus 12
Bty in the Air Assault role that it already covers in support of 16 AA Brigade.
16 Regiment will have 1 HQ Bty, 49 Inkerman Bty with LEAPP and 4
batteries with Rapier (then Land Ceptor) and the new Sky Sabre air defence C4Inode.
The precise role and composition of 106 Royal Artillery, the reserve Air
Defence regiment, has yet to be determined.
Royal Logistic Corps and REME
The
Strike Brigades will, for whatever reason, be supported by a "super"
CSS regiment formed by merging one RLC and one REME battalions.
One such regiment will be formed by 2 REME and 27 RLC. 2 REME will become part of a regiment in combination with 27 RLC in 2021, but it'll be 2030 before the REME element leaves Leuchars to join the rest of the unit in Catterick.
The other CSS regiment will be born out of 1 RLC and 1 REME. The ministerial statements names both units as parts of the 1st Strike Brigade but fails to mention the merging.
The merging of RLC and REME does not seem to extend to the rest of the Army. Support to the armoured brigades seem set to stay "in traditional format".
7 RLC and 6 RLC will transit into 101 Logistic Brigade, presumably to become Force Support elements for 3rd UK Division:
7 Regt RLC will remain in Cottesmore until 2029, when it is due to move to Topcliffe. The Regt will come under command of 101 Log Bde in 2019. The detailed structure and role are still being worked on.
One such regiment will be formed by 2 REME and 27 RLC. 2 REME will become part of a regiment in combination with 27 RLC in 2021, but it'll be 2030 before the REME element leaves Leuchars to join the rest of the unit in Catterick.
The other CSS regiment will be born out of 1 RLC and 1 REME. The ministerial statements names both units as parts of the 1st Strike Brigade but fails to mention the merging.
The merging of RLC and REME does not seem to extend to the rest of the Army. Support to the armoured brigades seem set to stay "in traditional format".
7 RLC and 6 RLC will transit into 101 Logistic Brigade, presumably to become Force Support elements for 3rd UK Division:
7 Regt RLC will remain in Cottesmore until 2029, when it is due to move to Topcliffe. The Regt will come under command of 101 Log Bde in 2019. The detailed structure and role are still being worked on.
6
Regt RLC will also come under command of 101 Log Bde in 2019. The Regt will
remain in Dishforth until 2030 when it will move to Topcliffe along with 7 Regt
RLC.
I've seen suggestions that 9 RLC will move to 104 Logistic Brigade instead, but i have no way to confirm this as of now. Much has yet to be announced.
Army Reserve
According to MOD written evidence, changes to
reservist roles include the following:
- Reserves will be paired for the
first time with the Armoured Infantry (Warrior)
- Reserves will be paired for the
first time with the Armoured Artillery (AS90)
- Reserves will re-role to support the
Armoured Engineers.
- The Royal Electrical and Mechanical
Engineers will re-role to form an Off Platform Repair Battalion. This will
provide essential capability to the Army and will be vital for the deployment
of the Division.
- Removing Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) from the Reserve Artillery and
re-rolling 104 Regt RA to light gun.
The new Reserve organization has yet to be announced in full, but 7
RIFLES has been paired with 5 RIFLES, which is an Armoured Infantry battalion.
5 FUSILIERS is being paired with its parent battalion, 1st FUSILIERS, also in the Armoured Infantry role.
Other pairing changes are to be expected. The artillery regiment to pair with the AS90 formations has yet to be chosen.
5 FUSILIERS is being paired with its parent battalion, 1st FUSILIERS, also in the Armoured Infantry role.
Other pairing changes are to be expected. The artillery regiment to pair with the AS90 formations has yet to be chosen.
The infantry component of the Reserve undergoes the changes detailed below:
The Royal Wessex Yeomanry, the reserve tank regiment, is being expanded
with an extra crew in each tank troop and has seen its role expanded: it now
supplies both Armoured Reinforcements and Armoured Replacements.
105 Battalion REME will change its name to 101 Theatre Support Battalion
in 2019 (the name 105 will cease to be used, as will 104 and 106). It’s new
role will be to support 5 Theatre Support Battalion REME in the regeneration of
theatre-level equipment during a time of war.
It will consist of Bn HQ and four sub-unit locations as follows:
· HQ 101 Bn REME will be in KEYNSHAM
· Sub unit 1: BRIDGEND & GLOUCESTER
· Sub-unit 2: SWINDON & BRISTOL
· Sub-unit 3: LIVERPOOL & BELFAST
· Sub-unit 4: TELFORD & WEST BROMWICH
· Sub unit 1: BRIDGEND & GLOUCESTER
· Sub-unit 2: SWINDON & BRISTOL
· Sub-unit 3: LIVERPOOL & BELFAST
· Sub-unit 4: TELFORD & WEST BROMWICH
