(Europa) British Army

[hawkeye87]

sieht so aus, als stellten die briten was dso-ähnliches auf. von <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.janes.com/defence/news/jdw/jdw041217_1_n.shtml">http://www.janes.com/defence/news/jdw/j ... _1_n.shtml</a><!-- m -->

UK Future Army Structure creates 'Ranger' battalion
British Army chiefs have managed to save an infantry battalion being cut from the service by reroling it as a 'Ranger'-type or special forces support role battalion.

Following a week of acrimonious meetings in the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), the new plan emerged on 16 December as part of a package of measures to implement the Future Army Structure (FAS), which reduces the overall manpower ceiling of the service to some 102,000 and aims to redistribute some 10,000 personnel from infantry, armour and artillery units into low-density/high-demand specialist roles.

Under the plans, the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment (1Para), is to move from being under the direction of the infantry to be under the control of the Director of Special Forces. This could involve it relocating from its current base at Colchester, Essex, where it serves with the army's 16 Air Assault Brigade, to be near the Hereford base of 22 Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment, according to UK Chief of the General Staff General Sir Michael Jackson. The other two Parachute Regiment battalions would remain with 16 Brigade and continue to provide the lead airborne battlegroup in rotation.

No extra funding has been made available by the Treasury for the plan and Gen Jackson admitted that it would "require careful work" to pull off the plan while keeping the army within its reduced manpower ceiling and new budget.

Although the new unit was initially branded by Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon as being a "triservice organisation", Gen Jackson said the core would come from 1 Para and anyone who joined would have to re-badge to become a member of the Parachute Regiment. In another sign that the new formation was part of a last minute deal, Gen Jackson admitted details were "still to be worked out". He said the triservice element would not be a simple one-third split. One MoD source suggested that elements of the Royal Air Force Regiment that were reroling from air defence into combat search-and-rescue support forces could be assigned to the new unit.