Are these formations you are mentioning including TA Battalions?

Hi Yimmy No, we're discussing regular units only. I believe I'm correct in saying that the number of TA Inf btns will remain at 15, but they will be attached to the new regiments. To reply to Neutralizer You may be right about the Spearhead Btn. My understanding is that occasionally it came from brigades but not always. I don't know much about the EU rapid reaction force, but I assumed that it is replacing the ACE mobile force btn, which of course was a non-brigaded unit. I'd picked up on the shortfall of Art Bty's. What is also noticeable is that the regular army will have only 2 MLRS and 2 HIMARS-style rocket batteries. I guess the defence staff feels that this will be enough, and that resources should be ploughed into "transformational technologies" i.e. Bowman, FRES, Watchkeeper etc instead. In an ideal world the armed forces would have more of everything, but the money simply isn't available unless you: - reduce the quality of the equipment used - reduce the money going to other areas of government (hospitals, roads, pensions etc) - Increase taxes I can't see any of those things happening, and maybe rightly as its hard to see where a major conventional (excluding terrorism which requires a different response) threat is coming from. John

"and 2 HIMARS-style rocket batteries" What do you mean by the above? We do not operate HIMARS, all we have are MLRS, AS90 and the 105mm light gun.

Hi Yimmy The light artillery is being upgraded in the next few years. There are two major competitions currently happening; one is to replace the 105mm light gun, and the other is to bring in a HIMARs style rocket battery. I've read some article about it, and basically it looks as though it will be a single pack of MLRS (6 x rockets) mounted on a Supacat chassis. John

UK AMF(L) bn was merely one part of the UK AMF(L) commitment, more to the point it was trained and equipped to fight as part of a all arms fmn. It was, therefore 'brigaded'. This is in contrast to 'non-brigaded' bns that are on minimalist equipment establishments, or, in the case of NI not trained to fight in an all arms fmn. They all have a bde level HQ, one of the UK regional bdes. None of the bns in these bdes take part in the fmn training cycle that operated over 3 yrs, now going to 30 months. Of course some high readiness units don't participate in this cycle because they are permanently 'ready'. By definition the spearhead bn must be one that is part of the readiness cycle or one of the permanently ready bns. UK will not use HIMARS, the 'solution' to the LIMAWS(R) requirement was selected some 18 months ago. It is a single pod (6 rkts or 1 ATACMS) lnchr only able to fire GMLRS on a Supacat vehicle that can be underslung by Chinook (the guided rkt limitation is what keeps it light becasue it removes the need for precise physical laying). UK has no intention of replacing their 105mm, the last statement was that they expected it to remain in service untill 2020. However, they may do some form of MLU. They've just ordered new HE for it, L50, HEIM-EL, that has the same lethality as the 'standard' (outside UK and Germany) 155mm HE M107. LIMAWS(G) may replace or dual equip a few 105mm btys, but also replace some AS90 in mech bdes.

The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment – 1D and D, Light Role and First Battalion, The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment – 1RGBW, Light Role would combine with a light role battalion from the Light Infantry or the RGJ to form the Light Infantry (1 Commando). The Green Jackets and the Light Infantry would then merge to form the Royal Green Jacket Light Infantry.

Hi Perfect General Is that confirmed? Can we have the source please Thanks John

So, no sources except educated guesses and a rumoured need for more commando. The 1D&D and 1RGBW have been transferred to the light division and there is some talk on the UK Army official website (RGJ and LI pages) that a merger of the two (RGJ and LI) has been concidered. While all this remains up in the air I thought I might offer a suggestion that might raise the light division's profile. If you want something a little more factual I recommend: http://www.army.mod.uk/royalgreenjackets/news/future_structure.htm http://www.army.mod.uk/lightinfantry/future_structure.htm On closer inspection I notice that all of the future light infantry would be needed to form '1 commando'. If the army's commando was 2/3 smaller* then the royal green jackets could re-role. *smaller than the RM 3 commando.

All those two regimental websites are saying is stuff about the mechanics of adding a bn to the LI which is in the same administrative division as RGJ. The LI are also sort of pointing out the geographic contiguity of the county recruiting areas of the new bn with the old SCLI. There has been no official statement even hinting at adding a bn to 3 Cdo Bde, the announced increase is to boost the RE sqn to a regt.

Like I said, I'm only making a suggestion that some of our light role specialise in amphibious and helecopter landing to take some workload off 3 commando and 16 air assault. The name 1 commando seemed to make sense the individual units could fill in the gaps between 40,42 and 45 commando (41,43 and 44). Joint forces is the way ahead.