On Thursday November 25 The Defence Secretary announced plans for the Army reorganisation under the banner ‘Future Soldier’ which will affect troops based on Salisbury Plain.

The headline-catching announcement was the formation of the new Ranger Regiment who will mainly be based in Aldershot but will come under the command of Upavon based 6th Division.

Key messages included no redundancies, changes to the terms of service and no limit to promotion for those commissioned from the ranks and a Force Mental Health Team will be established.

Army Headquarters in Andover will be reduced in size by 40% and HQ Army South West will remain in Tidworth and be renamed Regional Point of Command South West.

Bulford based 3rd United Kingdom Brigade will remain the Army’s prime war fighting force and will be re-equipped by 2030 with Ajax (despite the huge problems that have been encountered with this armoured fighting vehicle), Boxer, Challenger 3, Apache helicopters and new unmanned aerial systems.

Bulford based 12 and 20 Brigades will be retitled Armoured Brigade Combat Teams, with Tidworth based 1 Strike Brigade renamed 1st Deep Recce Strike Brigade Combat Team.

1 DRSBCT will include the Household Cavalry Regiment,1st Queen’s Dragoon Guards, based in Caerwent, the Royal Lancers who will move to Tidworth in 2026, and Larkhill based 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, 19 and 26 Regiment, RA and 4 Battalion REME.

12 ABCT will retain the King’s Roya Hussars as armoured cavalry, Royal Tank Regiment equipped with Challenger 3 and two mechanised infantry battalions, 1 MERCIAN and 1 Royal Welsh and will be supported by the Royal Wessex Yeomanry.

20 ABCT will have Queen’s Royal Hussars with Challenger 3, Warminster based Royal Dragoon Guards as Armoured Cavalry and three mechanised infantry battalions, First Fusilier, 5 Rifles and 1st Battalion Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment will return to Tidworth/Bulford in 2025.

There will be no change to the Royal Engineer and Royal Signals regiments based in Perham Down.

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