7th Air Defence Group (7 AD Gp) is a formation of 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 ...

and part of

3rd (United Kingdom) Division The 3rd (United Kingdom) Division is a regular army division of the British Army. It was created in 1809 by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, for service in the Peninsular War, and was known as the ...

. It is responsible for all the army's ground based air defence assets. All of the organisation's subordinate units are drawn from the

Royal Regiment of 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 ...

. Its headquarters are located at Baker Barracks, Thorney Island.

History

A large number of light and heavy anti-aircraft regiments accompanied British Commonwealth field armies to the Western Desert (eg 45th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery), India/Burma, and North-West Europe during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. One of the postwar Army anti-aircraft formations was

7th Army Group Royal Artillery 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

(Anti-Aircraft). 7 AGRA had been established in August 1944 in Italy. Watson and Rinaldi record that 7 AGRA (AA) moved to Germany in September 1961. It became 7 Artillery Brigade (AA) with its headquarters in Gutersloh the next month. Two years earlier, 36 and 37 Regiments RA had become Guided Weapons Regiments RA equipped with the

Thunderbird Thunderbird, thunder bird or thunderbirds may refer to: * Thunderbird (mythology), a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture * Ford Thunderbird, a car Birds * Dromornithidae, extinct flightless birds ...

missile. On 1 April 1968 the two regiments were merged into 36 Regiment which had a further tour in Germany before disbandment. There were also light AA regiments equipped with 40mm Bofors guns. In 1964 'anti-aircraft' units became 'air defence' units. On 1 September 1977, 1st Artillery Brigade and 7th Artillery Brigade (Anti-Aircraft) were both disbanded, and their units absorbed by the new 1st Artillery Division which had its headquarters at

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

. The brigade appears to have been reformed as 7 Air Defence Brigade after the 1998

Strategic Defence Review The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) was a British policy document produced in July 1998 by the Labour Government that had gained power a year previously. Then Secretary of State for Defence, George Robertson, set out the initial defence policy of t ...

. One of the earliest mentions appears to have been in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

Daily Hansard for 24 February 1999. In 1999, the following units fell under command of the 7 Air Defence Brigade: * Headquarters 7th Air Defence Brigade, at Erskine Barracks, Wilton ** 16 Regiment, Royal Artillery, at

Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich, is a barracks of the British Army which forms part of Woolwich Garrison. The Royal Regiment of Artillery had its headquarters here from 1776 until 2007, when it was moved to Larkhill Garrison. History In 171 ...

(equipped with

Rapier A rapier () or is a type of sword with a slender and sharply-pointed two-edged blade that was popular in Western Europe, both for civilian use (dueling and self-defense) and as a military side arm, throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Impor ...

surface-to-air missile system) ** 22 Regiment, Royal Artillery, at Rapier Barracks, Kirton in Lindsey (equipped with

surface-to-air missile system) ** 103 (Lancashire Artillery Volunteers) Regiment, Royal Artillery (TA), HQ in St Helens (equipped with Javelin surface-to-air missiles) ** 104 Regiment, Royal Artillery (TA), HQ in Newport (equipped with Javelin surface-to-air missiles) ** 105 Regiment, Royal Artillery (TA), HQ in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

(equipped with Javelin surface-to-air missiles) By 2003, Joint Warfare Publication 3-63 Joint Air Defence, Second Edition, said:

..Headquarters 7th Air Defence Brigade (7 AD Bde HQ) is the highest level GBAD formation HQ in the British Army. It is primarily configured to command British, and other NATO nations’ assigned GBAD units subordinate to HQ Allied Command Operations (ACO) Rapid Reaction Corps (HQ ARRC). As such it is established as an element of the ARRC and works in close conjunction with the HQ ARRC Air Branch and the ARRC-affiliated AOCC (L), both of which are responsible for the overall co-ordination and planning of ARRC AD operations and airspace control. HQ 7 AD Bde is also capable of commanding GBAD units in a national role.

Joint Ground Based Air Defence Headquarters

As part of the 1998

, the decision was taken to cut and rationalise ground based air defence, retaining ground-based air defence capabilities only in one service but under a joint command structure. 7 Air Defence Brigade was reorganised as the

Joint Ground Based Air Defence Headquarters The Joint Ground Based Air Defence Headquarters or JtGBAD HQ was a joint (non-deployable), force-generating British military formation under the operational command of RAF Air Command, sitting under No.1 Group. It was formed circa 2000 and disba ...

and its RAF equivalent disbanded. The organisation was then placed under command of the RAF, but with all units being manned by 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 ...

. During this period, the only regiment under its formation was the 16th Regiment, Royal Artillery which itself in-directly attached to HQ Theatre Troops.

Reformation

Under the

Army 2020 Refine Army 2020 Refine was the name given to the restructuring of the British Army, in light of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015. Army 2020 Refine The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 announced that the structure of the Reac ...

restructuring of the British Army, the Joint Ground Based Air Defence Headquarters was disestablished and 7th Air Defence Group formed on 1 April 2019, with all the UK's ground based air defence assets under its command. 7 Air Defence Group is now under 3rd UK Division. The deputy commander of the group is also 'Head of Establishment' of Baker Barracks. The deputy commander is from the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

and holds the rank of

wing commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

Units

In early 2021 the structure was: * Headquarters 7th Air Defence Group, at Baker Barracks, Thorney Island ** 12th Regiment Royal Artillery, at Baker Barracks, Thorney Island (Self-propelled air defence, equipped with

Alvis Stormer The Alvis Stormer is a military armoured vehicle manufactured by the British company Alvis Vickers, now BAE Systems Land & Armaments. The Stormer is a development of the CVR(T) family of vehicles (Scorpion, Scimitar, Spartan etc.), essentially ...

) ** 16th Regiment Royal Artillery, at Baker Barracks, Thorney Island (Mobile air defence, equipped with Land Ceptor (Sky Sabre) SAM System) ** '' 106th (Yeomanry) Regiment Royal Artillery'', HQ in

Grove Park, Lewisham Grove Park is a district of South East London, England within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is located north east of Bromley and south east of Lewisham. Known for its green spaces, Grove Park is flanked by the Grove Park Nature Reserve an ...

(Army Reserve air defence, equipped with Starstreak HVM & Land Ceptor SAM Missile Systems) — paired with 12 and 16 Regiments RA

Notes

References

* Ministry of Defence, ''Staff Officer's Handbook Number 71038, D/DGD&D/18/35/54'', 1999. *

External links

7th Air Defence Group
{{Current British brigades Air defence units and formations of the British Army Group sized units of the British Army Artillery groups Military units and formations established in 2019 Organisations based in West Sussex