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Royal Armoured Corps

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Royal Armoured Corps
Badge of the Royal Armoured Corps
Active1939 – present
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
TypeArmoured corps
RoleArmoured warfare
CBRN defense
Reconnaissance
Size14 Regiments
Garrison/HQBovington Garrison
VehiclesChallenger 2, FV107 Scimitar, Ajax
Websitewww.army.mod.uk/who-we-are/corps-regiments-and-units/royal-armoured-corps/ Edit this at Wikidata
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] In September 2024, it comprised fourteen regiments: ten Regular Regiments; four Army Reserve.[3] Although the Household Cavalry Regiment (the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals) provide an armoured regiment, they are not part of the RAC.[4]

History

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Arms of the British Army
Combat Arms
Combat Support Arms
Combat Services
See also: List of Royal Armoured Corps Regiments in World War II

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).[5] As the war went on and other regular cavalry and Territorial Army Yeomanry units became mechanised, the corps was enlarged.[6] A significant number of infantry battalions also converted to the armoured role as RAC regiments.[7] 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

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Recruiting areas of the regular army regiments

Regiments

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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.[8]

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[10]

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 Army Army Reserve
1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards Royal Yeomanry
Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Scottish & North Irish Yeomanry
The Light Dragoons Queen's Own Yeomanry
King's Royal Hussars Royal Wessex Yeomanry[note 1]
Queen's Royal Hussars
Royal Tank Regiment

Basing

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Band

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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.[11][12]

Reorganisations

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Delivering Security in a Changing World (2004)

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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.[13]

As part of the reorganisation, postings will be realigned:

  • Germany based regiments
    • Sennelager: Armoured Regiment (QRH), Formation Reconnaissance Regiment QDG (20 Armoured Brigade)

Strategic Defence and Security Review (2010)/Army 2020

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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.[14] 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.[15][16] 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.[16][17]

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.[18] 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:[19]

Armoured Regiment
(Challenger 2)		 Armoured Cavalry
(Scimitar)		 Light Cavalry
(Jackal)		 Light Cavalry – Army Reserve
(Jackal)[20]
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)

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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

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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

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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

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Preceded by Order of Precedence Succeeded by
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This unit is allied with the following:

Colonels Commandant (Cavalry)

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Colonels Commandant were:[21]

Notes

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  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. ^ a b c Reserve regiment providing reinforcements to light cavalry units.
  3. ^ a b c 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.

References

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  1. ^ "No. 63576". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 January 2021. p. 23984.
  2. ^ a b Forty p. 63.
  3. ^ "Royal Armoured Corps | The British Army". 6 August 2024. Archived from the original on 6 August 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  4. ^ "War Office and Ministry of Defence: Royal Armoured Corps: Correspondence and Reports".
  5. ^ "The Royal Tank Regiment [UK]". 3 January 2006. Archived from the original on 3 January 2006.
  6. ^ "Royal Armoured Corps [UK]". 3 January 2006. Archived from the original on 3 January 2006.
  7. ^ Forty pp. 50–1
  8. ^ Heyman, p.67
  9. ^ "Armour Centre, Bovington". www.army.mod.uk. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ "Bands of the Corps". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  12. ^ "British Army Music". www.army.mod.uk. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  13. ^ Delivering Security in a Changing World Ministry of Defence
  14. ^ Transforming the British Army Annex D Archived June 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Transforming the British Army Annex B [dead link]
  16. ^ a b Transforming the British Army, July 2012 Archived April 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ Transforming the British Army Annex C[dead link]
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ "Regular Army Basing Announcement" (PDF). AFF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  20. ^ Army 2020 Report, page 24 Archived June 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ "Royal Armoured Corps". 11 July 2006. Archived from the original on 8 January 2007.
  22. ^ "No. 55391". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 February 1999. p. 1185.
  • Forty, George (1998). British Army Handbook 1939–1945. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-1403-3.
  • Heyman, Charles (2013). The British Army: A Pocket Guide, 2012-2013. Pen & Sword Military.
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