
ROYAL AUSTRALIAN ARTILLERY
The Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery is
descended from the original colonial artillery units prior to Australia's
federation. Currently, the corps is divided into Regular Army and Army
Reserve units:
Regular Army
Unlike the Royal Artillery and Royal Canadian
Artillery, there are no regiments of Horse Artillery in the order of
battle of the Royal Australian Artillery.
- 1 Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery -
this is a close support regiment attached to 7th Brigade at Enoggera
Barracks in Queensland. It is equipped with the L119 Howitzer Field Gun.
- 4 Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery -
this is a close support regiment attached to 3rd Brigade at Townsville
in Queensland. It is equipped with the L119 Howitzer Field Gun.
- 8/12 Medium Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery -
this is a general support regiment attached to 1st Brigade at Palmerston
in the Northern Territory. It is equipped with the M198 Howitzer.
- 16 Air Defence Regiment, Royal Australian
Artillery - this is the Australian Army's sole air defence regiment, and
is based at Woodside in South Australia.
It is equipped with the Rapier LLAD missile and the RBS-70 Surface to
Air missile.
- 131 Locating Battery, Royal Australian Artillery -
this is a single battery employed in the surveillance and target
acquisition mission. It is attached to 11th Brigade at Enoggera Barracks
in Queensland.
Army Reserve
- 2/10 Medium Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery -
this is a general support regiment attached to 4th Brigade at St Kilda
in Victoria. It is equipped with the M198 Howitzer.
- 3 Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery -
this is a close support regiment that consists of a single battery. It
is attached to 13th Brigade at Karrakatta in Western Australia, and is
equipped with the M2A2 Field Gun.
- 6/13 Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery -
this regiment does not strictly exist; its two former batteries reverted
to independent status in 1997. Both are attached to 9th Brigade, and are
based at Launceston in Tasmania and Keswick in South Australia. They are
equipped with the M2A2 Field Gun.
- 16 Field Battery
- 48 Field Battery
- 7 Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery -
this is a close support regiment attached to 8th Brigade at Pymble in
New South Wales. It is equipped with he L119 Field Gun.
- 23 Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery -
this is a close support regiment attached to 5th Brigade at Kogarah in
New South Wales. It is equipped with the L119 Field Gun.
The Future
As of 2005, there is a major re-organisation being
undertaken of the Australian Army. For the RAA, this involves two major
projects:
- Land 17 Artillery Replacement programme, which
will see various weapons trailed with a view to replacement of the 155mm
M198 medium guns and 105mm L119 and M2A2 field guns.
- Land 19 Short Range Air Defence will see the RAA's
remaining Rapier missile systems replaced with additional RBS-70
systems.
Also, a new regiment, 20 Surveillance and Target
Acquisition Regiment, is being formed for the operation of UAVs, which
will be used in both the reconnaissance and attack roles. This will
incorporate the currently independent 131 Surveillance and Target
Acquisition Battery, together with a UAV battery.
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