Baker Barracks is a

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 ...

barracks located on Thorney Island around east from

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

History

The barracks were established, on the site of the former

RAF Thorney Island Royal Air Force Thorney Island or more simply RAF Thorney Island is a former Royal Air Force station located on Thorney Island, West Sussex, England, west of Chichester and east of Portsmouth, Hampshire. Station history The airfield was bu ...

airbase, in 1986, when 26th Regiment Royal Artillery moved on site. Named after Field Marshal Sir Geoffrey Baker, a former

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 ...

officer, they have been home to

47th Regiment Royal Artillery 47 Regiment Royal Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Artillery in the British Army. It is equipped with the Thales Watchkeeper WK450. It is located at Horne Barracks, Larkhill in Wiltshire. It falls under command of 1st Aviation Brigade. Hi ...

, armed with the

Starstreak Starstreak is a British short-range surface to air missile that can be used as a man-portable air-defence system (MANPADS) or in heavier systems, manufactured by Thales Air Defence (formerly Shorts Missile Systems), in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I ...

missile, since 1989. In January 2008, 12th Regiment Royal Artillery moved to the island upon their return from Germany. In 2009, the airfield was used as a test track for a British-built steam car hoping to smash the longest standing land speed record. The British Steam Car Challenge team included test driver Don Wales, nephew of the late

Donald Campbell Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

and grandson of Sir

Malcolm Campbell Major Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called ''Blue Bird'', including a 1 ...

Based units

The following units are based at Baker Barracks. Ministry of Defence * Centre of Specialisation for Joint Ground Based Air Defence Units (JTGBAD) British Army * Headquarters, 7th Air Defence Group, at Centaur House ** 12th Regiment Royal Artillery (Self-Propelled Air Defence, armed with Alvis Stormer air defence system) ** 16th Regiment Royal Artillery (Mobile Air Defence, armed with Sky Sabre air defence missile systems) *

Royal School of Artillery The Royal School of Artillery (RSA) is the principal training establishment for artillery warfare in the British Army. Established in 1915, it is located at Larkhill, Wiltshire, on the south edge of Salisbury Plain in the United Kingdom. The Schoo ...

**Ground Based Air Defence Wing — responsible for all training for air defence systems

Role and operations

Baker Barracks is home to two

regiments operating in the ground based

air-defence Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

role, operating the Thales Starstreak and MBDA Rapier surface-to-air missile systems.

Footnotes

References

* {{cite book, last=Lord, first=Cliff, title=The Royal Corps of Signals : unit histories of the Corps (1920-2001) and its antecedents, publisher=Helion & Company, year=2004, isbn=978-1-874622-92-5, publication-place=Solihull, West Midlands, England, oclc=184820114 Installations of the British Army Barracks in England