16th Regiment Royal Artillery

16 Regiment Royal Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Regiment of Artillery in the British Army. It currently serves in the air defence role, and is equipped with the Rapier FSC Short Range Air Defence (SHORAD) missile system and the Land Environment Air Picture Provision (LEAPP) system. One of its Rapier Batteries is always deployed to the Falkland Islands.

16 Regiment Royal Artillery
Active1947–present
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch British Army
RoleAir defence
Size6 Batteries
471 personnel[1]
Part of7 Air Defence Group
Garrison/HQBaker Barracks, Thorney Island
Nickname(s)The Invicta Gunners
EquipmentRapier Field Standard C, Land Environment Air Picture Provision (LEAPP)
Gunners from 16 Regiment, Royal Artillery, set up a Rapier FSC Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) system at Blackheath, London, on 2 May 12, as part of Exercise Olympic Guardian

History

The regiment was established in 1947 when 2nd Coast Regiment Royal Artillery was retitled 16 Coast Regiment Royal Artillery.[2] As 16 Light Air Defence Regiment it was deployed to Borneo in 1965.[2] It undertook tours in Northern Ireland during the Troubles in 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1979, 1988 and 1993 and 14 Battery took part in the Falklands War in 1982.[2]

The regiment was renamed 16th Regiment RA in 1993 whilst stationed in Napier barracks in Dortmund having been there since 1992

In 1995 the regiment was relocated back to England from Germany, having previously been stationed in Kirton in Lindsey (85-92). They arrived in Woolwich and were stationed at Royal Artillery barracks. 14 Battery deployed to the Maze prison and West Belfast at the end of the summer in 96. The Rapier FSC was bought into action in 1997 replacing tracked rapier FSB throughout the regiment. The working garages at Centaur barracks were replaced with Napier Lines which were sited alongside the main hub RA barracks in 1998. The regiment then deployed to South Armagh to start its final tour of Northern Ireland before the peace process was carried out. The next deployment was to America (Texas) in 99 to take part in a huge multi national air defense exercise in White Sands whilst based on Fort Bliss. A UN tour to Cyprus marked the start of the new millennium for the regiment based in Nicosia with overall control of sector 2 and the UN commanders reaction force roles were occupied.

In August 2007, the Regiment relocated to St George's Barracks in Rutland from Woolwich. Its departure from the Royal Artillery Barracks, where the Royal Regiment of Artillery had been based since 1716, was marked with a ceremony on 25 July 2007.[3] In July 2014 the Regiment moved to Baker Barracks, Thorney Island.[4]

The Regiment was part of the 2012 London Olympics Air Security Force, deploying Rapier FSC Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) systems as part of Exercise Olympic Guardian.[5]

Role

The regiment is equipped with the Rapier Field Standard C SHORAD missile system providing local area air defence to land formations and airfields. It also provides a Land Environment Air Picture Provision capability to land formation HQs which provides a local Recognised Air Picture. Previously it also provided the now out of service Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar C-RAM and Automated Sense & Warn (AS&W) Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) capabilities on Operation TELIC (Iraq) and Operation HERRICK (Afghanistan) respectively.[6]

Batteries

The unit has the following batteries:[7]

References
  1. "Army – Question for Ministry of Defence". p. 1. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  2. "16th Regiment Royal Artillery". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  3. "End of an era for historic barracks". Newshopper.co. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011.
  4. "Thorney Island army base is boosted by 140 more troops". The News. 19 November 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  5. "Gunners test air defences for Olympic Games". Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  6. "Royal Artillery Careers". Ministry of Defence. Archived from the original on 2 May 2009. Retrieved 18 April 2009. Other operational commitments are conducted (in the tertiary role) using C-RAM - a new and highly sensitive self defence system which destroys rockets and projectiles in flight. Applicable to Gunner Rapier applicants only.
  7. "16th Regiment Royal Artillery: Battery histories". Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
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