The 4th Artillery Regiment (General Support),

Royal Canadian Artillery The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery () is the artillery personnel branch of the Canadian Army. History Many of the units and batteries of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery are older than the Dominion of Canada itself. The first arti ...

, provides the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army () is the command (military formation), command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also re ...

critical warfighting capabilities, including medium-range radars and CU172 Blackjack uncrewed air vehicles. The unit is based at

CFB Gagetown 5th Canadian Division Support Base (5 CDSB) Gagetown, formerly known as and commonly referred to as CFB Gagetown, is a large Canadian Forces Base covering an area over , located in southwestern New Brunswick. It is the biggest facility in East ...

, where it is part of the

6 Canadian Combat Support Brigade 6 Canadian Combat Support Brigade (French: ) (6CCSB) is a Canadian Forces combat support brigade that is part of 5th Canadian Division of the Canadian Army. It is spread out over different bases in Canada but the headquarters is at CFB Kingston. ...

Batteries

* 127th Battery * 128th Battery * 129th Battery * Headquarters and Services Battery

History

Cold War

On November 27, 1987, the 4th Air Defence Regiment, RCA, was formed at

CFB Lahr Canadian Forces Base Lahr (International Air Transport Association airport code, IATA:LHA, International Civil Aviation Organization airport code, ICAO: EDTL, former code EDAN) was a military operated commercial airport located in Lahr, Germany. ...

to support the

4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (4CMBG; ) was a formation of the Canadian Army, then Canadian Forces Land Force Command, Mobile Command of the unified Canadian Forces. It was part of the European formation known as Canadian Forces Europe. T ...

from batteries already stationed in Germany. The 119th and 127th batteries were raised to give the regiment the ability to support the 1st Canadian Division's operations. Following the major growth of the regiment's service requirements the Headquarters and Services Battery was established in 1990. In 1992, the Canadian government released the final version of Canadian Forces Force Reduction Plan. The 4th AD Regt was reduced in size. By mid-1992 it had been reduced to nil strength. On February 5, 1993, the regiment was disbanded. The 119th Air Defence Battery became independent and Canada's only active

air defence Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...

unit.https://rca-arc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/4-Regt-GS-RCA-Historyreduced.pdf

Reformation

On March 15, 1995, the 4th Air Defence Regiment was reactivated as part of the Canadian Army Reserve Force. It was staffed by mixture of regular force members and reservists. The elements of the regiment deployed as part of the Canada's commitment to Afghanistan to support aerospace coordination centres. In 2011, the 127th battery was re-established as a copy of the 119th and 128th batteries. In 2014 the regiment was renamed to the 4th Artillery Regiment (General Support), RCA. This was to reflected the regiment's capabilities moving away from air defence. The 119th battery was renamed to the 129th battery. The regiment uses medium-range radars and CU172 Blackjack to provide mechanized

brigade group A brigade group is a term used primarily in armies of the Commonwealth of Nations for an ''ad hoc'' arrangement of forces. It can be a temporary or permanent organisation. It generally refers to a formation which includes three or four battleg ...

s with aerospace coordination centres.

References

{{reflist Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery