§ Lord Hardy of Wathasked Her Majesty's Government:
What plans they have to reorganise the Royal Artillery regiments. [HL320]
§ Lord BachWe have been looking at how to optimise the Royal Artillery to meet the demands of the new security environment.
The Army currently has two combined regular multiple launch rocket system (MLRS)/unmanned air vehicle (UAV) (Phoenix) regiments: 32 Regiment Royal Artillery based at Larkhill, Wiltshire and 39 Regiment Royal Artillery at Harlow Hill near Newcastle. Each of these regiments has two batteries of nine MLRS launchers and one battery of three troops of UAVs (Phoenix).
As a result of past successful deployments, the capability of Phoenix has become more widely recognised and valued within the military command structure. It has, therefore, been decided that a revised structure would provide a better focus for UAVs. In line with the direction set in the new chapter to the Strategic Defence Review this new structure will establish UAVs as a valuable asset for surveillance and intelligence gathering in addition to being Royal Artillery target acquisition assets to support the indirect fire system. The impact on the Royal Artillery will be the separation of these capabilities and the creation of discrete regiments: UAV (Phoenix) at Larkhill and MLRS at Harlow Hill. The reorganisation will require inter-regimental moves of complete sub-units but will not have any significant impact on the overall numbers of personnel at each site.
The field standard B2 variant of the Rapier missile system has reached the end of its useful life and will be withdrawn from service by 31 March 2003. The system is currently operated by 22 Regiment Royal Artillery, based at Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire. Following the withdrawal of the Rapier FSB2 equipment, 22 Regiment will undertake a tour in Cyprus in the infantry role during the second half of 2003 before it is disbanded in March 2004. Personnel from the regiment will be redeployed to other Royal Artillery units to support the introduction of planned new "network-centric" capabilities as described in the new chapter, including the Watchkeeper UAV.
Our future Rapier air defence capability will be based on the more advanced field standard C model operated by 16 Regiment Royal Artillery and the Royal Air Force Regiment. The capability of 16 Regiment will be enhanced by the creation of 73WA fourth battery. In addition, we plan to move 16 Regiment from Woolwich to Kirton-in-Lindsey in late 2004. It will then be close to both the Air Warfare Centre at RAF Waddington and the Joint Rapier Training Unit at Honington, bringing a number of practical benefits.