Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery
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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:
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[edit] 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.
- 1st Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery - this is a close support regiment attached to the 7th Brigade at Enoggera Barracks in Queensland. It is equipped with the L119 Howitzer Field Gun.
- 4th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery - this is a close support regiment attached to the 3rd Brigade at Townsville in Queensland. It is equipped with the L119 Howitzer Field Gun.
- 107 Field Battery
- 108 Field Battery
- A Field Battery
- 8th/12th Medium Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery - this is a general support regiment attached to the 1st Brigade at Palmerston in the Northern Territory. It is equipped with the M198 Howitzer.
- 16th 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 RBS-70 Surface to Air missile.
- 131st Surveillance and Target Acquisition Battery, Royal Australian Artillery - this is a single battery employed in the surveillance and target acquisition mission. It is located at Enoggera Barracks in Queensland and will form part of the 20th Surveillance and Target Acquisition Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery when that Regiment becomes operational.
[edit] Army Reserve
- 2nd/10th 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 and M2A2 Field Gun. The 2nd/10th is the foster unit of the 36th ACU.
- 3rd 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.
- 7 Field Battery
- 6th/13th 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
- 7th 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.
- 23rd 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.
[edit] 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 trialled with a view to replacement of some 155 mm M198 medium guns and most 105 mm L119 and M2A2 field guns. m-land-17-artillery-replacement-gets-goahead/index.php Defense Industry Daily has a report.
- 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.
