The Australian Army, as with many other armies of nations that were formerly part of the British Empire, is structured in a similar way to the British Army, with divisions and brigades as the main formations, subdivided into regiments and battalions. As with most military forces in the modern age, the main tactical formation is the battlegroup, formed around the HQ of either an infantry battalion or armoured regiment. The Australian Army is currently capable of fielding up to nine battlegroups (one armoured, two cavalry, five infantry and one aviation), though it would not be feasible to deploy all nine battlegroups simultaneously. The 'hardened and networked' Army initiative will add two further battlegroups.[1]
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There are three to five main groupings in the new structure from 2010.[2]
1st Division — this is the main deployable formation, and contains the bulk of Australian regular forces. The divisional headquarters, located in Brisbane, has a secondary role as the Deployable Joint Force Headquarters (DJFHQ): during an operational deployment, DJFHQ is a joint formation, commanding units of the RAN and RAAF as well as the army. The 1st Division contains a total of three brigades.
Under a restructuring program known as Plan Beersheba announced in late 2011, the 1st, 3rd and 7th Brigades will be reformed as combined arms multi-role manoeuvre brigades with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (part of the 3rd Brigade) as the core of a future amphibious force.[3]
Special Operations Command is a command formation of equal status to the other commands in the ADF, but is drawn exclusively from the Army. It is a brigade sized formation responsible for all of Australia's special forces assets.
SOCOMD consists of:
Forces Command is the authority responsible for unified individual and collective training. Its headquarters are located in Sydney. It commands the 2nd Division, as well as three brigade sized formations and two training brigades.
Within the Royal Australian Armoured Corps are a total of four regular regiments, one of which is formed of a single squadron.
The regular infantry was formed in 1948 from elements of the 2nd Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF) and is composed primarily of battalions of a single large regiment, the Royal Australian Regiment. This consists of seven regular battalions:
The Royal Australian Regiment will be able to provide a total of seven battlegroups for deployment.
There is also the special forces element of the infantry. Special Operations has its own command structure, under which comes Australia's special forces units:
The Royal Australian Artillery has four active regiments, with another forming, within the regular army:
Australian Army Aviation consists of 16 Brigade (Aviation) which contains three regiments:
5 Aviation Regiment was formed from 9 Squadron and 12 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force when the role of battlefield helicopters was transferred to the Army from the Air Force.
The Corps of Royal Australian Engineers has a total of five regular regiments, plus a number of independent squadrons. Of these, three are ordinary combat engineer regiments (the equivalent of Field Regiments in the Royal Engineers), each of which is attached to a brigade. The fourth provides support for Forces Command Headquarters and the fifth is the specialist engineering support unit to the Special Operations Command.
There is a further regular unit, which consists of the army's consultative engineers, who are responsible for the planning and drafting of the engineering projects undertaken by the CERs.
The Reserve units of the Royal Australian Engineers mirrors the structure of the regular units. Each CER is attached to a Reserve brigade. The Reserve units also provide support to the regular units as required.
Within the Royal Australian Corps of Signals, there are two regiments and a number of individual squadrons, which provide communications for formations at brigade level and above:
Brigade signals squadrons are amalgamated with military police and HQ units into Combat Support Regiments, assigned to specific brigades.
These units provide the vital support to the combat arms ensuring they have all the support necessary for them to execute their mission. No one unit in any Army is able to conduct its mission without support from a wide range of Combat Support and Combat Service Support units.
Health elements are also contained within each of the Combat Service Support Battalions.
The Federation Guard is a tri-service unit that provides ceremonial guards and gun salutes.
In addition, ceremonial music support for the Army and public is provided from the Australian Army Band Corps (AABC). These bands are located in capital cities, such as Australian Army Band Sydney. Cemeronial duties for the Australian Parliament/Government and the Governor-General in Canberra are provided by the Band of the Royal Military College, Duntroon.[6] AABC bands are also attached to serving combat units, such as the Band of the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, or the Regimental Band of the 1st/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers. They primarily undertake ceremonial and entertainment duties, with some minor regimental support functions.
With the exception of the 10th Light Horse, all other Reserve regiments consist of the Regimental HQ Troop, two Sabre squadrons, A and B, and a Combat Support Squadron.
The Army Reserve infantry regiments of the Australian Army have a proud heritage dating back over almost one hundred and fifty years, including service in the Boer War, World War I and World War II.
In addition to the regular and reserve infantry, within the Australian Army are three battalion sized Regional Force Surveillance Units. These are dedicated reconnaissance units based in the north and west of Australia:
Main source of Reserve General Officer Trainees and attached to major Universities in each State. (Brigade assignations under review.)
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