The Royal Australian Regiment is capable of providing five battlegroups for deployment. 1 Brigade can deploy two battlegroups, one of which comes from the RAR mechanised battalion, while the other is from 1st Armoured Regiment.
At present (2005) there is a major re-organisation of the Australian Army in progress. The army wishes to operate six battalion groups within three brigades (one airmobile, one standard and one mechanised); as the 4th Battalion is a specialist commando unit, this would involve raising another battalion, most likely for the mechanised role. In December 2005, it was announced that the 3rd Battalion will convert from its current parachute role to a mechanised battalion, and will move from Sydney to Adelaide by 2011.
The Royal Australian Regiment had its origins in the 65th, 66th and 67th battalions which were raised in late 1945 from soldiers in other units of the Second Australian Imperial Force as part of the Australian contribution to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan (these three battalions consituted the infantry component of the Australian 34th Brigade). In 1947, it was decided that these battalions would be the Australian Army's first ever standing, regular infantry units (see History of the Australian Army). The 65th, 66th and 67th battalions were regimented to form the Australian Regiment on 23 November1948 and were re-designated the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Australian Regiment respectively. The "Royal" prefix was granted on 3 October1949.
In 1993, 1 RAR served with distinction in the Baidoa district of Somalia and had several firefights with armed groups.
The Regiment provided almost all of the Australian combat units deployed to East Timor between 1999 and 2004. All the current battalions in the Regiment served at least one 6-month rotation to East Timor where they were responsible for securing the East Timorese-Indonesian border.
While the Royal Australian Regiment's only representation in the Australian contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq was a single commando platoon from 4 RAR, rifle companies from most of the Regiment's current battalions have been deployed to Baghdad to provide security for the Australian embassy. More significantly, a company from 5/7 RAR forms part of the Al Muthanna Task Group, with the second rotation of the Task Group being commanded by the headquarters of 5/7 RAR and the third rotation of the Task Group being commanded by 2 RAR.
In 2006 the 3 RAR Battlegroup and a company from 4 RAR were deployed to Timor Leste as part of Operation Astute. The role of this force is to restore order to the Timorese capital of Dili. Earlier in 2006 two rifle companies, one each from 1 RAR and 3 RAR, were deployed to the Solomon Islands on similar duties.
1 RAR, 3 RAR and 6 RAR have all been awarded US military decorations for service alongside US troops; 1 RAR received the Meritorious Unit Commendation for its service in Vietnam, while 3 RAR received the Distinguished Unit Citation following the Battle of Kapyong during the Korean War (an honour it shares with the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry). D Company 6 RAR also received the Distinguished Unit Citation, this time in Vietnam at the Battle of Long Tan; although the respective battle honours are borne by the whole regiment, the three citations awarded by the United States are held solely by the battalions that received them, and are displayed as streamers on the respective regimental colours of those battalions.
Affiliations
The Royal Australian Regiment is affiliated to a number of other Commonwealth regiments:
