Army 2020 Refine was the name given to the restructuring 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 ...

in the mid-to-late 2010s, in light of the

Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 The National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 was published by the British government during the second Cameron ministry on 23 November 2015 to outline the United Kingdom's defence strategy up to 2025. It identified ...

. As its name suggests, it was a "refinement" of

Army 2020 Army 2020 is the restructuring of the British Army in the early and mid-2010s, in light of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010. The plan, as its name suggested, was intended to be completed by 2020, though most of its reorganisations ...

, an early 2010s reorganisation of the Army to be completed by 2020, originally conducted in light of the

Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 was announced by the formed Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government of the United Kingdom in May 2010, and published on 19 October 2010. The previous major review of UK defence strategy was ...

. It was succeeded by Future Soldier.

Reorganisation

The

announced that the structure of the Reaction and Adaptable Forces would further change, in an evolution of the previous

plan. The main changes of Army 2020 Refine were: *The creation of two new "strike brigades", to be formed by converting an Armoured Infantry brigade and an Infantry brigade. These will be formed by 2025, comprising 5,000 personnel each, equipped with

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

vehicles. *The UK's 3rd Division will, by 2025, comprise two armoured infantry brigades, a strike brigade, and a strike experimentation group (which would later convert to a second Strike brigade). *Creation of a Specialised Infantry Group, to be formed by converting four infantry battalions and creation of a new battalion and training cell. *Two innovative brigades were to be established, comprising a mix of regulars and specialist capabilities from the reserves, that were able to contribute to strategic communications, tackle hybrid warfare and deliver better battlefield intelligence.

Strike brigades & Armoured Infantry brigades

The armoured infantry brigades were reduced from three to two, as one was converted to a Strike Brigade. In a Defence Committee hearing, Chief of the General Staff Sir Nicholas Carter stated that "each of these trikebrigades will have two

AJAX Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

regiments and probably two

Mechanised Infantry Vehicle The Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) is the British Army's concept of an 8 × 8 wheeled vehicle. In March 2018 the United Kingdom rejoined the Boxer (armoured fighting vehicle) programme in order to move to an assessment phase, which may see the ...

(MIV) battalions as well". There was to be around 50 to 60 Ajax vehicles per Strike Brigade. A December 2016 written statement stated that the first Strike Brigade to form would consist of: * Household Cavalry Regiment *

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 ...

*1st Battalion,

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642 in the Ki ...

* The Highlanders, 4th Battalion,

Royal Regiment of Scotland The Royal Regiment of Scotland (SCOTS) is the British Army Order of Precedence, senior and only current Scottish regiment, Scottish line infantry Regiment#British Army, regiment of the British Army Infantry. It consists of three regular (form ...

Other units such as 1 Regiment RLC,

1 Close Support Battalion REME 1st Close Support Battalion, REME is a Combat service support unitWatling & Bronk, p. 16. of the British Army's Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. Background Following the end of the Cold War, a massive reorganisation of the A ...

, 3 Medical Regiment and 21 Engineer Regiment would provide close support to this Strike Brigade. 3rd Regiment,

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. Although the cavalry link rem ...

, and 4th Regiment,

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 ...

were to provide artillery support to the Strike Brigades.

Specialised Infantry Group

A total of five Specialised Infantry battalions, around 300 personnel strong: * Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion,

*4th Battalion,

The Rifles The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions. Each Regular battalion was formerly an individual battalion of one of the two large regiments of the ...

*2nd Battalion, Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment *2nd Battalion,

Duke of Lancaster's Regiment The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border) (LANCS) is an infantry regiment of the line within the British Army, part of the King's Division. Headquartered in Preston, it recruits throughout the North West of England. The ...

*3rd Battalion,

Royal Gurkha Rifles The Royal Gurkha Rifles (RGR) is a rifle regiment of the British Army, forming part of the Brigade of Gurkhas. Unlike other regiments in the British Army, RGR soldiers are recruited from Nepal, which is neither a dependent territory of the Unit ...

