Royal Armoured Corps

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Royal Armoured Corps
Royal20Armd20Corps.gif
Badge of the Royal Armoured Corps
Active1939 – present
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Branch Flag of the British Army.svg British Army
Type Armoured corps
Role Armoured warfare
CBRN defense
Reconnaissance
Size13 Regiments
Garrison/HQ Bovington Garrison
Vehicles Challenger 2, FV107 Scimitar, Ajax
Website www.army.mod.uk/who-we-are/corps-regiments-and-units/royal-armoured-corps/ OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Commanders
Colonel CommandantMaj-Gen Nicholas C. L. Perry, DSO, MBE [1]
Insignia
AbbreviationRAC

The Royal Armoured Corps is the armoured arm of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 and the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle. It includes most of the Army's armoured regiments, both the Royal Tank Regiment and those converted from old horse cavalry regiments. [2] Today it comprises twelve regiments, eight regular and four Army Reserve. Although the Household Cavalry Regiment (the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals) provide an armoured regiment, they are not part of the RAC. [3]

Contents

History

The RAC was created on 4 April 1939, just before World War II started, by combining regiments from the cavalry of the line which had mechanised with the Royal Tank Corps (renamed Royal Tank Regiment). [4] As the war went on and other regular cavalry and Territorial Army Yeomanry units became mechanised, the corps was enlarged. [5] A significant number of infantry battalions also converted to the armoured role as RAC regiments. [6] In addition, the RAC created its own training and support regiments. Finally, in 1944, the RAC absorbed the regiments of the Reconnaissance Corps. [2]

Present day

Recruiting areas of the regular army regiments Royal Armoured Corps (UK) Recruiting areas.png
Recruiting areas of the regular army regiments

Regiments

The Royal Armoured Corps is divided into regiments which operate main battle tanks (Armour), those in reconnaissance vehicles (Armoured Cavalry), and those in Weapons Mount vehicles (Light Cavalry). Of these, three regiments are designated Dragoon Guards, two as Hussars, one as Lancers and one as Dragoons. The remaining regiment is the Royal Tank Regiment. In the regular army, there are three armoured regiments, three armoured cavalry regiments and three light cavalry regiments. In the army reserve, there is one armoured regiment and three light cavalry regiments. [7]

Being a corps, the RAC is made up of several independent regiments, but the corps does control a few separate units which include:

A Royal Tank Regiment CBRN reconnaissance and survey squadron forms part of 28 Engineer Regiment (C-CBRN), Royal Engineers [9]

A system of pairing exists in the British Army of Regular to Reserve unit. Through this, operational and training cycles are aligned, resources shared and strategic depth enabled. In the Royal Armoured Corps this manifests with each yeomanry unit being paired with a regular unit of the same role.

Regular ArmyArmy Reserve
1st The Queen's Dragoon GuardsRoyal Yeomanry
Royal Scots Dragoon GuardsScottish & North Irish Yeomanry
The Light DragoonsQueen's Own Yeomanry
King's Royal HussarsRoyal Wessex Yeomanry [note 1]
Queen's Royal Hussars
Royal Tank Regiment

Basing

Band

The Band of the Royal Armoured Corps was the single band representing the RAC provided by of the Royal Corps of Army Music. This was formed in 2014 by the amalgamation of the Heavy Cavalry and Cambrai Band, and the Light Cavalry Band. The Band of the Royal Armoured Corps is stationed at Catterick. However, as part of the 2019 reorganisation of the CAMUS, the band was merged into British Army Band Catterick. [10] [11]

Reorganisations

Delivering Security in a Changing World (2004)

The reorganisation of the Army announced in 2004 led to significant changes to the Royal Armoured Corps. Reorganisation that began in 2003 would see three armoured regiments removed from Germany to the UK, with one re-roled as an FR regiment. In addition, three Challenger 2 squadrons will be converted to Interim Medium Armour Squadrons, while each FR regiment will gain a Command and Support Squadron. [12]

