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Details revealed to IHS Jane's about the composition of the British Army's future Strike Brigades show they will have no organic artillery weapons. A study had been looking into buying a wheeled or towed 155 mm gun system (like these US Marine Corps M777 howitzers) for the Strike Brigades, but it seems this has been abandoned. Source: US DoD
Key Points
- Britain's future Strike Brigades will lack an organic artillery capability, IHS Jane'scan reveal
- Instead the brigades will have to rely on joint fires support from elsewhere
Details of the composition of the Strike Brigades, their development, and subsequent operation have been exclusively revealed to IHS Jane's in a briefing by a senior British Army officer.
In a move that breaks from previous British Army experience, the Strike Brigades will each have an artillery regiment that comprises only artillery fire observers, joint terminal attack controllers, intelligence, surveillance, targeting, acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) operators, and fire-planning staff.
This is intended to allow the Strike Brigades to better find targets and then co-ordinate joint fires, said the officer. The two artillery regiments - 3rd Royal Horse Artillery and 4 Regiment Royal Artillery (RA) - assigned to the Strike Brigades will hand in their BAE Systems 105 mm Light Guns and their personnel will operate from a mix of wheeled and tracked armoured vehicles. They reduced the number of UK artillery regiments equipped with the 105 mm Light Gun from six to four.
The Strike Brigades will require four regiments equipped with the Ajax tracked vehicle. However, this will mean the loss of a Challenger 2 main battle tank regiment and two 105 mm Light Gun regiments from the army's order of battle. (Crown Copyright)
Each of the Strike Brigade's manoeuvre units will comprise two Royal Armoured Corps (RAC) regiments equipped with the General Dynamics Ajax armoured vehicles and two infantry battalions mounted on the yet to be selected Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV). An engineer regiment and a medical regiment will also be assigned to the brigades. Each of the brigades will have a combat service support regiment that will be formed by the merger of a Royal Logistic Corps Regiment and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers battalion. One of the RAC regiments will lose its Challenger 2 main battle tanks in this process, but the plans increase the number of armoured reconnaissance regiments projected to operate the Ajax from three to four.
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http://www.janes.com/article/66432/uk-strike-brigades-to-have-no-artillery