16 Air Assault Brigade was put through a no-notice practice mobilisation to check that troops are ready to respond to global crises.
Exercise Totemic saw the brigade’s very high readiness battlegroup – currently built around 2nd Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles (2RGR) – alerted for a simulated mission to evacuate British citizens in danger overseas.
“At their barracks at Shorncliffe in Kent, the Gurkhas conducted a check of their documents and personal kit – as did gunners, engineers, signallers, logisticians, medics and military police based at Colchester, Woodbridge and Catterick – before getting on the road. 13 Air Assault Support Regiment Royal Logistic Corps loaded up supplies that are kept ready at the brigade’s base at Merville Barracks in Colchester for short notice operations.
All the soldiers, vehicles and stores came together at the Joint Air Mounting Centre at South Cerney in Gloucestershire for final airworthiness checks, with planning for the mission happening simultaneously.”
You can read more here.
‘Global Response’ well that must be a prime capability to cut, didn’t they get the memo we’re not going global with our armed forces anymore. 😀 . They need to rebrand quickly to ‘Regional Response’ or perhaps ‘Just Over the Road Response’😀
Global response meanwhile, at home? Oh dear.
Labour are not in yet and hopefully their rhetoric is just that.
Trouble is the position they take lowers the bar,Tories could easily decide it can save money by reverting to regional defence posture. The reason why the Tories have been able to cut is because the opposition has also been week on defence. At the last election, on defence, Tories offered a weak position, but it was a heck of a lot better than the alternative. We need an opposition which is strong on defence irrespective of who’s in opposition. They need to be making defence short comings of the government in power front and central so its visible to voters.… Read more »
Did IR23 and its related DCP say that our forces would not go global anymore? I must have missed that.
Was a having a bit of joke about the state of our armed, hence the just Over the Road part in my original comment. My second comment to Daniele is just a gripe at the political class and how they’re only going to be as good on defence as the opposition will let them get away with. For instance do you think having JC as the opposition leader allowed the Tories to strengthen or weaken defence of the UK. I think we all know the answer.
Good point about JC. If HMG’s ‘Loyal Opposition’ was not bothered about Defence and neither was the electorate, then the Tory Government can cut and cut, and no-one really objects.
Problem is with JC and defence cuts he was probably no happy they didn’t go deep enough:).
I hope when the Tories are in opposition later this year, they hold Labour to account. Trouble is political class tend to use the last sitting government as their bench mark. So we tend to go ‘well when you were in office you were bad so we will measure ourselves by that low standard’. Beyond us actually getting into shooting war with peer adversary I’m not sure we’ll see any tangible conviction from our politicians.
Leaving the back door open whilst you go somewhere else isn’t very bright
Great we can deploy some light equipt troops, no armour back up, what a joke who at the MOD ie heads of the Army really believes this spin. They should hang their heads in shame that they in 20 years have ruined the Army and stood by and none NOTHING. ,
But not all situations require heavy forces that can only be delivered by strategic sea lift..so many geographies and situations require quickly deployed light troops…a very good example is the northern flanks….heavy armour is only of limited use in some of those areas..it’s why Norway only has around 36-50 operational MBTs at anyone time even though it has a large boarder with Russia..and Finland a county utterly obsessed with defence and having the ability to turn almost every citizen into a part of the war effort only has 200MBTs as well as a boarder with Russia…these places are bad for… Read more »
Just as well as most of our heavy forces vehicles should be in a museum. I fully understand about light forces my missed point was we do not have much else to offer any way, on paper yes in the real world no. Any one who says we have the heavy stuff for a Div is clearly off their meds or already locked up.
Indeed we should/need be able to deploy a full armoured division with fires and support…but the airmobile brigade is an equally important complement that goes places other elements cannot..it’s the same reason we need a to maintain an amphibious brigade level capability as well… really a minimum standard for a full effort should be 1) be an armoured division via strategic sea lift. Time frame battle group immediately, (within 30 days) , 1 brigade 1-3 months and division at 3 months. 2) airmobile brigade. Timeframe battlegroup immediately and full brigade within 30 days 3) royal marine brigade. Timeframe, 1 commando… Read more »
I am not sure we could ever deploy a whole/complete Division ever, well not one that is not on the back of an AA van. It would take the stripping out of the whole army to equip and man it, and then what we do for Ammo after 10 days, use hard language?
