The Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group is a formation of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

that commands the Army's miniature UAS, tactical UAS, counter-intelligence and reach back intelligence capabilities, the Specialist Group Military Intelligence and the Land Intelligence Fusion Centre.

History

1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade

Under the Army 2020 programme, a larger emphasis was placed on cyber and specialist capabilities. As part of this reorganisation, the 1st Military Intelligence Brigade, the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

's UAS regiments,

Honourable Artillery Company The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...

and the two reserve Special Air Service (SAS) Regiments came under the command of the newly formed 1st Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade. The new brigade was stood up on 1 September 2014 at

Upavon Upavon is a rural village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. As its name suggests, it is on the upper portion of the River Avon which runs from north to south through the village. It is on the north edge of Salisbury Plain ...

and placed under

Force Troops Command Force Troops Command was a combat support and combat service support command of the British Army. Its headquarters was at Upavon, Wiltshire. It was formed in 2013 as a re-designation of the previous Headquarters Theatre Troops. Force Troops Comm ...

Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group

Under the Future Soldier programme announced on 25 November 2021, the brigade was reduced to a Colonel's Command, became the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group and transferred from the now disbanded 6th Division to

Field Army Troops Field Army Troops is a formation of the British Army under direct control of Field Army (United Kingdom), Headquarters, Field Army. Its purpose is to "centrally command high-demand, low-volume capabilities." 2019 reorganisation In 2019, under ...

. The role of the group is to be to command the Army's miniature UAS, tactical UAS, counter-intelligence, and reach back intelligence capabilities, the Specialist Group Military Intelligence, and Land Intelligence Fusion Centre. It also commands the Land Image Intelligence Company, a pool of experts who deliver image analysis for all the Army's image collection platforms.

Structure

Before becoming ISR Group

Headquarters, 1st Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Brigade, at Trenchard Lines, Upavon *

14 Signal Regiment (Electronic Warfare) The 14th Signal Regiment (Electronic Warfare) is a part of the British Army's Royal Corps of Signals. The regiment's role is to provide electronic warfare (EW) capability in support of deployed Land Commanders, in order to enable operations in ...

, Royal Corps of Signals, at Cawdor Barracks,

Brawdy Brawdy () is a village, parish and Community (Wales), community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Etymology The Welsh language Welsh placename, name appears to be an archaic form of "Bridget" and the parish may originally have been Llanfreudeth. The Eng ...

* 2nd Military Intelligence (Exploitation) Battalion, Intelligence Corps, at Trenchard Lines, Upavon * 3rd Military Intelligence Battalion, Intelligence Corps , in Hackney * 4th Military Intelligence Battalion, Intelligence Corps, at Ward Barracks,

Bulford Camp Bulford Camp is a military camp on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. Established in 1897, the site continues in use as a large British Army base. The camp is close to the village of Bulford and is about north-east of the town of Amesb ...

* 6th Military Intelligence Battalion, Intelligence Corps , in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

– paired with 2 Military Intelligence Battalion * 7th Military Intelligence Battalion, Intelligence Corps , in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

– paired with 4 Military Intelligence Battalion *

32 Regiment Royal Artillery 32 Regiment Royal Artillery (The Wessex Gunners) is a regiment in the Royal Artillery, part of the British Army and is the only Royal Artillery unit equipped with miniature unmanned aerial systems. History The regiment has its origins in 7th Me ...

, at Roberts Barracks,

Larkhill Garrison Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It lies about west of the centre of Durrington village and north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about north of Salisbury. The settlement ...

(UAV operations, with

Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk III The Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk III (DHIII) is a miniature UAV designed by the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in 2006. It is a small surveillance drone, which is mainly used by the United Kingdom, but has also been used by the United States for rec ...

)Ministry of Defence, ''List of units, formations, and equipment of the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom''. Ministry of Defence, London. London, United Kingdom. Retrieved 10 November 2021. * Specialist Group Military Intelligence, at

Denison Barracks Denison Barracks is a British Army installation at Hermitage in Berkshire, England. History The site was used as an American military hospital during the Second World War before becoming the home of Royal School of Military Survey in 1949. The ...

, Hermitage * Defence Intelligence Fusion Centre, at Denison Barracks, Hermitage * Defence Cultural and Linguistic Support Unit, at Denison Barracks, Hermitage

On formation in 2014

Headquarters 1st Intelligence and Surveillance Brigade, at

Trenchard Lines Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, (3 February 1873 – 10 February 1956) was a British military officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force. He has been described as the "Fat ...

* 14 Signal Regiment (Electronic Warfare), Royal Corps of Signals, at Cawdor Barracks, Brawdy * 1 Military Intelligence Battalion, Intelligence Corps, at Bourlon Barracks, Catterick Garrison * 2 Military Intelligence Battalion, Intelligence Corps, at Trenchard Lines, Upavon * 3 Military Intelligence Battalion, Intelligence Corps), in Hackney, London – paired with 1 MI Bn * 4 Military Intelligence Battalion, Intelligence Corps, at Ward Barracks, Bulford Camp * 5 Military Intelligence Battalion, Intelligence Corps, in Edinburgh – paired with 1 MI Bn * 6 Military Intelligence Battalion, Intelligence Corps, in Manchester – paired with 2 MI Bn * 7 Military Intelligence Battalion, Intelligence Corps, in Bristol – paired with 4 MI Bn * 5th Regiment, Royal Artillery, at Marne Barracks, Catterick Garrison * 32 Regiment, Royal Artillery, at Roberts Barracks, Larkhill Garrison (Mini UAS)Ministry of Defence, ''List of units, formations, and equipment of the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom''. Ministry of Defence, London. London, United Kingdom. Retrieved 26 November 2021. * 47 Regiment, Royal Artillery, at Horne Barracks, Larkhill Garrison (Tactical UAVs) * 104 Regiment, Royal Artillery, in Newport (Mini UAS) – paired with 32 & 47 Regiments RA *

The Honourable Artillery Company The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...

, at Finsbury Barracks, Finsbury, London * 21(Artists)(Reserve) SAS Regiment, at Albany Barracks,

Regents Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically between Marylebone and ...

, London * 23(Reserve) SAS Regiment, at

Kingstanding Kingstanding is an area in north Birmingham, England. It gives its name to a ward in the Erdington council constituency. Kingstanding ward includes the areas; Perry Common, Witton Lakes. The other part of Kingstanding falls under the Oscott ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

* Specialist Group Military Intelligence, at Denison Barracks, Hermitage * Defence Cultural Specialist Unit, at Denison Barracks, Hermitage * Land Intelligence Fusion Centre, at Denison Barracks, Hermitage

References

External links

1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade Website
{{Current British brigades __FORCETOC__ Brigades of the British Army Military intelligence units and formations of the United Kingdom Military intelligence brigades Army 2020 Military units and formations established in 2014 Organisations based in Wiltshire Army reconnaissance units and formations