Armoured regiments are units provided by the

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the armoured arm of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 and the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle. It includes most of the Ar ...

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 ...

History

The first armoured regiments - known at the time as "tank battalions" - were formed in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, first in the

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a Regiment, corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in the World War I, First World War. Th ...

and later as the

Tank Corps An armoured corps (also mechanized corps or tank corps) is a specialized military organization whose role is to conduct armoured warfare. The units belonging to an armoured corps include military staff, and are equipped with tanks and other armou ...

. Each battalion had three companies, each of three sections of four tanks, for a combat strength of thirty-six tanks; a further twelve were kept in reserve for training and replacement purposes. Twenty-six battalions were formed during the war, quickly reduced to four battalions after the end of hostilities. By the late Second World War, there were four armoured regiments in each armoured division. One, the Division's Reconnaissance Regiment, was equipped with the

Cromwell tank The Cromwell tank, officially Tank, Cruiser, Mk VIII, Cromwell (A27M), was one of the series of cruiser tanks fielded by Britain in the Second World War. Named after the English Civil War–era military leader Oliver Cromwell, the Cromwell was ...

; the other three, which were in the Armoured Brigade, were equipped with the Sherman medium tank. An exception was the 7th Armoured Division's 22nd Armoured Brigade which had a mixture of Cromwells and

Sherman Firefly The Sherman Firefly was a medium tank used by the United Kingdom and some armoured formations of other Allies in World War II, Allies in the Second World War. It was based on the US M4 Sherman but was fitted with the more powerful British cal ...

s (Sherman fitted with 17pdr guns). Each regiment was formed of four squadrons, A, B, C and HQ. The lettered squadrons were made up of four troops of four tanks and a HQ troop. The HQ squadron was made up of command tanks and a reconnaissance troop of light tanks. In north-west Europe, during the battle of Normandy from June to August 1944, anti-aircraft tanks were part of the HQ squadron. The 1998 Strategic Defence Review cut the number of armoured regiments to six, converting one of the existing regiments to the formation reconnaissance role and using the other to form the Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear Regiment. As a part of this change, the six remaining regiments were expanded from a three-squadron structure with 38 tanks to a four-squadron one with 58. This structure is also known as the "Type 58" regiment. Under the 2003 Defence White Paper, this was reduced to five armoured regiments - the sixth converting to the formation reconnaissance role - with three armoured squadrons to be converted to "light armoured" squadrons, which would eventually be equipped with the

Future Rapid Effect System The Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) was the name for the British Ministry of Defence (MOD) programme to deliver a fleet of more than 4,000 armoured fighting vehicles for the British Army. The vehicles were to be rapidly deployable, network-en ...

A Troop of Challenger 2s from the RDG on exercise in Canada

Following the 2003 defence review ''

Delivering Security in a Changing World Delivery may refer to: Biology and medicine *Childbirth Childbirth, also known as labour, parturition and delivery, is the completion of pregnancy, where one or more Fetus, fetuses exits the Womb, internal environment of the mother via vagi ...

'', five regular army regiments were equipped for the heavy armoured role: Of the five regiments, two were assigned to the 1st (UK) Armoured Division ( The Queen's Royal Hussars and The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards) and three to the 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division ( The Royal Dragoon Guards,

2nd Royal Tank Regiment The 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army. It was part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps and the 1st Mechanized Brigade. History Founded as B Battalion, Tank Corps in 1917 ...

and The King's Royal Hussars). Type 58 armoured regiments; * The Royal Dragoon Guards - 58 Challenger 2s, 8 CVR(T) Scimitars. * The Queen's Royal Hussars - 58 Challenger 2s, 8 CVR(T) Scimitars. Heavy armoured regiments; * The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) - 44 Challenger 2s, 22 CVR(T) Scimitars. * The King's Royal Hussars - 44 Challenger 2s, 22 CVR(T) Scimitars. *

- 44 Challenger 2s, 22 CVR(T) Scimitars. Two regiments of the Territorial Army, the Royal Wessex Yeomanry and the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry, provided replacement crews for the regular regiments. The

1st Royal Tank Regiment The 1st Royal Tank Regiment (1 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army. It is part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps and operationally under 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. History Formation The regimen ...

also operated a small number of Challenger 2 tanks for training and demonstration.

Structure

Currently, they are battalion-sized formations equipped with

Challenger 2 The FV4034 Challenger 2 (MoD designation "CR2") is a third generation British main battle tank (MBT) in service with the armies of the United Kingdom, Oman, and Ukraine. It was designed by Vickers Defence Systems (now Rheinmetall BAE Systems ...

main battle tanks. There are three Armoured Regiments, each equipped with 56 Challenger 2 tanks. ;Armoured Regiments (Type 56) *

Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the World War I, First World War. Today, it is an Armoured warfare, armoured regiment equipped with Challenger 2 main battle tanks ...

( 12th Armoured Brigade Combat Team) *

King's Royal Hussars The King's Royal Hussars (KRH) is an armoured regiment of the British Army formed in 1992. Based at Tidworth it serves as one of the armoured regiments of the 12th Armoured Brigade Combat Team (ABCT). History The regiment was formed on 4 Decem ...

(12th Armoured Brigade Combat Team) *

Queen's Royal Hussars The Queen's Royal Hussars (The Queen's Own and Royal Irish) (QRH) is the most senior armoured regiment in the British Army, equipped with Challenger 2 main battle tanks. The regiment was formed on 1 September 1993 from the amalgamation of the Quee ...

( 20th Armoured Brigade Combat Team) The organisation of a Type 56 Armoured Regiment is: * 3 sabre squadrons, each with 18 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank; * 1 command and reconnaissance squadron. * Headquarters Squadron By April 2025, the King's Royal Hussars will lose their Challenger 2s, re-rolling to become an armoured cavalry reconnaissance regiment. The Royal Wessex Yeomanry is an Army Reserve regiment that provides trained battlefield casualty replacements to the three main armoured regiments.

References

{{Queen's Royal Hussars Royal Armoured Corps Armoured regiments of the British Army