The current Royal Marines Armoured Support Group (RMASG) is an element of the

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

that operates the Viking

BvS 10 The BvS10 (''Bandvagn Skyddad'' 10) is a tracked articulated amphibious all-terrain armoured vehicle produced by BAE Systems Land Systems Hägglunds of Sweden. This vehicle, referred to as the All Terrain Vehicle (protected) - ATV(P) or ''V ...

All Terrain Vehicle. It is based at

Bovington Bovington Camp () is a British Army military base in Dorset, England. Together with Lulworth Camp it forms part of Bovington Garrison. The garrison is home to The Armour Centre and contains two barracks complexes and two forest and heathland t ...

in Dorset. The original RMASG was formed in the Second World War to give British and Commonwealth forces heavy fire support in the opening attacks of the Normandy Landings.

History

The original Royal Marines Armoured Support Group was formed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and took part in the

Invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Nor ...

, where it provided fire support. It was primarily equipped with Centaur IV tanks fitted with a 95 mm howitzer; there were also a smaller number of

Sherman tank } The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It ...

s, which were used as artillery observation posts or command vehicles. The Group consisted of two Armoured Support Regiments, each of two Armoured Support Batteries, plus an independent Armoured Support Battery. Each Battery consisted of four troops, with each troop equipped with four Centaur IV and one Sherman tank, giving a total of 80 Centaur and 20 Sherman tanks in the group, which fought on the British and Canadian D-Day beaches. * ''1st Royal Marine Armoured Support Regiment'' at

Gold Beach Gold, commonly known as Gold Beach, was the code name for one of the five areas of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during the Second World War. Gold, the central of the five areas, was ...

comprising the ''1st Battery'' (A, B, C and D Troops) and the ''2nd Battery'' (E, F, G and H Troops). * ''2nd Royal Marine Armoured Support Regiment'' at

Juno Beach Juno or Juno Beach was one of five beaches of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 during the Second World War. The beach spanned from Courseulles, a village just east of the British beach G ...

comprising the 3rd ''Battery'' (J, K, L and M Troops) and the ''4th Battery'' (N, O, P and Q Troops). * ''5th Royal Marine Independent Armoured Support Battery'' at

Sword Beach Sword, commonly known as Sword Beach, was the code name given to one of the five main landing areas along the Normandy coast during the initial assault phase, Operation Neptune, of Operation Overlord. The Allied invasion of German-occupied Fra ...

comprising R, S, T and V Troops. The wartime RMASG was disbanded two weeks after D-Day (D+14). Part of the Armoured Support Group, which had been reformed as the 29th Infantry Battalion, Royal Marines, was moved to Aldershot to become the 34th Amphibian Support Regiment, Royal Marines. The Regiment moved to India in 1945, collected equipment and trained for operations that were planned to take place in Malaya in September. The unit was organized into a headquarters, two support batteries each of three troops armed with four LVT (A-4), one rocket battery of three troops of four LVT (R) and one flank battery of two troops of five LVT (F). This regiment was disbanded in 1948. The modern Royal Marines Armoured Support Group was formed from the Royal Marines Armoured Support Company (Afghanistan) and the Royal Marines Viking Training Squadron, a subunit of the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines based at the Armour Centre in Bovington, Dorset. The Royal Marines Armoured Support specialisation was established in 2005 in recognition of the fact that the then relatively new BvS10 Viking armoured vehicle demanded a high degree of professional and specialist crew training and a professional career progression for Royal Marines within the Armoured Support 'branch'. A proposal to form a new specialisation and indeed to call it the 'Armoured Support' specialisation (in recognition of the Royal Marines' armoured units of WW2) was put forward and argued by then OC Viking Training Sqn - Major Jez Hermer MBE RM, the officer who had taken BvS10 on operations for the first time in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

in September 2006, prior to the Royal Marines Armoured Support Group being formed in December 2007.

Role and equipment

Royal Marines roll-out new vehicles on mortar trials MOD 45167543

RMASG is under the overall control of

539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines 539 Raiding Squadron (539 RS) is 3 Commando Brigade's integral operational amphibious movement capability, delivering them on to land from water and patrolling waterways. It forms part of 47 Commando (Raiding Group) Royal Marines. The Squadron ar ...

and is the armoured element of 3 Commando Brigade, equipped with the Viking armoured vehicle. The Viking

BvS10 The BvS10 (''Bandvagn Skyddad'' 10) is a tracked articulated amphibious all-terrain armoured vehicle produced by BAE Systems Land Systems Hägglunds of Sweden. This vehicle, referred to as the All Terrain Vehicle (protected) - ATV(P) or ''V ...

