The Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization High Readiness Force (Land) Headquarters ready for deployment worldwide.

History

The ARRC was created on 1 October 1992 in Bielefeld based on the former I (British) Corps (I (BR) Corps). It was originally created as the rapid reaction corps sized land force of the Reaction Forces Concept that emerged after the end of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

, with a mission to redeploy and reinforce within Allied Command Europe (ACE) and to conduct Petersberg missions out of NATO territory. The first commander, appointed in 1992 was General Sir Jeremy Mackenzie. From 1994 the ARRC was based in the Rheindahlen Military Complex,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. It commanded the Land Forces of NATO's first ever deployment as part of the Implementation Force operation in Bosnia in 1995/6 and was again deployed as the headquarters commanding Land Forces during the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

in 1999. In 1997 assigned forces included the 7th Panzer Division; 2nd Greek Mechanised Division; 1st Turkish Mechanised Division (9th Armoured and 28th Mechanised Brigades, plus a third brigade, as assigned); 1st Armored Division; plus other formations, including the 1st and 3rd Divisions, British Army. Since 2002 however the headquarters has been re-roled (with five other corps HQs of other NATO nations) as a High Readiness Force (Land) HQ (HRF(L)) with a broader mission. The formation HQ is under Operational Command of Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR). The ARRC has a national Force Pool of Combat, Combat Support and Combat Service Support units with which to train and execute its mission. However, in reality COMARRC commands no forces until he receives an Activation Order from SACEUR. On receipt of ACTORD, forces from troop contributing nations, generated through the NATO Force Generation process are passed into his Operational Command for the duration of the operational deployment. ARRC took command of the International Security Assistance Force in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

on 4 May 2006 and then relocated from Rheindahlen to

Imjin Barracks Imjin Barracks is a military installation situated near Innsworth in Gloucestershire that is home to NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC). The Barracks were named after the Battle of the Imjin River because of the connection with the Gl ...

, outside

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east o ...

in England, in 2010 before deploying to support the ISAF Joint Command Headquarters in Afghanistan in 2011. ARRC is also regionally aligned with the European region as part of defence engagement.

Structure 2021

In September 2021 the structure of HQ ARRC was as follows: * Commander (UK), * Deputy Commander (Italy), * Chief of Staff (UK), ** Engineers and Civil Military Integration (UK), ** Training and Security Force Assistance (UK), ** Joint Fires and Influence Branch (UK), ** Operations Division (USA), ** Personnel and Logistics (UK), ** Command Information Systems (UK), ** ARRC Enabling Command (Spain). * 1st Signal Brigade, at

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

* 104 Theatre Sustainment Brigade, in South Cerney,

The deployable headquarters infrastructure and communications for HQ ARRC is provided by the 1st Signal Brigade under the Army 2020 concept. In October 2019, the Italian

Division "Acqui" The Division "Acqui" it, Divisione "Acqui" is one of three active divisions of the Italian Army. The division is the army's high readiness command for out-of-area operations. The Acqui is based in Capua in the Province of Caserta and assigned t ...

, the

Danish Division The Danish Division ( da, Danske Division), short DDIV, is the only remaining military land division in Denmark. It was created on 1 January 1997 as the successor of Jutland Division. It is one of the now-two Divisions of Multinational Corps Nor ...

, the

1st Canadian Division The 1st Canadian Division (French: ''1re Division du Canada'' ) is a joint operational command and control formation based at CFB Kingston, and falls under Canadian Joint Operations Command. It is a high-readiness unit, able to move on very short ...

, the 3rd (United Kingdom) Division, and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division were assigned to form part of the ARRC if the corps were to be deployed. In 2021, the United Kingdom's 104 Theatre Sustainment Brigade was transferred under direct control of HQ ARRC. The United Kingdom's 1st Signal Brigade joined by October 2021.

Troop contributing countries

As of 1 September 2017, the ARRC is composed of service members from 23 NATO troop contributing countries: *Albania *Belgium *Canada *Croatia *Czech Republic *Denmark *Estonia *France *Germany *Greece *Italy *Latvia *Lithuania *Norway *Poland *Portugal *Romania *Spain *Sweden *Netherlands *Turkey *United Kingdom (HQ ARRC's framework country) *United States of America

Recent Commanders

Recent commanders have included: *1992–1994: Lieutenant General Jeremy Mackenzie *1994–1997: Lieutenant General Michael Walker *1997–2000: Lieutenant General Mike Jackson *2000–2002: Lieutenant General

Christopher Drewry Lieutenant General Sir Christopher Francis Drewry, is a retired senior officer of the British Army who served as commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps from 2000 to 2002. Military career Drewry was commissioned into the Welsh Guards in 1 ...

*2002–2005: Lieutenant General Richard Dannatt *2005–2007: Lieutenant General David Richards *2007–2011: Lieutenant General Richard Shirreff *2011–2013: Lieutenant General James Bucknall *2013–2016: Lieutenant General Timothy Evans *2016–2019: Lieutenant General Tim Radford *2019–2021: Lieutenant General Sir Edward Smyth-Osbourne *2021–Present: Lieutenant-General Nick Borton

References

External links

Official HQ ARRC SiteHQ ARRC British Army website
{{DEFAULTSORT:ARRC British field corps Military units and formations of NATO Military units and formations established in 1992