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Structure of the British Army

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British Army


Components
British Army
Territorial Army
List of current regiments
Structure of the British Army
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At the top level, the structure of the British Army is headed by two main administrative top-level budgets - Land Command and the Adjutant-General. These are responsible for providing operational capability to the Permanent Joint Headquarters, which is responsible for the command of all operations.

The command structure forms a hierarchy. Formations (divisions, and brigades) control groupings of units. Major Units are battalion- or regiment-sized units. Minor Units are smaller units, which may either be independent or part of a battalion or regiment. Units may be either Regular (full-time) or Territorial Army (part-time volunteers).

The naming conventions of units differ across the army for historical reasons - for example, an infantry battalion is equivalent to a cavalry regiment. An infantry regiment is an administrative and ceremonial organisation only, and can include several battalions.

Contents

Formations

Corps

In operational terms, a corps is a very large formation of two or more divisions - it could include upwards of fifty thousand personnel.

Although the British Army has the capability of forming a corps using its two available Ready Divisions, it would be unlikely to deploy an all-British corps; instead, it would most likely deploy one of its two divisions to serve as part of a larger multinational force. It does however provide much of the headquarters and framework for the multinational NATO formation, the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps.

The word corps is also used for some large administrative groupings by common function - for example, the Infantry Corps.

Divisions

A division is a formation of (usually) three or four brigades - around twenty thousand personnel.

The British Army has two main Ready Divisions, which can deploy their headquarters and trained formations immediately to operations. The Ready Divisions are:

The three remaining divisional headquarters (referred to as Regenerative Divisions), plus the London District and Northern Ireland HQ, act as regional commands in the UK itself; the divisions would only become field formations in the event of a general war. The Regenerative Divisions are:

A further two regional headquarters exist at the Divisional level - Headquarters Northern Ireland and London District.

Although the security situation in Northern Ireland has eased greatly in recent years and the British Army's presence there has been reduced, Headquarters Northern Ireland remains in being for the present.

London District's most public concern is the administration of ceremonial units and provision of garrisons for such installations as the Tower of London. However, its primary responsibility is to maintain units directly for the defence of the capital.

Brigades

A brigade usually includes three or four battalion-sized units - around 5000 personnel.

When deployed on operations, the primary tactical formation is the battlegroup. This is a mixed formation formed around the core of one unit (either an armoured regiment or infantry battalion), with armour, infantry, artillery, engineers etc attached as needed.

A typical Brigade organisation

Ready Brigades

1st (UK) Armoured Division:

3rd (UK) Mechanised Division:

16 (Air Assault) Brigade is an independently deployable formation under the administrative control of 4th Division.

3 Commando Brigade is an additional deployable formation, outside the operational control of the Army but containing a number of army units.

Regenerative Brigades

Each of these brigades has administrative control over the non-deployed units in a particular region.

2nd Division:

4th Division:

5th Division:

Headquarters Northern Ireland

London District

Other Brigades

Headquarters Northern Ireland

These Brigades currently have a static Internal Security role and could not act as Ready or Regenerative brigades without hand-over and reorganisation.

Administrative Formations

Reserve Formations

Order of Precedence

For the purposes of parading, the British Army is listed according to an order of precedence. 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.

The Household Cavalry have the highest precedence, apart from the Royal Horse Artillery when it parades with its guns.

For more detail, see British Army Order of Precedence.

Arms and Services

Combat Arms

The Combat Arms are the "teeth" of the British Army - the infantry and armoured units which have responsibility for closing with and killing the enemy.

Royal Armoured Corps

The regiments of line cavalry and the Royal Tank Regiment are grouped together as the Royal Armoured Corps. These units operate either as armoured regiments with main battle tanks, or as formation reconnaissance units. The Household Cavalry is a separate corps formed of two regiments. One of these, the Household Cavalry Regiment, forms the fifth formation reconnaissance regiment.

Armoured Regiments Formation Reconnaissance Regiments
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) The Household Cavalry Regiment
The Royal Dragoon Guards 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards
The Queen's Royal Hussars (Queen's Own and Royal Irish) 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's)
The King's Royal Hussars The Light Dragoons
2nd Royal Tank Regiment The Queen's Royal Lancers

1st Royal Tank Regiment operates in a dual role; two squadrons serve in the NBC role as part of the Joint CBRN Regiment, while the other two are main battle tank training squadrons that serve as part of the Combined Arms Training Battlegroup at the Land Warfare Centre at Warminster.

