Armoured regiment (United Kingdom)
Armoured regiments are units provided by the Royal Armoured Corps of the British Army.
Currently, they are battalion-sized formations equipped with Challenger 2 main battle tanks.
There are three Armoured Regiments, each equipped with 56 Challenger 2 tanks.
- Armoured Regiments (Type 56)
- Royal Tank Regiment (1st Armoured Infantry Brigade)
- 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade)
- 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade)[1]
The organisation of a Type 56 Armoured Regiment is:
- 3 sabre squadrons, each of 18 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank;
- 1 command and reconnaissance squadron.
- Headquarters Squadron
History
The first armoured regiments - known at the time as "tank battalions" - were formed in the
By the late Second World War, there were four armoured regiments in each armoured division. One, the Division's Reconnaissance Regiment, was equipped with the Cromwell tank; the other three, which were in the Armoured Brigade, were equipped with the Sherman medium tank. An exception was the 7th Armoured Division's 22nd Armoured Brigade which had a mixture of Cromwells and Sherman Fireflys (Sherman fitted with 17pdr guns).[3] Each regiment was formed of four squadrons, A, B, C and HQ. The lettered squadrons were made up of four troops of four tanks and a HQ troop. The HQ squadron was made up of command tanks and a reconnaissance troop of light tanks. In north-west Europe, during the battle of Normandy from June to August 1944, anti-aircraft tanks were part of the HQ squadron.
The 1998
Following the 2003 defence review
Type 58 armoured regiments;
- The Royal Dragoon Guards - 58 Challenger 2s, 8 CVR(T) Scimitars.
- The Queen's Royal Hussars- 58 Challenger 2s, 8 CVR(T) Scimitars.
Heavy armoured regiments;
- The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys)- 44 Challenger 2s, 22 CVR(T) Scimitars.
- The King's Royal Hussars- 44 Challenger 2s, 22 CVR(T) Scimitars.
- 2nd Royal Tank Regiment - 44 Challenger 2s, 22 CVR(T) Scimitars.
Two regiments of the
References
- ^ "Regular Army Basing Announcement" (PDF). AFF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
- ^ "Tank Battalion Organisation, Spring 1917". Archived from the original on 2009-10-25.
- ^ "AN ARMOURED REGIMENT IN 22 ARMOURED BRIGADE". WW2 Talk. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- ^ Commons research paper 98/91; the Strategic Defence Review white paper (PDF) Archived November 20, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Hansard statement, 21 July 2004