All Terrain Vehicle, is a protected tracked vehicle, which can be configured for troop transport, command and control and other tasks. Viking is equipped with the 7.62mm General Purpose Machine Gun and some crewmen are armed with the

L22 carbine The SA80 (Small Arms for the 1980s) is a British family of 5.56×45mm NATO service weapons used by the British Army. The L85 Rifle variant has been the standard issue service rifle of the British Armed Forces since 1987, replacing the L1A1 Se ...

version of the British

SA80 The SA80 (Small Arms for the 1980s) is a British family of 5.56×45mm NATO service weapons used by the British Army. The L85 Rifle variant has been the standard issue service rifle of the British Armed Forces since 1987, replacing the L1A1 Se ...

family. Viking has been deployed operationally with British Forces in southern Afghanistan, supporting both 3 Cdo Bde and other

roulement Roulement is a term used by the British Army to signify major combat units (usually battalion strength) that are deployed on short tours of duty, normally for six months. It is also used in the wider British Military to mean the deployment of a st ...

s. The need for the RMASG came about because the Viking was so successful with 3 Cdo Bde on Op Herrick 5 that the incoming forces on Op Herrick 6 requested that the Vikings stay on creating a problem as the Army has no Viking trained drivers. The solution was the RMASG, an expanded unit that could continue to operate the Viking for future roulements, this led to the drivers of the RMASG having one of the highest operational tempos in the forces.

Future requirements

On 12 June 2008, the British

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

publicly issued a notice stating that "''There is a requirement under consideration for an All Terrain Military vehicle that is armoured, amphibious and fitted with (or

fitted for but not with In military usage, fit to receive or fitting "for but not with" describes a weapon or system which is called for in a design but not installed or is only partially installed during construction, with the installation completed later as needed. This ...

) weapon systems, in a supporting role to VIKING, to replace the existing

BV206 Bandvagn 206 (Bv 206) (meaning ''"Tracked Vehicle 206"'' in English) is a tracked articulated, all-terrain carrier developed by Hägglunds (now part of BAE Systems Platforms & Services) for the Swedish Army. It consists of two units, with all ...

''". The new system would be known as the All Terrain Vehicle Support (ATV(S)) and be capable of high mobility operation in a variety of terrains and threat environments as well as being amphibious. A need for between 47 and 212 ATV(S) was foreseen at an estimated cost of between £100 million to £250 million. However, just over a month later, on 17 July 2008, the contract notice setting out the requirement for ATV(S) was cancelled. The Ministry of Defence gave the following reason:

The requirement for an All Terrain Military Vehicle (ATV (S)) under LASS1A/0340 has been delayed due to internal reviews. It is anticipated that a revised announcement will be advertised in the UK MoD Defence Contracts Bulletin in mid 2009 and the revised announcement will also be sent to the EDA for inclusion in the Electronic Bulletin Board (EBB) at that time.

On 19 December 2008, the Ministry of Defence announced that 100

Singapore Technologies Kinetics ST Engineering Land Systems Ltd (STELS), doing business as ST Kinetics, is a strategic business area of ST Engineering and handles land systems and specialty vehicles. In 2000, ST Engineering acquired the Chartered Industries of Singapore (CIS) ...

Bronco All Terrain Tracked Carrier The Bronco All Terrain Tracked Carrier (ATTC) is a twin chassis multi-purpose tracked articulated vehicle jointly developed by ST Kinetics and the Defence Science & Technology Agency (DSTA) for the Singapore Army. The variant which was in ...

vehicles would be purchased as an Urgent Operational Requirement to replace the Viking vehicles in use in Afghanistan. The new vehicle would be known in British service as the Warthog and enter service in 2009. The press release further stated that "''When the Vikings are brought back from Afghanistan they will be used by the Royal Marines on training exercises''". Nevertheless, Viking appears to be the core armoured vehicle for the Royal Marines in the future. 99 Vikings are being upgraded with new mine blast protection bodywork and brought back to their original amphibious standard, having been adapted for the rigours of land operations. In April 2016, a Jane's report stated that the Royal Marines are looking for a replacement for the older Bv 206D vehicles, which will be out of service by 2021.

Awards

The Royal Marines Armoured Support Group was awarded the 'True Grit: Group' award during the 2008 Sun Military Awards, "For a small unit or group of men or women from any service who have together performed a single act of true grit - through courage, determination or self-sacrifice – be it on or off duty".

References

External links