The Formation Reconnaissance Regiment is one of two organisations currently used by cavalry regiments of the British Army. Until recently, it was known as the Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ...

Formation reconnaissance regiments, as the name would indicate, are intended to provide reconnaissance for a higher-level formation, usually a division or a heavy brigade. In a large-scale defensive operation, they would delay attacking forces, whilst screening heavier units as they moved to engage the enemy. The regiments are, currently, almost entirely equipped with vehicles of the CVR(T) family. Mixed reconnaissance patrol of the Polish Home Army and the Soviet Red Army during Operation Tempest, 1944 Reconnaissance is the military term for the active gathering of information about an enemy, or other conditions, by physical observation. ... The Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) —or CVR(T)—is a family of armored fighting vehicles in service with the British Army and others throughout the world. ...

Current use

Currently, five regiments are equipped for the formation reconnaisance role: the Household Cavalry Regiment, 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's), The Light Dragoons and The Queen's Royal Lancers. The Queen's Own Yeomanry is the sole Territorial unit equipped for this role. The Household Cavalry Regiment has an active operational role in armoured fighting vehicles which has seen them at the forefront of the nations conflicts. ... The 1st The Queens Dragoon Guards (the Welsh Cavalry) is an armoured dragoon regiment of the British Army, comprising troops from Wales, Herefordshire, and Shropshire. ... The 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Waless) is an armoured regiment of the British Army. ... The Light Dragoons is an armoured regiment of the British Army. ... The Queens Royal Lancers (The Death or Glory Boys) is an armoured regiment of the British Army. ... The Queens Own Yeomanry is an armoured regiment of the British Territorial Army consisting of five squadrons, and which bears the running fox cap badge of the old East Riding Yeomanry: A (Ayrshire (Earl of Carricks Own) Yeomanry) Squadron B (North Irish Horse) Squadron C (Fife and Forfar...

Organisation

A regiment is organised into three reconnaissance squadrons, each with three reconnaissance troops of four Scimitars and a guided weapons troop of four Strikers. The squadrons also have a support troop with four Spartan APCs, a fitter section with a Spartan and a Samson recovery vehicle and a Squadron Headquarters troop with two Land Rover 110 medium utility trucks, two Sultan command vehicles and a Samaritan ambulance. The main combat strength is thus 12 Strikers and 36 Scimitars. FV107 Scimitar is an armoured reconnaissance vehicle, although sometimes classed as a light tank used by the British Army. ... FV102 Striker is a British Army anti-tank guided missile carrier. ... FV103 Spartan is a British Army armoured personnel carrier. ... FV106 Samson is a British Army armoured recovery vehicle. ... 80-inch Series I The Series I, II, and III and Defender are 4x4 models from Land Rover (except for a few 2x4 variants built for the Royal Air Force and British Army). ... FV105 Sultan is a British Army command and control vehicle. ... The FV104 Samaritan is the British Army armoured ambulance variant of the CVR(T) family. ...

In addition to these three squadrons, a regiment also contains a Regimental Headquarters squadron, with six Sultans, a Spartan, a Samaritan and two medium utility trucks, and a Light Aid Detatchment of the REME with a Sultan, a Samson, a Spartan and a Foden recovery vehicle. The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers cap badge The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME; usually pronounced phonetically as Reemee) is a corps of the British Army that has responsibility for the maintenance of all electrical and mechanical equipment. ...

In wartime, a regiment would be increased to four reconnaissance squadrons by the activation of reserve personnel and Territorial Army Yeomanry units. One of the formation reconnaissance regiments, the Household Cavalry Regiment, has a permanent fourth squadron; this is on detatchment with 16th Air Assault Brigade. In the United Kingdom the Territorial Army is a part of the British Army composed of reserve units, or part-time soldiers. ... The Household Cavalry Regiment has an active operational role in armoured fighting vehicles which has seen them at the forefront of the nations conflicts. ... The 16 Air Assault Brigade (16 AAB) is a unit of the British Army It was formed as part of the defence reforms implemented by the Strategic Defence Review on 1 September 1999 by the merging of 24th Airmobile Brigade and elements of 5th Airborne Brigade. ...

