OPERATIONAL DEPLOYMENTS
While there are no ‘hot’ operational deployments, events in Ukraine have meant that our troops deployed to the Baltic states are quite close to the Russian border, which gives an added purpose to their deployment.
Plain based troops provide the bulk of the NATO Estonian battlegroup, with first 1 MERCIAN and then the Royal Tank Regiment providing the command element, supported by other units during the year.
32 Regiment RA deployed UAS detachments to the force in Kosovo, and the King’s Royal Hussars deployed on exercise to support the NATO Lithuanian battlegroup.
NON OPERATIONAL DEPLOYMENTS
Our units trained and did adventurous training across the world.
The furthest deployments saw First Fusiliers in Fiji, while 32 Regiment RA exercised in Japan and the Queen’s Royal Hussars detached officers to India.
Many units trained in the United States, several in France and Germany, while adventurous training took place in Namibia, Cyprus, and Gibraltar, with soldiers currently ski training in France and Norway.
EQUIPMENT
While the troubled introduction of Ajax caught the headlines, with soldiers from the Household Cavalry Regiment, the first unit to receive Ajax, suffering medical discharges and some 30 soldiers with noise and vibration-related symptoms during a late-November exercise, all training on Ajax was suspended in December.
First Fusiliers continue to re-equip with Boxer, and 19 Regiment RA conducted the first live firing of the Archer 155mm SP gun in July.
First Fusiliers conducted UAS training in Estonia, while 32 Regiment trained with their new UAS Stalker in the US and 26 Regiment RA received their new Dart 250 attack drones.
KING’S GURKHA ARTILLERY
In April, it was announced that a new regiment was to be formed, the King’s Gurka Artillery, and the first Gurkha soldiers to transfer arrived in Larkhill in June, with new recruits arriving at Catterick in the summer.
ROYAL VISITS
As Colonel-in-Chief of the Mercian Regiment, Prince William visited the battalion in Estonia in March, and the Duchess of Edinburgh visited 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion REME on their 25th Anniversary in Tidworth, and paid two visits to 5 RIFLES in Bulford.