New British Army organisation to be decided by autumn

Key decisions on how the British Army’s new brigade combat teams will fight and be organised are to be made by the autumn, according to the service’s head of strategy.

Brigadier John Clark told Janes on 5 May that this would determine the types and numbers of armoured vehicles, artillery, and other weapon systems the British Army will require in the future.

He said the UK’s Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development, and Foreign Policy and Defence Command Paper (DCP) published in March had set the higher level missions and organisation of the British Army but important decisions still have to be made on how its brigade combat teams are to be organised and operate.

An Army Board meeting at the end of June will confirm many elements of these plans and further work will unfold over the summer, according to senior army sources.

“By the end of the summer we should be in a position to say what sits within individual brigade combat teams,” said Brig Clark. “We will give out the headlines as we move into the autumn. There is an imperative to deliver this and communicate it.”

Although the formation of special operations-roled Ranger battalions dominated media coverage of the Integrated Review and DCP, Brig Clark said fielding forces capable of “high-end” offensive operations against peer threats, in coalition with allies, was still the main focus of the British Army.