Infantry

As of 2006, the Infantry is divided for administrative purposed into six divisions. These are not the same as the divisions that are sent into combat, which are a mixture of infantry, armoured and support units. Instead they are groupings of regiments based on either georgraphical location or historical connection. Infantry battalions operate in one of five main roles: Under the arms plot system, a battalion would normally spend between two and six years in one role, before re-training for another. However, plans are currently in place to phase out the arms plot system, and in future to have battalions specialise in individual roles.

Guards Division Scottish Division King's Division Prince of Wales' Division Queen's Division Light Division
1st Bn, Grenadier Guards The Royal Scots Bn, The Royal Regiment of Scotland The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's Lancashire and Border) 1st Bn, The 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment 1st & 2nd Bn, The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires) 1st Bn, The Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry
1st Bn, Coldstream Guards The Royal Highland Fusiliers (2nd Bn, The Royal Regiment of Scotland) 1st, 2nd & 3rd Bn The Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot) 1st & 2nd Bn, The Royal Welsh 1st & 2nd Bn, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers 1st & 2nd Bn, The Light Infantry
1st Bn, Scots Guards The King's Own Scottish Borderers Bn, The Royal Regiment of Scotland 1st Bn, The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29th/45th Foot) 1st & 2nd Bn, The Royal Anglian Regiment 1st Bn, The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry
1st Bn, Irish Guards The Black Watch (3rd Bn, The Royal Regiment of Scotland) 1st Bn, The Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's) 1st & 2nd Bn, The Royal Green Jackets
1st Bn, Welsh Guards The Highlanders (4th Bn, The Royal Regiment of Scotland)
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (5th Bn, The Royal Regiment of Scotland)
Note 1: 28th March - 1st August 2006
Note 2: 1st July 2006 - March 2007

There are three further infantry units in the regular army that are not grouped in the various infantry divisions:

The Royal Gibraltar Regiment can also be considered part of the infantry, although its primary responsibility is the home defence of Gibraltar.
Royal Irish Regiment
The Royal Irish Regiment shares the status of the largest infantry regiment in the British Army with the Parachute Regiment. The Royal Irish has a total of four battalions. The 1st Battalion, as has been stated, is a general service battalion that is part of the main body of infantry. However, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions are home service battalions, purely for service in Northern Ireland. With the announcement of the IRA ceasefire in 2005 came the end of military support to the police in Northern Ireland, and a normalisation of the army's presence in the province. This has led to the announcement that the three home service battalions will be disbanded with the end of Operation Banner in August 2007.

Brigade of Gurkhas
The Royal Gurkha Rifles is the largest part of the Brigade of Gurkhas, which also has its own support arms. These units are affiliated to the equivalent British units, but have their own unique cap badges.
Special Forces

Combat Support Arms

The Combat Support Arms include the artillery, engineer, signals and aviation units. Their role is to directly support the Combat Arms in combat.

Royal Regiment of Artillery

The Royal Artillery, despite its name, is a corps sub-divided into 16 regiments. Of these, four retain the name, cap badge and traditions of the Royal Horse Artillery. The sixteen regiments are divided into seven specialities:
Home Defence Air Defence General Support (MLRS) Close Support (AS90) Close Support (L118 Light Gun) Surveillance and Target Acquisition Training
King's Troop, RHA 12 Regiment, RA 39 Regiment, RA 1 Regiment, RHA 7 (Para) Regiment, RHA 5 Regiment, RA 14 Regiment, RA
16 Regiment, RA 3 Regiment, RHA 29 (Cdo) Regiment, RA 32 Regiment, RA
47 Regiment, RA 4 Regiment, RA 40 Regiment, RA
19 Regiment, RA
26 Regiment, RA

Corps of Royal Engineers

Engineering support for the army is provided by the Royal Engineers, of which there are a total of 15 regiments in the regular army. Of these, 25 Engineer Regiment is a field regiment dedicated to service in Northern Ireland, 33 Engineer Regiment is an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit, 39 Engineer Regiment provides engineering support to the RAF, and 42 Engineer Regiment is a dedicated Geographic unit. The Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME), also has two regiments, which are the parent units for recruits to the RSME: The remainder are field regiments attached to various deployable formations: In addition, there are three independent squadrons in the Royal Engineers: As well as the operational regiments and squadrons, there also exists within the structure of the Royal Engineers an organisation called the Military Works Force. This has responsibility for both permanent and temporary infrastructure development in several areas, including water, fuel, communications and utilities. Within the MWF are four works groups, which are the equivalent of regiments:

