40th Regiment Royal Artillery – The Lowland Gunners – was a

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

of the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. It supported 19 Light Brigade in the

field artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20t ...

role. It was structured into Fire Support Teams equipped with

MSTAR Man-portable Surveillance and Target Acquisition Radar (MSTAR) is a lightweight all-weather battlefield Doppler radar operating in the J band. It is usually used by artillery observers to acquire and engage targets in bad visibility or at nig ...

, and the regiment's three gun batteries, equipped with eighteen

L118 Light Gun The L118 light gun is a 105 mm towed howitzer. It was originally designed and produced in England for the British Army in the 1970s. It has since been widely exported. The L119 and the United States Army's M119 are variants that use a different t ...

s. The

Clan Home Clan Home (pronounced and sometimes spelt Hume) is a Scottish clan.Way, George and Squire, Romily. ''Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia''. (Foreword by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Elgin KT, Convenor, The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs). ...

tartan Tartan ( gd, breacan ) is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Sc ...

was worn by the regiment.

History

The regiment, formed in April 1947, was based at Home Lines,

Thiepval Barracks Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn, County Antrim, is the headquarters of the British Army in Northern Ireland and its 38th (Irish) Brigade. History The barracks were built in 1940. They are named after the village of Thiepval in Northern France, an i ...

Lisburn Lisburn (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

. Following the 2010 SDSR review, it was announced in July 2011 that 40 Regt would disband along with elements of 19 Light Brigade.

Batteries

*6/36 (Arcot) Battery - Re-subordinated to 4th Regiment RA as a Tac Battery, losing its guns and retaining just its forward observation parties. *137 (Java) Battery - Re-subordinated to 26th Regiment RA, however in February 2015 the Battery was placed into suspended animation. *38 (Seringapatam) Battery - Re-subordinated to 19th Regiment RA. *49 (Inkerman) Battery - Re-subordinated to the Joint Ground Based Air Defence formation as an independent sub unit and rerolled as a LEAPP Battery. It has since been resubordinated to 16th Regiment RA which also sits under

7th Air Defence Group 7th Air Defence Group (7 AD Gp) is a formation of the British Army and part of 3rd (United Kingdom) Division. It is responsible for all the army's ground based air defence assets. All of the organisation's subordinate units are drawn from the Roy ...

. 129 (Dragon) Battery RA was previously part of the regiment, and has since resubordinated to 4th Regiment RA as a Tactical Group Battery, comprising Fire Support Teams (forward observation parties) that support manoeuvre formations.

References

External links

* {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Royal Artillery regiments Field regiments of the Royal Artillery Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) 1947 establishments in the United Kingdom 2012 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Military units and formations established in 1947 Military units and formations disestablished in 2012