That was my point we are a spent force under gunned, and we simply do not have enough working kit to do it.
And the blame lies where?
Well blames lies with the the government of the last 14 years..as well as the whole political establishment that has done nothing to try and educate the population to the risks or mitigate them in anyway.
So the heads of the army over 14 years are blame free, they stood up for the Army, or did keep quite until they left the job. Its the Army that ask what to buy/up grade etc so why is most of our kit so out dated, clapped out or years over due,
The reality Martin is that the political leadership of the county set the direction and tone as well as the budgeted. I can only comment on my area…healthcare ( emergency care mainly as well as a side line in civil contingency) and as a senior manager of an executive agency that reports to a government department I can tell you that the last 14 years have seen a shift to almost complete command and control..where the level of political interference is huge and the abilities of individuals agencies to set agendas has been very significantly reduced. Finally you must always… Read more »
yes and my boss was the CGS etc and he and his followers failed the Army as have many high ranks, they may not get all the things they ask for, ie the numbers etc but why was nothing up date for over 20 years, The secretary of state does not pick the kit he may have. Yes he has a say in numbers bought etc but the ARMY picks the kit, its specs,. Name a tracked vehicle that has entered service new in the last 25 years i mean new type etc not a follow on of CVR (T),… Read more »
Hi Martin, I don’t disagree but in the end the person ultimately responsible is the Secretary of State..it’s his job to hold seniors to account. I don’t disagree that procurement has been woeful..but in the end who decides that 5billion of taxpayers money is spent on updating challenger 2..it’s the Secretary of State for defence and the treasury, not however is in charge of the army at any specific time. When it comes to the big questions it’s aways the politicians that decide the strategic direction..everyone else just implements.
Agreed, but i feel some times those at the top in the Army seem to escape any blame, I get they only get what they are told they can have numbers and spec wise but failing to up grade kit is on their watch. Failing to buy kit/ammo, reduction in man power is the Governments fault.
indeed, but I think the big problem is that the political masters essentially want senior leaders who tell them it’s “all fine”..they are not really interested in actually seeing if something is failing or not and changing..so what you get is an entire structure of “yes sir it’s all fine sir” people instead of leaders who challenge and point out what is not right….I’ve had it myself…I walked out of a job and essentially limited my career when I was told to essentially bury and down grade a problem because no one wants to hear about things not working….I said… Read more »
Trust me the Army is the same, its put up or shut up was going more that way before I completed my 22 years. It was say something positive or say nothing. Problems were not wanted. That is at most levels in the Army, who’s fault is that. After all lead by example used mean something. Its poor leadership, that starts at the top never know so many yes men in the army its ruined it, effected moral, retention. No one with rank wants to here it or cares, warm words but never any action. And if bring up a… Read more »
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I’d like to see the formation of the UKDF properly looked at. Very few nations can afford three cutting edge armed forces with land sea and air forces. It’s taken a long time for Canada to get their model sorted out, but now that they have, they have a lean, mean fighting machine with top quality kit and no funny ideas about motherships and the like getting in the way. Start with the merger of the fleet air arm and the RAF we don’t need two air forces that are constantly arguing about. Who gets to play with what.SAS? AND… Read more »
I think the FAA should lead on carrier aviation and the RAF on land-launched air power…or is that too weird and controversial?
Too much Deadwood exists in the MOD and it must 5 cleared out.
CR2 update aka CR3 is costing £800m, not £5bn.
True..it was more of an indicative statement in that…it’s the sec of state and treasury that make the big decisions on spend and budgets…not the army, they just implement.
Can’t just blame the Tories, although it’s easier when labour were last in charge, the whole thing was a mess.
It’s been a general malaise to be honest…although I blame the tories for not reacting to the massive geopolitical shit that happened from around 2014.
I agree that our heavy (and medium) armour is elderly and has had little if anything by way of frequent and significant upgrades – but it does exist…and we would deploy it if we had to!
Not sure how much we could deploy in a push. However 3/5 years we will have a lot of great kit, but just now its a bit on not top tear side still better almost all Russian kit, just not a lot of it.
If the right Artillery replacement is bought and proper air defence then we should have some of the best equipment in the world.
The chance to get it right is there if the right moves are made in time and right numbers.
