Future Army Structure (Next Steps), or FAS (Next Steps) is the name given to an ongoing review of the structure of the British Army, and in particular its fighting brigades.
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The British Government gave an indication of its proposals for the future structure of the British Army in early 2008 in a press report stating that it was considering restructuring the Army into a force of three deployable divisional headquarters and eight 'homogenous or identical' brigades, each with a spread of heavy, medium and light capabilities. This report indicated that the existing 16 Air Assault Brigade would be retained as high-readiness rapid reaction force.[1]
Subsequently it was reported that the former Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt, wanted to see the Army structured so as to extend the interval between operational tours from two to two and a half years.[2]
The future structure was announced on 19 July 2011 in a briefing paper entitled Defence Basing Review: Headline Decisions.[3] The reported structure involves five identical multi-role brigades each of around 6,500 personnel.[4]
The divisional HQs of 2nd, 4th and 5th Divisions will be disbanded by 2012 and replaced by a single formation known as UK Support Command based at Aldershot.[3]
Five large multirole Brigades will be created. The brigade structure will constitute:[5]
Combat Support and Logistics will be retained at a divisional level. It is envisaged that 19th Light Brigade, which is currently part of 3rd Mechanised Division, will be disbanded.[6]
It has been reported in the press that the possibility of cutting or merging three of the British Army's 36 regular infantry battalions is being considered as a result of budgetary pressures.[7]
British Forces in Germany will be withdrawn back to the UK by 2015.