The Spearhead Lead Element (SLE), sometimes referred to as the Spearhead Land Element, is the principal high-readiness component of the
British Armed Forces
The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...
under the operational control of the
Permanent Joint Headquarters
The Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) is the British tri-service headquarters from where all overseas military operations are planned and controlled. It is situated at Northwood Headquarters in Northwood, London. The Permanent Joint Headquar ...
. It is typically a battle group formed around a
light infantry
Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...
battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...
, or Commando, with force elements from other arms allocated.
The SLE is oriented towards low and medium-intensity operations such as regional security, disaster-relief or non-combatant evacuation.
Deployment
Initial force elements required to deploy from the base location within 24 hours are the Headquarters company, high-readiness company and associated logistic enablers. The remaining force will be required to deploy within 48 hours.
The SLE is nominated for a six-month period to avoid burnout and for maintenance of capability.
Maintaining readiness
Maintaining the highest
readiness levels required of a Spearhead battalion is not easy. Equipment and supplies can be kept up to the necessary establishment relatively simply but the readiness of the soldiers, individually and collectively, inevitably declines unless active measures are taken to maintain it. The value of collective
training
Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or Physical fitness, fitness that relate to specific practicality, useful Competence (human resources), competencies. Training has specific goals of improving on ...
diminishes over time, individual skills fade rapidly if not practised continually and administrative matters, such as
passport
A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...
s,
vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...
s and
next of kin
A person's next of kin (NOK) are that person's closest living blood relatives. Some countries, such as the United States, have a legal definition of "next of kin". In other countries, such as the United Kingdom, "next of kin" may have no legal d ...
documentation, require constant refreshment (including keeping up with the constant inflow and outflow of personnel). A number of measures are taken to mitigate this potential ‘readinessfade’, as battalions are unlikely to participate in a high-value overseas training exercise more often than once every 2 – 21/2 years.
Sub-unit exercises are run throughout the period of the Spearhead commitment, a Combined Arms Staff Trainer exercise is conducted to train and test the battalion headquarters staff and weekly company training programmes are scrutinised by the battalion headquarters to ensure meaningful, focussed training is undertaken on a regular basis. Finally, the Lead Company role is rotated between companies every month. This enables the battalion headquarters to ‘call-out’ the Lead Company, thus regularly auditing the companies’ (and the battalion headquarters’) abilities to deploy in the required
timeline
A timeline is a display of a list of events in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events.
Timelines can use any suitable scale representi ...
s and with the correct equipment and documentation.
Partial list of nominated SLE battalions
* 2009 1st Battalion,
The Royal Irish Regiment
* 2009 1st Battalion,
The Royal Anglian Regiment
The Royal Anglian Regiment (R ANGLIAN) is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It consists of two Regular battalions and one Reserve battalion. The modern regiment was formed in 1964, making it the oldest of the Line Regiments now operating i ...
* 2008 3rd Battalion,
The Rifles
The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions, plus a number of companies in other Army Reserve battalions. Each battalion of The Rifles was formerly ...
* 2006 2nd Battalion,
The Light Infantry
The Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Light Division. The regiment was one of four 'large' regiments formed after the 1966 Defence White Paper through the amalgamation of units of the Light Infantry Brigad ...
* 2005 1st Battalion
Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment
The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment was a short-lived infantry regiment of the British Army.
History
The regiment was formed in 1994 by the amalgamation of the Gloucestershire Regiment and the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Re ...
* 2003
42 Commando
42 Commando (42 Cdo) (pronounced as Four-Two Commando) is a subordinate unit within the Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade. Based at Bickleigh Barracks near Plymouth, personnel regularly deploy outside the United Kingdom on operations or training. ...
,
Royal Marines
The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...
* 2003 1st Battalion,
Royal Green Jackets
The Royal Green Jackets (RGJ) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, one of two "large regiments" within the Light Division (the other being The Light Infantry).
History
The Royal Green Jackets was formed on 1 January 1966 by the amalgama ...
Hansard, Written Ministerial Statements Monday 8 September 2003
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Spearhead in popular culture
* ''Spearhead'' - British television drama series 1978-1981
References
Military units and formations of the British Army