Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery

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Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery

Active	1 March 1901 – Present
Country	Australia
Branch	Army
Type	Artillery
Role	Field Artillery (8 regiments) Air Defence (1 regiment) Surveillance and Target Acqusition (1 regiment)
Size	10 regiments
Nickname	The 10 Mile Snipers
Motto	Quo Fas et Gloria Ducunt (Whither right and glory lead)
March	Quick - Royal Artillery Quick March Slow - Royal Artillery Slow March
Anniversaries	1st August. Regimental Birthday.
Commanders
Captain-General	HM The Queen
Insignia
Identification symbol	Red over blue.

The Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery, normally referred to as the Royal Australian Artillery (RAA), is descended from the original colonial artillery units prior to Australia's federation. Australia’s first guns were landed from HMS Sirius and a small earthen redoubt built, near the present day Macquarie Place, to command the approaches to Sydney Cove. The deployment of these guns represents the origins of artillery in Australia. These and subsequent defences, as well as field guns, were operated by marines and the soldiers of infantry regiments stationed in Australia. The first Royal Artillery unit arrived in Australia in 1856 and began a succession of gunner units which ended with the withdrawal of the imperial forces in 1870 resulting in the raising of 'A' Field Battery, NSW Artillery in 1871. The First World War saw the raising of 60 field, 20 howitzer and two siege batteries along with the heavy and medium trench mortar batteries. Until 19 September 1962 the Australian Artillery was referred to as the 'Royal Australian Artillery', however on this date HM Queen Elizabeth II granted the RAA the title of the 'Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery'. The Regiment today consists of Regular and Reserve units:

1 Regular Army
2 Army Reserve
3 Future development
- 3.1 Land 17 artillery replacement
- 3.2 Land 19 Short Range Air Defence
4 Traditions
5 Affiliations
6 Order of precedence
7 See also
8 References

[edit] Regular Army

Unlike their British and Canadian relations, there are no regiments of horse artillery in the order of battle of the Royal Australian Artillery. The Australian Regular Army came into being in 1947 and prior to this artillery units were predominately militia based. The one permanent artillery unit was 'A' Field Battery which formed in 1871. Prior to the Second World War specialist coastal artillery units were established at strategic locations around the coastline, however these were progressively phased out by the 1950s. During the Second World War, the RAA raised some 50 regiments of anti-tank, anti-aircraft, field, medium and coastal units with all unts engaged in combat throughout the war.

Australian Army Arms and Services

Combat Arms

Royal Australian Armoured Corps
Royal Australian Infantry Corps
Australian Army Aviation
Special Air Service Regiment
Combat Support Arms
Royal Australian Artillery
Royal Australian Engineers
Royal Australian Corps of Signals
Australian Army Intelligence Corps
Combat Services
Royal Australian Chaplains Department
Royal Australian Army Medical Corps
Royal Australian Army Dental Corps
Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps
Royal Australian Army Psychology Corps
Royal Australian Corps of Transport
Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps
Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
Australian Army Legal Corps
Royal Australian Corps of Military Police
Royal Australian Army Pay Corps
Royal Australian Army Educational Corps
Australian Army Public Relations Service
Australian Army Catering Corps
Australian Army Band Corps
Training Corps
Corps of Staff Cadets

The present School of Artillery (completed in 1998) is located in Puckapunyal in central Victoria and maintains modern training facilities. The School of Artillery is co-located with the Australian Army's Headquarters Combined Arms Training Centre. Major units of the Royal Australian Artillery include:

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.
- 101 Medium Battery
- 103 Medium Battery
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.
- 110 Battery
- 111 Battery
20th Surveillance and Target Acquisition Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery - Equipped with weapon locating radars, meteorology and survey troops, and Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, it is located at Enoggera Barracks in Brisbane Queensland.
- 131 Surveillance and Target Acquisition Battery
- 132 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battery

[edit] Army Reserve

Artillery Memorial, Canberra

2nd/10th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery - This is a general support regiment attached to 4th Brigade at St Kilda in Victoria.
- 22 Field Battery Dandenong
- 38 Field Battery Geelong
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.