Royal Corps of Signals

In the British Army, communications below brigade level are maintained by individual units. For formations of Brigade level and above, communications and ICT are provided by the Royal Signals, which has a total of ten regiments, and 13 separate squadrons:

Army Air Corps

The Army Air Corps provides the battlefield support element of the army's aviation needs (the heavy transport element comes from the helicopters of the RAF, while the amphibious element is provided by the FAA). The AAC has six regiments, and a number of independent squadrons and flights:

Intelligence Corps

The Intelligence Corps is the army's main tool for the gathering and collating of intelligence, and for the organisation of the army's counter-intelligence apparatus.

Joint CBRN Regiment

The Joint CBRN Regiment is a specialised corps of the army tasked with defence against nuclear, biological, radiological and chemical weapons. The regiment is a joint Army/RAF unit, made up of the following regular units:

Combat Service Support Arms

The Combat Service Support Arms have the role of providing the services necessary for sustaining the Army.

Royal Logistic Corps

The Royal Logistic Corps is the largest single corps in the British Army, and is responsible for the supply and movement of material to all units. Within the corps there are 21 separate regiments:
1 General Support Regiment 12 Supply Regiment
2 Close Support Regiment 13 Air Assault Support Regiment
3 Close Support Regiment 14 Supply Regiment
4 General Support Regiment 17 Port and Maritime Regiment
6 Support Regiment 21 Logistic Support Regiment
7 Transport Regiment 23 Pioneer Regiment
8 Artillery Support Regiment 24 Regiment
9 Supply Regiment 27 Transport Regiment
10 Transport Regiment 29 Regiment
11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment 89 Postal and Courier Regiment
5 Training Regiment
Within the structure of the Royal Logistic Corps are two squadrons that are cap-badged as the Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment, manned predominantly by Gurkhas.

Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers have responsibility for the maintenance of all of the British Army's equipment. Almost every unit will have REME tradesmen attached normally designated as a "Light Aid Detatchment (LAD)" or "Workshop (Wksp)". The corps provides detachments to each formation of brigade level and higher from its total of seven battalions:

Other Services

Training

There are two phases in the training for recruits into the army: Once new recruits have passed their initial courses, either at RMAS or an ATR, then they move to Phase 2 Training.

Infantry Training Centre

As of 2001, infantry training is undertaken as a single 24 week course at the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick, as opposed to being divided into Phase 1 and Phase 2 training. The ITC is divided into four separate battalions; these are divided into companies, each of which are responsible for one of the infantry's administrative divisions:

Units of the Territorial Army

Armour (TA)

The four armoured regiments of the Territorial Army operate in two roles - provision of crew replacements for armoured and NBC regiments, and formation reconnaissance:

Infantry (TA)

The 1999 reorganisation of the Territorial Army saw a number of new, multi-cap badge battalions take the place of the old territorial battalions of regular regiments: A further infantry unit, not officially on the British Army list but still technically a British unit, is The Bermuda Regiment. This is a territorial infantry battalion which is responsible for the internal security of Bermuda.

Royal Artillery (TA)

Air Defence General Support (MLRS) Close Support (Light Gun) Surveillance and Target Acquisition
104 Regiment, RA(V) 101 Regiment, RA(V) 100 Regiment, RA(V) Honourable Artillery Company
105 Regiment, RA(V) 103 Regiment, RA(V)
106 Regiment, RA(V)

Royal Engineers (TA)

Note: Although the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers is part of the Royal Engineers order of battle, it is a separate regiment with its own cap badge, regimental colours and traditions.

Royal Signals (TA)

Intelligence Corps (TA)

Army Air Corps (TA)

Services (TA)

In addition to the combat units, there are Territorial Army units in:

Ceremonial Units

Although the majority of the British Army performs both operational and ceremonial roles, there are some units that are purely ceremonial. These are manned by fully trained soldiers who are periodically transferred from operational units.