Not sure if it is true that the army don’t have a lot of kit. The army has reduced in manpower terms once or twice a decade, but the kit has not been sold, gifted or scrapped quite at the same rate. We have for example, on the active list: 213 CR2s, 625 Warriors, 99 Vikings, 746 FV432 Mk3 Bulldogs, 1480 PM Vehs, 212 Arty pieces (57 AS-90, 126 LG, 29 MLRS), 148 Cbt Engr equipments (Titan, Trojan, Terrier, M3 rig), 47 Apaches, 14108 support/liaision/log vehicles This list is not of course exhaustive. There is also kit on the inactive… Read more »
Not too sure when the army says things on its active list are ready to be used. If there were 200 C2 even working etc I,d be surprised. 29 mlrs, we bought 64 . I know for a fact active list what we hold or have on strengh is not what is deployable. I wish it was different but its not. Over 60 C2 hulls were scrapped hence the drama about converting them to C3 with out effecting the active fleet. We had 97 AS80 30 were gifted not replaced and they were not war stock
I was an Equipment Support Manager (ESM) in the Tank Systems Support (TSS) IPT in Andover. Kit on the active list has an assigned unit and/or role – and is declared internationally under CFE rules. It does not mean that all are ready to be used. As I said, I would expect about 70% to be ready for use, with the balance requiring some (or a lot of) work by driver and/or REME to make it ready to be used. Vehicles that have been scrapped are obviously neither on the active list or the non-active list – they no longer… Read more »
But the current model of our forces is out of date and a muddle. Who is REALLY in charge? At the MOD?
i wounder if the CDS is a puppet, or yes man or just plan given up, or not interested. The shambles the Army is in has to be clear to see but no one says it, no one address it. Its like just bluff and spin and it hope no one notices and it might go away. No wounder more leave than join. The structure of the Army its kit, lack of kit is because its 30 year behind current thinking. its been changed, re shaped etc ever few years and its mess. Our Air Defence and Artillery are the… Read more »
Unfortunately we have also dramatically reduced our specialist forces to reinforce the northern flank. It is not a pretty picture.
Expeditionary minded institutio ? No, it’s time to get back to the basics of the defense of the whole natio.HERE. not in some far flung fleapit that we can’t get to,because we’ve sold or retired what we need to do with.
To be fair Martin, even when we had 3 Armoured Divisions we also had 5 Airborne Brigade, who are now this lot.
The capability exists and is necessary and welcome.
Now if you were commenting on a lack of firepower or assets in 16AA Bde then that is open to debate.
This force is for rapid deployment by air, it does not use armour. If in a wider operation abroad armour was needed then they could be shipped or airlifted in the case of lighter types.
My main point is i doubt we could deploy a full Armoured Div fully manned it would empty the rest of the Army. I do think in about 5 years the whole army will have great kit if all options are taken that are talked about. Just not sure of the manning issues.
Yes light troops if well kitted out can be very use full and get there fast, but as always i worry about the ammo stocks and some equipment gaps, layer air defence, drone protection,
Indeed, we cannot. A Division should have three manoeuvre Brigades, as you know. 12 and 20 plus the DRSB which as it stands is a DAG with recc added to make the Brigade count look bigger is not a Division.
16 AA Bde Combat Team provides the land component command of a joint and multi-domain sovereign Global Response Force (GRF). It is the army’s high readiness force and is a light force.
Within it, it has a very high readiness BG – currently 2RGR.
It therefore makes sense to check their readiness.
The brigade has no heavy or medium armour – its not meant to have any – it’s a light formation, quick and easy to deploy. Is that a joke? Why? Where is the spin?
all we seem to have is very good light forces, great as long are used to take on the same, as for heavy forces i’d be less sure we could fill and fully man all requirements.
I am not sure why you think we only have light forces. We have three brigades with heavy and medium equipment in 3 Div. Granted it is not all new and/or upgraded equipment.
I am not aware that 3 Div is more undermanned than any other part of the Field Army, ie the lighter forces. There will be some under-manning of course due to adverse recruitment and retention figures.
