Baker Barracks is a

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 ...

barracks located on Thorney Island around east from

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

History

The barracks was established on the site of the former

RAF Thorney Island Royal Air Force Thorney Island, or more simply RAF Thorney Island, is a former Royal Air Force station located on Thorney Island, West Sussex, England, west of Chichester and east of Portsmouth, Hampshire. Station history The airfield was ...

airbase in 1986, when 26th Regiment Royal Artillery moved on site. The barracks was named after Field Marshal Sir Geoffrey Baker, a former

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 ...

officer. It was previously home to

47th Regiment Royal Artillery 47 Regiment Royal Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Artillery in the British Army. It is equipped with the Thales Watchkeeper WK450. It is located at Horne Barracks, Larkhill in Wiltshire. It falls under command of Joint Aviation Command. ...

, armed with the

Starstreak Starstreak is a British short-range surface-to-air missile that can be used as a man-portable air-defence system (MANPADS) or used in heavier systems. It is manufactured by Thales Air Defence (formerly Shorts Missile Systems) in Belfast, Northe ...

missile. In January 2008,

12th Regiment Royal Artillery 12 Regiment Royal Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Artillery in the British Army. It currently serves in the air defence role, and is equipped with the Starstreak missile. History The regiment was established in 1947 when the 7th Regimen ...

moved to the island upon their return from Germany. In 2009, the airfield was used as a test track for a British-built steam car hoping to smash the longest standing land speed record. The British Steam Car Challenge team included test driver Don Wales, nephew of the late

Donald Campbell Donald Malcolm Campbell, (23 March 1921 – 4 January 1967) was a British speed record breaker who broke eight absolute world speed records on water and on land in the 1950s and 1960s. He remains the only person to set both world land a ...

and grandson of Sir

Malcolm Campbell Major Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called ''Blue Bird'', including a 1 ...

. Baker Barracks is currently home to two

regiments with the ground based

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-launched), and air-bas ...

role, operating the Thales Starstreak and

Sky Sabre The CAMM (Common Anti-Air Modular Missile) is a family of surface-to-air missiles developed by MBDA UK for the United Kingdom. CAMM is derived from, and shares some common features and components with, the Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missil ...

surface-to-air missile systems.

Based units

The following units are based at Baker Barracks. Ministry of Defence * Centre of Specialisation for Joint Ground Based Air Defence Units (JTGBAD) British Army * Headquarters, 7th Air Defence Group, at Centaur House **

(Self-Propelled Air Defence, armed with Alvis Stormer air defence system) **

16th Regiment Royal Artillery 16 Regiment Royal Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Regiment of Artillery in the British Army. It currently serves in the Ground Based Air Defence role and is equipped with the Sky Sabre air defence missile system and Land Environment Air ...

(Mobile Air Defence, armed with

) *

Royal School of Artillery The Royal School of Artillery (RSA) is the principal training establishment for artillery warfare in the British Army. Established in 1915, it is based at Larkhill, Wiltshire, on the south edge of the Salisbury Plain Training Area. The school is t ...

**Ground Based Air Defence Wing — responsible for all training for air defence systems Army Cadet Force *No. 26 (Thorney Island) detachment of the Sussex

Army Cadet Force The Army Cadet Force (ACF), generally shortened to Army Cadets, is a national Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, youth organisation sponsored by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence and the Bri ...

, a volunteer youth organisation, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence, which accepts cadets aged between 12 and 18 years of age.

Footnotes

References

* {{cite book, last=Lord, first=Cliff, title=The Royal Corps of Signals : unit histories of the Corps (1920-2001) and its antecedents, publisher=Helion & Company, year=2004, isbn=978-1-874622-92-5, publication-place=Solihull, West Midlands, England, oclc=184820114 Installations of the British Army Barracks in England