M198 Howitzers from 8/12 Medium Regiment firing during an exercise in 2001

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] Future development

The Royal Australian Artillery coordinates and plans Joint Offensive Support for the Australian Defence Force and is presently studying options that will see significant changes in its structure for the future. The RAA applies the latest technologies to maximise the effectiveness of the extant fleet of towed guns. The RAA is further studying options to upgrade and update ammunition and fuzes to be used with the present and future gun fleets.

There are no presnt plans for expansion of the RAA as part of the Army's Hardened and Networked Army project. However the Australian Army will invest considerably in the re-equipment, restructuring and re-rolling of various RAA units. Current Australian Army planning calls for Regular Army RAA units to be structured and equipped with highly mobile, longer ranging and less manpower intensive weapon systems that are to be fully digitally networked by 2012.

[edit] Land 17 artillery replacement

This programme is trialling new systems with a view to replacement of all 155 mm M198 medium guns and 105 mm L119 and M2A2 field guns as well as the adoption of an integrated digital fire control network structure.^[1] The project has several hundred million dollars allocated for the purchase of new guns, through life support and maintenance, replacement infrastructure, retraining of personnel and provision of simulation and training systems. However, Land 17 does not allow for the purchase of new guns in sufficient quantity to re-equip the Army Reserve. Final short listed contenders for Land 17 gun replacement are:

SP Guns:

PzH 2000 155mm SP Gun (Germany/Netherlands).
K9 Thunder 155mm SP Gun (South Korea).
G6 155mm SP Gun (South Africa).
Bofors ARCHER 155mm SP Gun (Sweden).

Towed Gun Replacement:

M777 155mm Lightweight Medium Howitzer (USA).
Pegasus 155mm Lightweight Medium Howitzer (Singapore) - Has limited SP maneuverability.

[edit] Land 19 Short Range Air Defence

Ground Based Air Defence has recently been equipped with additional RBS-70 systems and a significant upgrade of radar and monitoring systems. This project is forecast to meet the Army's needs until 2015 where future forecast planning calls for a significant upgrade of the longer ranging air defence capability from 2018.

Surveillance and Target Acquisition. Recently, a new regiment, 20 Surveillance and Target Acquisition Regiment, has been raised for the operation of UAVs to be used in both the reconnaissance and attack roles. The new regiment incorporates the former independent 131 Surveillance and Target Acquisition Battery, together with the newly formed UAV battery.

Land 58 AN-TPQ36 Weapon Locating Radar Life of Type Extension. This project seeks to extend the fully functional operational life of the weapon locating radars to 2015.

[edit] Traditions

Battle Honour - "UBIQUE" - Meaning 'Everywhere'.
Head of Regiment - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II - Captain General of the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery.
Motto - "QUO FAS ET GLORIA DUCUNT" - Meaning 'Whither right and glory lead'. Earlier Australian badges depicted the words 'Consensu Stabilies Australie', meaning "Australia Strong and True".
The Regimental Colours - The guns, colours serve as rallying points in battle. The rallying point in battle for Gunners is their guns. Thus the guns are the Colours.
Australian guns symbolically have the national Coat of Arms engraved on the barrels.
Troops stand to attention when being passed by the guns when on parade as the guns are the ceremonial colours of Artillery.
It is considered rude and insulting to the colours to lean on or rest against a gun.
Patron Saint - Saint Barbara, Protector from fire and explosion.
Regimental Birthday - 1st August.
Regimental Marching Tune - "British Grenadiers".
Always first in the order of march when on parade as troops on the march are always lead by their highest commander. The Queen holds the highest command rank in the Army and is also head of the Regiment of Artillery.
When addressed or referring to the group always referred to as "The Gentlemen of Artillery".
Officers wear a bursting grenade on lapels on ceremonial uniforms signifying them as Artillery men. Other ranks wear a cypher with the letters 'RAA' scrolled.
Ceremonial colours - Red over blue.
Regimental lanyard colour - White, signifying it as the first corps of the British Armies to wear lanyards.