I know we do not have just light forces but they are head line grabber just now to hide the fact we would empty the rest of the Army to send a FULL strength fully manned Div any where. That is if could find all the working vehicles for it and the Ammo for more than 10 days. Considering C2, and 30 Rarden cannon rounds are no longer made. The CVR (T) fleet is retired, we have no got Archer operational yet, AS 90 is below its required numbers in service, Warrior is down by over 150 vehicles even though… Read more »
For sure we would have to top up 3 Div massively to fill manpower gaps – we always robbed Peter to pay Paul before a significant deployment. In the first Gulf War 28 Engr Regt and its Regt Wksp REME (my command) had to send ‘reinforcements’ to enable 35 Engr Regt and Wksp to deploy. It was once said that we could not deploy a warfighting Div (3 Div) until 2025 and I understand that has now been quietly slipped back to 2030 – its a disgrace. The ammo is a massive issue, I am sure – perhaps our biggest… Read more »
Most vehicles if not deployable will await spares it was a massive issue when was in, some kit we have there are no new spares jus reconditioned parts or in some cases like MLRS no longer made any more as every one else had up graded. My Regt (39 Regt RA) at any one time was a full Bty short of kit, one Bty was totally with out kit on a rotation. Why? i do not know. Ammo is the biggest problem some is not made any more and we gave so much away we are not in good place… Read more »
Vehicles on the active list (ie they are assigned to a unit or role) – if they are not usable then it is because they are A/S, A/L or A/F – ie awaiting spares, labour or facilities.
Shortage of spares is one of the biggest problems especially with equipment that is 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 years old.
I also agree your point about ammo which is not made.
The army’s sustainability is very suspect.
Agreed kit is so old it it near impossible to maintain now, the new kit will fix that but the Ammo issue is i fear the biggest let down, stocks of Ammo cost money,
I hear a lot of talk building up stocks but see little contracts signed yet another Government/Mod spin?
No matter that it is very difficult, the User and REME have to maintain everything in the army’s inventory, no matter that it might be up to 60 years old.
I have not followed the story about replenishing or building stocks of anything including ammo – but I doubt there is much good news. It is all rather depressing.
Easier said than done, you can only fix, maintain kit if you have all the spares back up, which is very limited in todays Army. You can not make a purse out of pigs ear. Most of the problem is not crew or REME related its simply lack of spares. The whole make do and mend/self help is why we are in this mess, we keep hiding problems and issues to keep those at the top happy, is very, very much how things have become. Top Brass do not like problems, so no one wants tell them, instead we just… Read more »
Yep, I was REME for 34 years. Spares for the old kit was always the biggest problem, which accounts for the increasing amount of cannibalisation.
When I was serving, we always sent weekly equipment availability reports up the Chain of Command – looks like they never got to the very top!
Not sure but i did wonder if every thing got to the top or was filtered out, so only good news got there just i found most very senior officers not in touch with the reality.
I now remember the term – WEAR – Weekly Equipment Availability Report. It went up the REME Chain and the G3 chain.
Our remit then was that you had to have at least 70% of key battle-winning equipment available, rising to 90% after 24-48hrs concerted work by the User and REME, assuming spares were available!
There were several ways to get those spares – that’s another story.
Correction – the 150 ‘missing’ Warriors cannot be because that number were re-deployed into the recce role. Must be another reason they have been taken off the active list. Puzzling.
The whole upper decision makers at the MOD is a shambles. Who are they? The MOD is not fit for purpose and the curtains should be drawn and the doors locked. The. Start again. All these ‘fads’ and here today and gone tomorrow ideas should be replaced by a clear policy that DOES have the nations safety as the number one priority.ive written to herr bumble master schapps and the local M P. I’d hope that we could all do it.
Better get ready or you’ll miss the beginning of the show! We can foresee many military deployments in Ukraine or in any threatened nation of Europe. Produce as much as you can, their will be a lot to give in the picnic 😉 Joy to give, pleasure to receive… Starts in 2025, the ramp-up is on. Soon, we will have only propaganda in newspapers in my country. France and Europe are set to the test of their relevance in history. Hope we can count on brother in arms. USA is the Roma of the late empire, USA is leaving Europe.… Read more »
There is currently a huge political movement to rescue hundreds of thousands of Gazans and bring them to the Uk . Maybe the Government is getting ready to rescue all these peaceful people fly them to the Uk where they will be afforded a new life where they will benefit the United Kingdom with their gratitude. (from 2 days ago) Call for Ukraine-style visa scheme for Palestinians in Gaza with family in UK A letter signed by almost 60 charities, law firms and organisations will be sent to the home secretary calling for the creation of a Ukraine-style visa… Read more »
Good idea. We can swap them for our Zionist loving collaborators, I mean, friends. They must surely want to return to the promised land now they’ve beaten everyone there, right?
