Army 2020 Refine

Army 2020 Refine is the name given to an ongoing restructuring of the British Army after the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, and in particular its fighting brigades.

Army 2020 Refine
Structure of the British Army after the "Army 2020 Refine" reform (click to enlarge)

According to the British Army, the post-SDSR 2015 Army 2020 plan is called "Army 2020 Refine".[1] The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 announced that the structure of the Reaction and Adaptable Forces would further change, in an evolution of the previous Army 2020 plan. The main changes of Army 2020 Refine are:

  • 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.[2]
  • 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 will be established, comprising a mix of regulars and specialist capabilities from the reserves, that are able to contribute to strategic communications, tackle hybrid warfare and deliver better battlefield intelligence.[3]

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 [Strike] brigades will have two AJAX regiments and probably two Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) battalions as well." There will be around 50 to 60 Ajax vehicles per Strike Brigade.[4]

A December 2016 written statement[5] stated that the first Strike Brigade to form would consist of:

Other units such as 1 Regiment RLC, 1 Close Support Battalion REME, 3 Medical Regiment and 21 Engineer Regiment will provide close support to this Strike Brigade.[6] 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery and 4th Regiment Royal Artillery are assigned to the Strike Brigades.

Specialised Infantry Group

A total of five Specialised Infantry battalions, around 300 personnel strong, to be formed from:[7][8]

Other changes

Several units were to be rationalised, with all manpower in those units being redeployed to other areas of the Army in its refined structure. These were originally:

However, 35 Engineer Regiment was retained and reformed as an explosive ordnance and search regiment.[10] 32nd Regiment, Royal Artillery, was also retained in October 2019.[11][12]

The Scottish and Prince of Wales' Divisions of Infantry merged, incorporating The Royal Regiment of Scotland, The Royal Welsh Regiment and The Royal Irish Regiment. This administrative division will be called the Scottish, Welsh and Irish Division. The Mercian Regiment from the Prince of Wales’ Division joined with the Yorkshire Regiment and the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment in the King's Division.

Foxhound-equipped units will no longer be assigned those vehicles but will only have them available before deployment or operations.[13]

11th Signal Brigade has reassigned from 6th Division to 3rd Division as of 16 October 2020.[14][15]

Field Army restructuring 2019

The Field Army was restructured in July/August 2019 as set out below.[16][17][18] It continues to be restructured.

See also

References
  1. "Army Information Sub-Strategy (2015 – 2018)" (PDF). British Army. November 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  2. "Daily Hansard". HM Government. 23 November 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  3. "National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015" (PDF). HM Government. November 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  4. "Oral evidence - SDSR 2015 and the Army - 14 Jun 2016". Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  5. "Strategic Defence and Security Review - Army: Written statement - HCWS367". Hansard. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  6. "Soldier Jan 2017".
  7. "Oral evidence: SDSR 2015 and the Army, HC 108". Hansard. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  8. "Specialised Infantry Group". British Army. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  9. "Strategic Defence and Security Review - Army:Written statement - HCWS367". www. parliament.uk. UK Hansard. 15 December 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  10. UK Ministry of Defence (31 January 2017). "Further supplementary evidence submitted by the Ministry of Defence". parliament.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  11. "32 Regiment Royal Artillery - Wessex Gunners". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  12. "Soldier Magazine October 2020". Soldier Magazine. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  13. "UK reorganises Foxhound units". IHS Janes. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  14. @3rdUKDivision (16 October 2020). "Today we welcome 11th Signals & West Midlands Bde to @3rdUKDivision.@R_Signals soldiers enable our command & control systems & are now with us at the forefront of national operations. Welcome to the Iron Division!@BritishArmy@3UKDivComdSM @11SigWMBde" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  15. "11th Signal Brigade". army.mod.uk. British Army. 16 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  16. "Army restructures to confront evolving threats". British Army. Upavon. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  17. Burgess, Sally (1 August 2019). "British Army to train cyber spies to combat hackers and digital propaganda". Sky News. London. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  18. Nicholls, Dominic (1 August 2019). "British Army to engage in social media warfare as new cyber division unveiled". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
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