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Royal Armoured Corps

Armour arm of the British Army

Royal Armoured Corps

Armour arm of the British Army

FieldValue
unit_nameRoyal Armoured Corps
imageRoyal20Armd20Corps.gif
captionBadge of the Royal Armoured Corps
dates1939 – present
countryUnited Kingdom
branch[[File:Flag of the British Army.svg23px]] British Army
typeArmoured corps
roleArmoured warfare
CBRN defense
Reconnaissance
size12 regiments
garrisonBovington Garrison
equipmentChallenger 2, Challenger 3, Ajax
equipment_labelVehicles
disbanded
commander1Maj-Gen Nicholas C. L. Perry, DSO, MBE
commander1_labelColonel Commandant
notable_commanders
identification_symbolRAC
identification_symbol_labelAbbreviation
website

CBRN defense Reconnaissance 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. In September 2024, it comprised fourteen regiments: ten Regular Regiments; 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.

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). As the war went on and other regular cavalry and Territorial Army Yeomanry units became mechanised, the corps was enlarged. A significant number of infantry battalions also converted to the armoured role as RAC regiments. In addition, the RAC created its own training and support regiments. Finally, in 1944, the RAC absorbed the regiments of the Reconnaissance Corps.

Present day

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.

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

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
Light DragoonsQueen's Own Yeomanry
King's Royal HussarsRoyal Wessex Yeomanry
Queen's Royal Hussars
Royal Tank Regiment

Basing

  • Tidworth - Kings Royal Hussars; Royal Tank Regiment, The Queen's Royal Hussars (The Queen's Own and Royal Irish)
  • Catterick - Royal Lancers; Light Dragoons
  • Battlesbury Barracks, Warminster - Royal Dragoon Guards
  • Swanton Morley - 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards
  • Leuchars - Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
  • London & Midlands - Royal Yeomanry
  • South of England - Royal Wessex Yeomanry
  • North of England - Queen's Own Yeomanry
  • Scotland & Northern Ireland - Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry

Band

The Band of the Royal Armoured Corps was the single band representing the RAC provided by 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.

Overseas and Associated Units

In addition to its British-based regiments, the Royal Armoured Corps also included several overseas Crown units that were incorporated into its order of battle. These included:

  • Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers) — a locally raised Crown regiment of the Hong Kong Garrison, affiliated with the Royal Armoured Corps from the early 1960s and formally incorporated into its order of battle under the Royal Hong Kong Regiment Regulations 1970 (L.N. 190/70). The regiment operated under the operational command of the Commander British Forces Hong Kong and was subject to the Army Act 1955 and Queen’s Regulations. Officers were commissioned in the name of the Sovereign, and the unit formed part of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong until its disbandment in 1995.

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.

As part of the reorganisation, postings will be realigned:

  • UK based regiments

    • Catterick: Armoured Regiment (RDG) (1 Armoured Infantry Brigade), Formation Reconnaissance Regiment (QRL) (1 Armoured Infantry Brigade)
    • Tidworth: 2 x Armoured Regiment (2RTR, KRH), (1st Mechanized Brigade, 12th Mechanized Brigade,)
    • Swanton Morley: Formation Reconnaissance Regiment (LD) (Theatre Troops)
    • Warminster: Training/Demonstration squadron (A Squadron, RTR)
    • Honington: Armoured Regiment (1RTR)
    • Bovington: HQ RAC

  • Germany based regiments

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

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. 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. 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.

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. 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 Army 2020 structure for the Royal Armoured Corps was:

Armoured Regiment
(Challenger 2)Armoured Cavalry
(Scimitar)Light Cavalry
(Jackal)Light Cavalry – Army Reserve
(Jackal)1st Armoured Infantry Brigade7th Infantry Brigade12th Armoured Infantry Brigade4th Infantry Brigade20th Armoured Infantry Brigade51st Infantry Brigade
The King's Royal HussarsThe Royal Lancers
(Queen Elizabeth's Own)Queen's Dragoon GuardsThe Royal Yeomanry
The Royal Tank RegimentThe Light DragoonsThe Queen's Own Yeomanry
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 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 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 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 for deep fires from MLRS systems.

