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

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

, 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 k ...

Army 2020 Refine

The

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

Army 2020 Army 2020, was the name given to the restructuring of the British Army, in light of the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review. Background The British Government gave an indication of its proposals for the future structure of the Army in ea ...

plan. The main changes of Army 2020 Refine were: *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 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

trike Trike may refer to: Vehicles with three wheels and seated * Drift trike, a type of recreational tricycle with no pedals * Electric trike * Motorized tricycle * Three-wheeler * Tricycle (non-motorized) * Ultralight trike, a type of powered hang g ...

brigades will have two AJAX regiments and probably two Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (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 *1st Battalion,

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five 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, although it was only placed on the E ...

* The Highlanders, 4th Battalion,

Royal Regiment of Scotland The Royal Regiment of Scotland is the senior and only Scottish line infantry regiment of the British Army Infantry. It consists of three regular (formerly five) and two reserve battalions, plus an incremental company, each formerly an ind ...

Other units such as

1 Regiment RLC 1 Regiment RLC is a regiment of the British Army's Royal Logistic Corps. History The regiment was formed in 1812 and has participated in many conflicts such the Second World War and operations in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan. After being ...

1 Close Support Battalion REME 1st Close Support Battalion, REME is a Combat service support unit 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 Armed Forces took place, ...

3 Medical Regiment 3 Medical Regiment, is a unit of the British Army's Royal Army Medical Corps. History 3 Medical Regiment was formed in 2000 following the 1998 Strategic Defence Review. The Regiment was formed from 3 squadrons: A (12) Medical Squadron, B (16) ...

and 21 Engineer Regiment would provide close support to this Strike Brigade. 3rd Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery, 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 *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. Th ...

*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 Unite ...

(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 35 Engineer Regiment is a unit of the British Army's Royal Engineers under operational command (OPCOM) 8th Engineer Brigade, Force Troops Command. The Unit provided close support engineering under operational control (OPCON) to 20th Armoured In ...

*Headquarters, 64 Works Group, Royal Engineers *

2 Medical Regiment 2nd Medical Regiment, Royal Army Medical Corps, is the task Medical Regiment of 102 Logistic Brigade. History 2nd Medical Regiment was officially formed on 4 July 2008 following the amalgamation of (A)29 Squadron and (B)28 Squadron of 1 Close S ...

*Headquarters, 4th Regiment,

Royal Military Police The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operation ...

*33 Field Hospital *104, 105 and 106 Battalions of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers * 32nd Regiment,

However,

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' Divisions of infantry merged, incorporating the

, Royal Welsh 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 was restructured in July/August 2019 as set out below. * 1st (United Kingdom) Division **

4th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters North East 4th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters North East, previously known as 4th Mechanized Brigade and before that 4th Armoured Brigade is a brigade formation of the British Army, currently based in Catterick, North Yorkshire as part of 1st ...

** 7th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters East **

11th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters South East The 11th Security Force Assistance Brigade is a brigade of the British Army which is intended to train and assist foreign forces. In 2021, under the Future Army changes, the brigade was redesignated, formerly being the 11th Infantry Brigade & HQ ...

** 51st Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland **

8th Engineer Brigade 8th Engineer Brigade (8 Eng Bde) is an engineering support formation of the British Army, which forms part of 1st (United Kingdom) Division. History In August 2001, Headquarters Royal Engineers, Theatre Troops was established as a subdivision o ...

** 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 Mechani ...

** 2nd Medical Brigade * 3rd (United Kingdom) Division **

1st Armoured Infantry Brigade The 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army with a long history including service during both the First and the Second World Wars. It was based at Tidworth Camp. Previously, it has been designated 1st (Guards ...

12th Armoured Infantry Brigade The 12th Armoured Brigade Combat team, formerly the 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade, is a regular brigade of the British Army which has been in almost continuous existence since 1899 and now forms part of 3rd (United Kingdom) Division. History Se ...

20th Armoured Infantry Brigade The 20th Armoured Brigade Combat Team, previously the 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade, is an armoured infantry brigade formation of the British Army, currently headquartered at Wing Barracks, Bulford, Wiltshire, as part of the 3rd (United Kingdo ...

** 1st Artillery Brigade ** 101 Logistic Brigade ** 25 (Close Support) Engineer Group **

7th Air Defence Group 7th Air Defence Group (7 AD Gp) is a formation of the British Army and part of 3rd (United Kingdom) Division. It is responsible for all the army's ground based air defence assets. All of the organisation's subordinate units are drawn from the Roy ...

* 6th (United Kingdom) Division (formerly Force Troops Command) ** 1st Signal Brigade (United Kingdom) ** 11th Signal Brigade **

1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade (1 ISR Bde) of the British Army was created as part of the Army 2020 reform, to command military intelligence, ISTAR, and electronic warfare units. Brigade Under the Army 2020, Army 20 ...

** 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