History

During the early 1980s, there were four "Type A" armoured reconnaissance regiments as part of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), each with two medium reconnaissance squadrons of Scimitars and a close reconnaissance squadron of Scorpions. There were a further four "Type B" regiments based in the United Kingdom, earmarked for the reinforcement of BAOR; these had two medium reconnaissance squadrons, of Scimitars and Scorpions, and a close reconaissance squadron equipped with Fox armoured cars. Finally, four Yeomanry regiments of the Territorial Army were intended for home defence; these had four reconnaissance squadrons of Foxes, with a small number of Ferret armoured cars^[1]. There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). ... FV107 Scimitar is an armoured reconnaissance vehicle, although sometimes classed as a light tank used by the British Army. ... The FV101 Scorpion is a modern British light tank, part of the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) or, CVR(T) family. ... The FV 721 Fox Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (wheeled) was a 4x4 armoured car deployed by the British Army as a replacement for the Ferret scout car and the Saladin Armoured Car. ... General characteristics Length 12 ft 2 in, 3. ...

By 1986, two regular regiments were permanently stationed in Germany, and titled as Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment (Tracked) (BAOR); these had four medium reconnaissance squadrons with Scimitars, each also having an integral guided-weapons troop of Strikers. Each of these would operate with one of BAORs armoured divisions. The third armoured division had its reconnaissance regiment based in England, equipped as a Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment (Tracked) (UK); this formation had three medium reconnaissance squadrons of Scimitars and Scorpions, and a fourth guided-weapons squadron of Strikers. A fourth regiment was also equipped to this standard, and based in the UK to support NATO mobile forces. There was a third organisation for regular forces, the Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment (UK), which had two tracked reconnaissance squadrons of Scorpions and one wheeled reconnaissance squadron of Foxes. In the Territorial Army, there were two organisations, two Yeomanry Reconnaissance Regiment (BAOR) and three Yeomanry Reconnaissance Regiment (UK). The former were equipped with three or four reconnaissance squadrons of Foxes, and intended for reinforcing units based in West Germany; the latter had three or four reconnaissance squadrons of unarmoured civilian Land Rovers, and was intended solely for home defence.^[2] FV102 Striker is a British Army anti-tank guided missile carrier. ...

The 1993 Options for Change review cut the number of regular armoured reconnaisance regiments to two, with a third being created in 1995 by converting the Royal Armoured Corps training regiment^[3]. At this point, the regiments were quoted as a combat strength of 48 Scimitars and 12 Strikers; this is comparable to the current regimental structure, but for a four-squadron regiment^[4]. Options for Change was a restructuring of the British military in 1993, aimed at cutting defence spending following the end of the Cold War. ... The Royal Armoured Corps (RAC) is currently a collection of ten regular regiments, mostly converted from old horse cavalry regiments, and four Yeomanry regiments of the Territorial Army. ...

A fourth was created in the 1998 Strategic Defence Review by converting a conventional armoured regiment to the reconnaissance role^[5]. The 1998 conversion, however, saw the regiments reduced to three squadrons rather than four, with a single Yeomanry regiment for peacetime reinforcement, with the effect that the total number of operational squadrons remained the same^[6]. The Strategic Defence Review (or SDR) was a policy document produced by the Labour Government that came to power in 1997. ...

The force was increased to five regiments by the 2003 Defence White Paper, again by re-roling an armoured regiment; it is about this time that the designation Formation Reconnaissance Regiment appeared. The 2003 Defence White Paper, entitled Delivering Security in a Changing World sets out the future of the British military, and builds on the 1998 Strategic Defence Review (SDR) and the 2002 SDR New Chapter which responded to the challenges raised by the War on Terror. ...

References

1. ^ Heyman, Charles. The British Army: a pocket guide. R&F, 1980
2. ^ Gander, Terry. The Modern British Army. Patrick Stevens, 1986 (3rd edition).
3. ^ Hansard: "Front Line First" speech, Malcom Rifkind. 14 July 1994
4. ^ [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199495/cmhansrd/1995-04-27/Writtens-10.html Hansard: Nicholas Soames, written answer, 27th April 1995
5. ^ Commons research paper 98/91; the Strategic Defence Review white paper (PDF)
6. ^ Hansard: Select Committee on Defence, interviewing General Sir Roger Wheeler. 21st July 1998