Order of precedence

before= Household Cavalry | title= Order of Precedence| after= Royal Regiment of Artillery

Colonels Commandant (Cavalry)

Colonels Commandant were:

  • 1939– vacant
  • 1947 F.M. The Rt Hon Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO
  • 1947– Gen. Sir Richard McCreery, GCB, KBE, DSO, MC
  • 1950–?1952 Gen. Sir Charles Keightley, GCB, GBE, DSO
  • 1958– Gen. Sir Charles Keightley, GCB, GBE, DSO
  • 1968– F.M. Sir Richard Hull, KG, GCB, DSO
  • 1974– F.M. The Rt Hon Richard Carver, Baron Carver of Shackleford, GCB, CBE, DSO, MC
  • 1977–1980 Gen. Sir Jack Harman, GCB, OBE, MC, ADCGen
  • 1980–1982 Gen. Sir RobertFord, GCB, CBE
  • 1982–1985 F.M. Sir John Stanier, GCB, MBE, ADCGen
  • 1985–1988 F.M. Sir Nigel Bagnall, GCB, CVO, MC
  • 1988–1993 Gen. Sir Brian Kenny, GCB, CBE
  • 1993–1995 Gen. Sir Jeremy Blacker, KCB, CBE
  • 1995–1999 Lt-Gen. Sir Robert Hayman-Joyce, KCB, CBE
  • 1999 Maj-Gen. David Jenkins, CB, CBE
  • 2000–2004 Maj-Gen. Peter Gilchrist, CB
  • 2004– Maj-Gen. Richard Shirreff, CB

Notes

References

References

  1. {{London Gazette. (4 January 2021)
  2. Forty p. 63.
  3. (2024-08-06). "Royal Armoured Corps {{!}} The British Army".
  4. "War Office and Ministry of Defence: Royal Armoured Corps: Correspondence and Reports".
  5. (3 January 2006). "The Royal Tank Regiment [UK]".
  6. (3 January 2006). "Royal Armoured Corps [UK]".
  7. Forty pp. 50–1
  8. Heyman, p.67
  9. "Armour Centre, Bovington".
  10. Ipeanddevelopment. (7 August 2014). "The Royal Tank Regiment: Back in the CBRN game".
  11. "Bands of the Corps". Ministry of Defence.
  12. "British Army Music".
  13. (1995). "Letter from the Royal Armoured Corps to the Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers), confirming 34 years of affiliation". Royal Armoured Corps Headquarters.
  14. "Royal Hong Kong Regiment Ordinance (Cap.199)". HKU Libraries / Government of Hong Kong.
  15. Low, Elaine. (2020-09-02). "Marching orders: When the Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers) was disbanded in 1995". South China Morning Post.
  16. [http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121026065214/www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/051AF365-0A97-4550-99C0-4D87D7C95DED/0/cm6041I_whitepaper2003.pdf Delivering Security in a Changing World] Ministry of Defence
  17. [http://www.rfca-yorkshire.org.uk/files/TransformingtheBritishArmyAnnexD.pdf Transforming the British Army Annex D] {{webarchive. link. (June 16, 2013)
  18. [http://www.rfca-yorkshire.org.uk/files/TransformingtheBritishArmyAnnexB.pdf Transforming the British Army Annex B] {{dead link. (June 2016)
  19. [http://www.army.mod.uk/documents/general/Army2020_brochure.pdf Transforming the British Army, July 2012] {{webarchive. link. (April 18, 2013)
  20. [http://www.rfca-yorkshire.org.uk/files/TransformingtheBritishArmyAnnexC.pdf Transforming the British Army Annex C]{{dead link. (May 2014)
  21. Ministry of Defence. (2013-03-05). "Regular army basing plan - Publications". GOV.UK.
  22. "Regular Army Basing Announcement". AFF.
  23. [http://www.army.mod.uk/documents/general/Army2020_Report.pdf Army 2020 Report, page 24] {{webarchive. link. (June 10, 2014)
  24. (11 July 2006). "Royal Armoured Corps".
  25. {{London Gazette. (1 February 1999)
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