(formed in 2018)

Other changes

Several units were initially meant to be rationalised, with all manpower in those units being redeployed to other areas of the Army in its refined structure. These were originally: *Headquarters, 102nd Logistic Brigade * 35 Engineer Regiment *Headquarters, 64 Works Group,

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

* 2 Medical Regiment *Headquarters, 4th Regiment, Royal Military Police *33 Field Hospital *104, 105 and 106 Battalions of the

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is the maintenance arm of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's professional engineers". History Prior t ...

* 32nd Regiment,

However, 35 Engineer Regiment was retained and reformed as an explosive ordnance and search regiment. 32nd Regiment, Royal Artillery, was also retained in October 2019. The

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

and

Prince of Wales' Division A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

s of infantry merged, incorporating the

Royal Welsh The Royal Welsh (R WELSH) () is an Infantry, armoured infantry regiment of the British Army. It was established in 2006 from the Royal Welch Fusiliers, Royal Welch Fusiliers (23rd Foot) and the Royal Regiment of Wales, Royal Regiment of Wales ...

and Royal Irish Regiment. This administrative division was called the Scottish, Welsh and Irish Division. The Mercian Regiment transferred from the Prince of Wales’ Division to the King's Division.

Field Army restructuring 2019

The

Field Army A field army (also known as numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps. It may be subordinate to an army group. Air army, Air armies are the equivalent formations in air forces, and ...

was restructured in July/August 2019 as set out below. *

1st (United Kingdom) Division The 1st (United Kingdom) Division is an active division of the British Army that has been formed and disestablished numerous times between 1809 and the present. In its original incarnation as the 1st Division, it took part in the Peninsular ...

4th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters North East 4th Light Brigade Combat Team, is a brigade formation of the British Army, currently based in Catterick, North Yorkshire as part of 1st (United Kingdom) Division. It was previously known as 4th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters North E ...

7th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters East Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *" The Seventh", a second-season e ...

** 11th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters South East **

51st Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland HQ 51st Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland is a Regional Point of Command, Brigade of the British Army. Although it takes its name and identity directly from, the 51st (Highland) Division, it is also a descendant of the 52nd Lowland Divi ...

8th Engineer Brigade 8th Engineer Brigade (8 Eng Bde) is an engineering support formation of the British Army, under the command of HQ Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, supporting NATO. History In August 2001, Headquarters Royal Engineers, Theatre Troops was established ...

** 102nd Logistic Brigade **

104th Logistic Support Brigade 104 Theatre Sustainment Brigade is a specialist logistic support formation of the British Army. The brigade is the only one of its kind, and as such contains many of the special units of the Royal Logistic Corps and Royal Electrical and Mechanic ...

** 2nd Medical Brigade *

3rd (United Kingdom) Division The 3rd (United Kingdom) Division, also known as The Iron Division, is a regular army division of the British Army. It was created in 1809 by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, for service in the P ...

** 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade **

12th Armoured Infantry Brigade 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

** 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade ** 1st Artillery Brigade ** 101 Logistic Brigade ** 25 (Close Support) Engineer Group ** 7th Air Defence Group *

6th (United Kingdom) Division The 6th (United Kingdom) Division was a division of the British Army, which had been raised and disbanded numerous times as needed over the last 200 years. It was first established by Lieutenant-General Arthur Wellesley in 1810, for service in ...

(formerly

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 ...

) ** 1st Signal Brigade (United Kingdom) ** 11th Signal Brigade ** 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade ** Specialised Infantry Group ** 77th Brigade

References

External links

Army 2020 Brochure

Army 2020 July 2013 update

Regular British Army basing plan March 2013

Major British Army sites

Structure of regular British Army as given by AFF

Army Reserve changes and future basing

Partial information via FOIA on Army 2020 Refine Units

Army Information Sub-Strategy (2015 – 2018)

Future of the Army - British Army website
{{The British Army 21st-century military history of the United Kingdom