As part of the reorganisation, postings will be realigned:

Strategic Defence and Security Review (2010)/Army 2020

In 2012, following the Strategic Defence and Security Review of 2010, specific proposals about the make up of the future British Army were announced under the title Army 2020 . These proposals were intended to reduce the size of the army to around 82,000. The Royal Armoured Corps was to be reduced by a total of two regiments, with the 9th/12th Royal Lancers amalgamated with the Queen's Royal Lancers to form a single lancer regiment, the Royal Lancers, and the 1st and 2nd Royal Tank Regiments joined to form a single Royal Tank Regiment.

The Royal Armoured Corps will also see a shift with one third of its regiments operating as armoured regiments with main battle tanks, another third as formation reconnaissance regiments and a final third as light cavalry using Jackal vehicles. [13] Armoured regiments would consist of Type 56 regiments, each with three Sabre Squadrons (comprising 18 Challenger 2 Tanks each) and a command and recce squadron. Armoured Cavalry or formation reconnaissance regiments would also have a command and recce squadron and three Sabre Squadrons; which will initially be equipped with Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked), and then with Future Rapid Effect System Scout vehicles. [14] [15] Jackal regiments will be part of the Adaptable Force, comprising three Sabre Squadrons (each with 16 vehicles). These regiments will be paired with a Yeomanry regiment. [15] [16]

The new structure of the Reaction Force will see three armoured regiments, each assigned to a new "Armoured Infantry Brigade", alongside a formation reconnaissance regiment (renamed as "armoured cavalry"), two armoured infantry battalions and a heavy protected mobility battalion. These six regiments will fall operationally under what will become known as the "reaction forces", which will be the army's high readiness force. The remaining three regiments will be located with the remainder of the regular army under what has been term the "adaptable forces", which will provide a pool of resources to back up operations conducted by the "reaction forces".

This new basing plan on 5 March 2013 gave an overview of where the regiments will be based. [17] All RAC regiments will be UK based, with the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards moving to Swanton Morley, The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards moving to the Leuchars area, the Queen's Royal Hussars to Tidworth, the Royal Lancers settling in Catterick, the Light Dragoons in Catterick, and the Royal Tank Regiment to Tidworth. The expected Army 2020 layout for the RAC is to be: [18]

Armoured Regiment
(Challenger 2)
Armoured Cavalry
(Scimitar)
Light Cavalry
(Jackal)
Light Cavalry – Army Reserve
(Jackal) [19]
1st Armoured Infantry Brigade 7th Infantry Brigade
The King's Royal Hussars The Royal Lancers
(Queen Elizabeth's Own)

The Royal Dragoon Guards

Queen's Dragoon Guards The Royal Yeomanry
12th Armoured Infantry Brigade 4th Infantry Brigade
The Royal Tank Regiment The Light Dragoons The Queen's Own Yeomanry
20th Armoured Infantry Brigade 51st Infantry Brigade
The Queen's Royal Hussars
(Queen's Own and Royal Irish)
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
(Carabiniers and Greys)
The Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry
The Royal Wessex Yeomanry
(MBT crew replacement, admin only)

Future Soldier (2021)

In November 2021, the UK Government published Future Soldier , the planned reform of the British Army following its integrated defence and security review. Part of this would see a reorganisation of the regiments of the Royal Armoured Corps.

1st (United Kingdom) Division

1st (UK) Division is planned as the UK's primary land element for operations outside the European theatre, as well as operations supporting NATO's flanks. It consists of four infantry-centered brigades - two of these will contain regular light cavalry regiments, while a third serves as a parent formation for units of the Army Reserve.

3rd (United Kingdom) Division

3rd (UK) Division is planned as the UK's main reaction force, intended to act as a lead formation alongside NATO, and primarily consists of a pair of armoured brigades containing the army's armoured and armoured cavalry units, and a third brigade containing the remainder of the army's armoured cavalry units tasked primarily with reconnaissance.