Are you trying to destroy women’s rights and lgbt rights everywhere?
The 75 Yr old Muslim/Arab/Persian war to genocide the Jews of Israel is all about hatred of unmuslim values such as those and democracy/secular reason.
Now you want to bring the most evil Facist shit on the planet, the people who elected Hamas, to the UK to protect them from justice.
The ones currently committing genocide are the Zionist scum that you support, that’s on you and your conscience, though I doubt you have one.
Pleiades wrote: “”Good idea. We can swap them for our Zionist loving collaborators, I mean, friends. They must surely want to return to the promised land now they’ve beaten everyone there, right?”” Interesting comment, a quick check reveals that since 1948 (and the birth of Israel) and using the higher end of the deaths listed, and including the latest bunfight, Israel has the deaths of around 85K Palestinians (that includes the 1948 war where 7 Arab nations invaded Israel from in which to push the Jew into the sea under the mantra of “from the river to the sea.” Palestine… Read more »
Yawn, just de rigeur standard Daily Fail tactics to justify your own prejudice. And I distinctly said “Zionist” which, as you should know, is *not* the same as “Jew”. Though why people cannot even say the word “Jew” without the right trash snowflakes getting offended, I don’t know – oh actually, I do: It’s to shut down debate about the actions of the “chosen people” – they’re obviously too precious to ever criticise meaningfully. As to your regurgitation of ‘muslim’ atrocities – is that really what you’re reduced to? We can all bring up lists of what various people of… Read more »
Israel is been a beacon of democracy and human rights in the Middle East. Thats why the Muslim world see it as a threat, as do the gangsters who control most of the global south, and socialists world wide.
Thats why we have people like you criticising them for defending themselves, even though they are showing quite saintly restraint compared to us fighting the Nazis, and the threat they have faced everyday for the last 75yrs is far worse than the one we faced from the Nazis.
A beacon for democracy and human rights. Including locking up people with no formal sentencing, where do you think they got the hostages, sorry prisoners for the exchange they had earlier in the conflict? Oh and targeting aid workers who have formally given their whole aid route and information. Funny that the previous conflicts are always brought up, “Oh we did worse in Dresden, its only acceptable for them to do the same unless it surpasses cause they’re showing such great mercy”. Also you’re a fool if you think the middle east is aiming for their downfall. Who do you… Read more »
Hopefully they went off with a few hundred fpv drones and other drone stuff , maybe a drone platoon or drone company support group . Heavily kitted up with anti drone defence 🙄🙂
Whatever level of threat arises, we need tough light troops that can go in swiftly and hold the line, until reinforcrments and heavier kit can be shipped there. 16 Air Aslt Bde is an ideal formation for the task, as it can be quickly airlifted, ferried in by helicopter or landed from the sea. Whatever our weaknesses in heavy armoured infantry, which are many, 16 Air Aslt and 7 Lt Mech Bdes are valuable components of our force structure. ‘Global Response Force’ is over-the-top as a title, the usual puffery from the politicians and MOD spinmeisters. It is a Quick… Read more »
Spot on. First post of common sense regards this formation I’ve read here.
So how is deployment of Light, Heavy Forces or Surface Force going to work now that the Members of the Nautilus Union just voted 79% for strike action due to pay ? So no RFA ships for the LRG, fleet Tankers or anything else. They have had a 4.5% offer but as rises haven’t kept up with inflation in real terms a 30% cut since 2010. Never been a fan of strikes, but I can’t say I blame them ! They take large, slow vessels which are full of fuel, food and explosives into dangerous situations and treat them with… Read more »
Despite numerous cuts to the RAF ( and the rest of our armed forces) they still manage to perform capabilities not many others could achieve, I’ve recently purchased my ticket for RAF Cosford airshow this June, looking forward to a new Red arrows display & a full display of the awesome F35!!
Correct. 16 AAB are also dropping and airlanding into Estonia later this year to test the deployment capability.
Global? Utter nonsense wr don’t have numbers to deploy big amounts for of people and equipment long distance. This kind of folly is expensive and is nothing.more than a desktop game to keep the Deadwood in the MOD busy