The following are units of the regular army that most regularly mount the guard at Buckingham Palace, Horse Guards and Windsor Castle:

Gun Salutes

The following are units that provide gun salutes in various parts of London:

The following are not part of the army, but perform the ceremonial role of Sovereign's Bodyguard. They tend to be made up of retired officers and NCOs: One of the significant duties that all of the above units (with the exception of the King's Troop and the Honourable Artillery Company) perform is to guard the catafalque upon which the coffin of a state funeral rests in Westminster Hall.

Others

Restructuring

In July 2004, the Government announced its proposals for restructuring of the armed forces. The main points concerning the army included: On 16 December 2004, Geoff Hoon announced restructuring plans. The new operational structure of the army will feature: Rumours were also confirmed, with the restructuring of the infantry along the large regiment lines. This will involve the Royal Scots and the King's Own Scottish Borderers amalgamating into a single battalion, and this then amalgamating with the other four regiments into a large Royal Regiment of Scotland, with battalions retaining their former titles. The regiments of the King's Division and the Prince of Wales's Division will also merge, with one battalion lost from the King's Division, and two from the Prince of Wales's. Thus, each will have one regiment of three battalions and one regiment of two battalions.

The restructuring will be as follows:

Royal Armoured Corps restructuring

In 2005, the Queen's Royal Lancers will begin conversion from the Armoured role, equipped with Challenger 2, to the Formation Reconnaissance role, equipped with Scimitar.

Royal Artillery restructuring

In 2005, 40 Regiment, Royal Artillery will begin conversion to the L118 Light Gun from the AS-90.

Royal Engineers restructuring

Engineering support for 3 Commando Brigade to be expanded to a full regiment with the establishment of 24 Commando Engineer Regiment. This brings it into line with the other brigade sized formations.

Royal Signals restructuring

Establishment of a new signals regiment, 22 Signal Regiment.

Infantry restructuring

The arms plot is to be abolished, with all infantry battalions given a set role and (for armoured and mechanised battalions) location. In order that officers and soldiers can keep up the various skills gained through each of the distinct roles, all single battalion regiments (with the exception of the Guards regiments and the Royal Irish Regiment) will be amalgamated into large regiments. It is planned that each division will have a total of five battalions - of these, one will be armoured infantry, one will be mechanised infantry and the remainder light infantry.

Guards Division

Scottish Division

Prince of Wales's Division

King's Division

Queen's Division

Light Division

The Parachute Regiment

Royal Irish Regiment

Royal Gurkha Rifles

Special Forces

Territorial Army

Bands

Brief comment

While the Government maintains that regimental traditions will remain through the addition of subtitles to battalions, it should be noted that in the reforms of the 1960s, which brought the likes of the Queen's Regiment, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, Royal Green Jackets and Light Infantry, the individual regiments that made them up also retained their individual titles for only a brief period, before these were removed to promote the harmonisation of the new regiments.

The government has also announced that the concept of arms plotting will be ended; however, since the announcement of reorganisation, it has been revealed that light infantry battalions will continue to be rotated, to prevent units staying in unpopular postings (Cyprus, Northern Ireland, public duties etc) for too long.

New Infantry Structure and Order of Precedence

Regular Army

Guards Division Scottish Division King's Division Prince of Wales' Division Queen's Division Light Division
1st Bn, Grenadier Guards 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th Bn, Royal Regiment of Scotland 1st & 2nd Bn, Duke of Lancaster's Regiment 1st & 2nd Bn, Royal Welsh 1st & 2nd Bn, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th Bn, The Rifles
1st Bn, Coldstream Guards 1st, 2nd & 3rd Bn, Yorkshire Regiment 1st, 2nd & 3rd Bn, Mercian Regiment 1st & 2nd Bn, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
1st Bn, Scots Guards 1st & 2nd Bn, Royal Anglian Regiment
1st Bn, Irish Guards
1st Bn, Welsh Guards

Territorial Army

Guards Division Scottish Division King's Division Prince of Wales' Division Queen's Division Light Division
London Regiment 6th & 7th Bn, Royal Regiment of Scotland 3rd Bn, King's Lancashire and Border Regiment 3rd Bn, Royal Welsh 3rd Bn, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment 6th & 7th Bn, The Rifles
4th Bn, Yorkshire Regiment 4th Bn, Mercian Regiment 5th Bn, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
3rd Bn, Royal Anglian Regiment

See also

Other Corps of the British Armed Forces

British Army Restructuring

The British Army

Traditions

External links

 

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