Order of precedence

Preceded by Order of Precedence Succeeded by

This unit is allied with the following:

Colonels Commandant (Cavalry)

Colonels Commandant were: [20]

Notes

  1. The Royal Wessex Yeomanry provides replacement soldiers for armoured regiments, and therefore is paired with all three regular army units operating main battle tanks
  2. 1 2 3 Reserve regiment providing reinforcements to light cavalry units.
  3. 1 2 3 Regiment equipped with main battle tanks.
  4. Reserve regiment providing reinforcements to armoured units.
  5. The Household Cavalry Regiment is one of two operational regiments formed of squadrons of the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals; these are units of the Household Cavalry, which is a separate administrative formation from the Royal Armoured Corps.

Related Research Articles

Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Yeomanry</span> British Army reserve regiment

The Royal Yeomanry (RY) is the senior reserve cavalry regiment of the British Army. Equipped with Supacat Jackal variants, their role is to conduct mounted and dismounted formation reconnaissance. The Regimental Headquarters is located in Leicester, with squadrons in Fulham, Nottingham, Dudley, Croydon, Telford, and Leicester. The regiment is part of the Royal Armoured Corps and is only reserve cavalry regiment to resubordinate into regular brigade as part of the Future Soldier Programme, which in turn arose from the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy published in March 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Light Dragoons</span> Military unit

The Light Dragoons (LD) is a cavalry regiment in the British Army. The regiment has a light cavalry role and specialises in mounted and dismounted reconnaissance. The Light Dragoons recruit mainly in Northern England, from County Durham, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, South Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire. For this reason, the regiment is known as "England's Northern Cavalry". It is currently based in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.

The Formation Reconnaissance Regiment is a fighting unit provided by the Royal Armoured Corps or Household Cavalry. Previously it was known as a Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment.

The British Army is listed according to an order of precedence for the purposes of parading. This is the order in which the various corps of the army parade, from right to left, with the unit at the extreme right being highest. Under ordinary circumstances, the Household Cavalry parades at the extreme right of the line. Militia and Army Reserve units take precedence after Regular units with the exception of The Honourable Artillery Company and The Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">10th Armoured Division (United Kingdom)</span> WW2 British Army formation

The 10th Armoured Division was an armoured formation of division-size of the British Army, raised during the Second World War and was active from 1941–1944 and after the war from 1956–1957. It was formed from the 1st Cavalry Division, a 1st Line Yeomanry unit of the Territorial Army (TA) which had previously been serving in Palestine. The division was converted from cavalry to armour and redesignated from 1 August 1941.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armoured cavalry</span> Military with armoured vehicles

Armoured cavalry are military units using armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) instead of horses. They began to replace horse cavalry in the heavy shock and the light reconnaissance, skirmishing and exploitation/pursuit roles in most armies commencing after the First World War. In that succeeding capacity, the obsolete name "cavalry" was retained.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cavalry regiments of the British Army</span>

There are 13 cavalry Regiments of the British Army each with its own unique cap badge, regimental traditions, and history. Of the currently nine regular cavalry regiments, two serve as armoured regiments, three as armoured cavalry regiments, three as light cavalry, and one as a mounted ceremonial regiment. There are also four yeomanry regiments of the Army Reserve, of these, three serve as light cavalry and one as an armoured regiment. Each yeomanry light cavalry unit has been paired with a regular unit of the same role, the armoured yeomanry unit is paired with the two regular armoured units. All except the Household Cavalry are part of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps.

