Force Troops Command was a combat support and combat service support command 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 ...
. Its headquarters was at
Upavon
Upavon is a rural village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. As its name suggests, it is on the upper portion of the River Avon which runs from north to south through the village. It is on the north edge of Salisbury Plain ...
, Wiltshire. It was formed in 2013 as a re-designation of the previous Headquarters Theatre Troops. Force Troops Command was renamed as
6th (United Kingdom) Division
The 6th (United Kingdom) Division is an infantry division of the British Army. It was first established by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington for service in the Peninsular War as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army and was active for most ...
in August 2019.
History
Previously, General Officer Commanding, Theatre Troops was a senior
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 ...
officer responsible for the provision of Combat Support and Combat Service Support operations worldwide in support of the UK's Defence Strategy. There were two logistic brigades
102 Logistic Brigade in Germany and
101 Logistic Brigade in the United Kingdom which contained logistic units to support the two deployable divisions (
1st Armoured Division in Germany and
3rd Mechanised Division in the United Kingdom). Additionally
104th Logistic Support Brigade
104 Theatre Sustainment Brigade is a specialist logistic support formation of the British Army. The brigade is the only one of its kind, and as such contains many of the special units of the Royal Logistic Corps and Royal Electrical and Mechanic ...
operates the specialist units needed to deploy a force overseas such as pioneers, movements and port units.
Theatre Troops became Force Troops Command under
Army 2020
Army 2020, was the name given to the restructuring of the British Army, in light of the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review.
Background
The British Government gave an indication of its proposals for the future structure of the Army in ea ...
in 2013 and reached Full Operating Capability (FOC) on 1 April 2014. 101 or 102 Logistic Brigades subsequently left Force Troops Command.
The
Joint Ground-Based Air Defence Command, which was jointly controlled by
RAF Air Command
Air Command is the only Command currently active in the Royal Air Force. It was formed by the merger of Royal Air Force Strike and Personnel and Training commands on 1 April 2007, and has its headquarters at RAF High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
...
, was replaced by
7 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 ...
on 1 April 2019.
Force Troops Command was renamed as
6th (United Kingdom) Division
The 6th (United Kingdom) Division is an infantry division of the British Army. It was first established by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington for service in the Peninsular War as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army and was active for most ...
on 1 August 2019, with sub-units consisting of 1st Signal Brigade, 11th Signal Brigade, 1st Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade, 77th Brigade and the Specialised Infantry Group. It will sit alongside restructured 1st UK Division and 3rd UK Division.
Structure
Formation
Largest
Force Troops Command comprised nine ‘functional’ brigades. The various units included: The Intelligence and Surveillance Brigade which provided integrated intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, drawing specifically on lessons from Afghanistan.
1st Artillery Brigade delivered both close support artillery and precision fires, as well as leading Air-Land Integration. 8 Engineer Brigade commanded the close support engineer units, as well as Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search, Force Support and Infrastructure Groups. The 77th Brigade was involved in conflict prevention and stabilisation through the projection of soft power.
[Major-General Tim Radford, 'Troops at the ready,' The British Army 2014, p.118-119]
Commanders
Commanders have included:
[Army Commands]
General Officer Commanding, Theatre Troops
*2001–2004 Major General
James Shaw
*2004–2006 Major General
Tim Cross
*2006–2008 Major General
Hamish Rollo
*2008–2011 Major General
Bruce Brealey
*2011–2013 Major General
Shaun Burley
General Officer Commanding, Force Troops Command
*2013–2015 Major General
Tim Radford
*2015–2017 Major General
Tyrone Urch
Lieutenant General Sir Tyrone Richard Urch, (born 12 June 1965) is a former senior British Army officer who, during his career, served as General Officer Commanding, Force Troops Command and later Commander, Home Command.
Early life and educa ...
*2017–2019 Major General
Thomas Copinger-Symes
*July 2019–August 2019 Major General
James Bowder
Footnotes
References
*
*
External links
6th (United Kingdom) Division
{{British Army Divisions
Commands of the British Army
Military units and formations established in 2013
Organisations based in Wiltshire
Army 2020