The 4th Cavalry Brigade was a cavalry brigade of the British Army. It served in the Napoleonic Wars, in the First World War on the Western Front where it was initially assigned to The Cavalry Division before spending most of the war with the 2nd Cavalry Division, and with the 1st Cavalry Division during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons</span> Yeomanry regiment of the British Army (1794–1956)

The Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1794 to 1956. It was formed as a volunteer cavalry force in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Its volunteer companies played an active role with the Imperial Yeomanry in the Second Boer War, but opportunities for mounted action were much more restricted during the First World War and it was temporarily converted into a cycle unit. It remained a cavalry regiment throughout the interwar years, and was the last horsed unit of the British Army to see action, in the Syria–Lebanon Campaign of 1941, finally mechanising the following year. It served as motorised infantry in the North African and Italian campaigns of the Second World War. In 1956, it merged with the Yorkshire Hussars and the East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry to form the Queen's Own Yorkshire Yeomanry. Its lineage is continued today by A Squadron, the Queen's Own Yeomanry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry</span> British Army military unit

The East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry was a unit of the British Army formed in 1902. Units of Yeomanry Cavalry were raised in the East Riding of Yorkshire in the 18th and early 19th centuries at times of national emergency: the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. These were stood down once each emergency was over. The East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry, was established in 1902, and this saw action during the First World War both in the mounted role and as machine gunners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northamptonshire Yeomanry</span> Military unit

The Northamptonshire Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1794 as volunteer cavalry. It served in the Second Boer War, the First World War and the Second World War before being reduced to squadron level in 1956. It ceased to have a separate existence in 1971.

Armoured regiments are units provided by the Royal Armoured Corps of the British Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armoured reconnaissance</span> Terrestrial reconnaissance using tanks and armoured reconnaissance vehicles

Armoured reconnaissance is the combination of terrestrial reconnaissance with armoured warfare by soldiers using tanks and wheeled or tracked armoured reconnaissance vehicles. While the mission of reconnaissance is to gather intelligence about the enemy with the use of reconnaissance vehicles, armoured reconnaissance adds the ability to fight for information, and to have an effect on and to shape the enemy through the performance of traditional armoured tasks.

During the First World War the British Armed Forces was enlarged to many times its peacetime strength. This was done mainly by adding new battalions to existing regiments. Although sometimes identified by shoulder titles, generally the new battalions could not be identified from appearance. Consequently, the units in this list have been assembled considering only those as having a uniquely different cap badge.

Future Soldier is a reform of the British Army resulting from the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy published in March 2021. The aim of the reform is to create a more lethal, agile and expeditionary force, able to fight and win wars and to operate in the grey-zone between peace and war. Future Soldier was published on 25 November 2021 and deals with the organizational changes of the British Army, with changes to personnel and equipment were set out in the Defence in a Competitive Age paper published on 22 March 2021.

References

  1. "No. 63576". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 January 2021. p. 23984.
  2. 1 2 Forty p. 63.
  3. "War Office and Ministry of Defence: Royal Armoured Corps: Correspondence and Reports".
  4. "The Royal Tank Regiment [UK]". 3 January 2006. Archived from the original on 3 January 2006.
  5. "Royal Armoured Corps [UK]". 3 January 2006. Archived from the original on 3 January 2006.
  6. Forty pp. 50–1
  7. Heyman, p.67
  8. "Armour Centre, Bovington". www.army.mod.uk. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  9. Ipeanddevelopment (7 August 2014). "The Royal Tank Regiment: Back in the CBRN game". Archived from the original on 23 July 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  10. "Bands of the Corps". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  11. "British Army Music". www.army.mod.uk. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  12. Delivering Security in a Changing World Ministry of Defence
  13. Transforming the British Army Annex D Archived June 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  14. Transforming the British Army Annex B [ dead link ]
  15. 1 2 Transforming the British Army, July 2012 Archived April 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  16. Transforming the British Army Annex C [ dead link ]
  17. Ministry of Defence (5 March 2013). "Regular army basing plan - Publications". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  18. "Regular Army Basing Announcement" (PDF). AFF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  19. Army 2020 Report, page 24 Archived June 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  20. "Royal Armoured Corps". 11 July 2006. Archived from the original on 8 January 2007.
  21. "No. 55391". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 February 1999. p. 1185.