12 Regiment Royal Artillery is a

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

of 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 ...

in 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 Gurkha ...

. It currently serves in the

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, and is equipped 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. ...

missile.

History

The regiment was established in 1947 when 7th Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery, was retitled 12th Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery. It was deployed to Palestine that year, to

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

in 1948 and

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

in 1950. It also saw action in Malaya in 1963 and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and e ...

in 1964. Units saw tours in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

during

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

in 1971, 1974, 1977, 1979 and 1988. T Battery and 9 Battery were sent to the South Atlantic during the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

in 1982. T Battery and 58 Battery saw action during the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

in 1991. 12 Battery was deployed for the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

. In January 2008, the regiment moved to the Baker Barracks, Thorney Island, upon its return from Germany. Under

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 ...

, T Battery was re-roled from the headquarters battery to form a further Stormer HVM battery while 170 (Imjin) Battery was brought out of suspended animation to take their place as headquarters battery.

Batteries as of 2014

The batteries are as follows: *170 (Imjin) Battery Royal Artillery - Headquarters Battery, Divisional Air Defence Cell *

T Battery (Shah Sujah's Troop) Royal Artillery T Battery (Shah Sujah's Troop) Royal Artillery is an air defence battery of the Royal Artillery that serves with the British Army's 12 Regiment Royal Artillery. It is stationed at Baker Barracks, Thorney Island, West Sussex. Formed 1838 as S ...

- Self Propelled HVM Stormer (

Lightweight Multirole Missile Martlet is a lightweight air-to-surface, surface-to-air, and surface-to-surface missile developed by Thales Air Defence for the United Kingdom. It is named after a mythical bird from English heraldry that never roosts, the martlet. Developed as t ...

) *

9 (Plassey) Battery Royal Artillery 9 (Plassey) Battery Royal Artillery is an air defence battery of the Royal Artillery that serves with the British Army's 12th Regiment Royal Artillery. It is stationed at Baker Barracks, Thorney Island, West Sussex. The battery was originally ...

- Self Propelled HVM Stormer (

) *12 (Minden) Air Assault Battery Royal Artillery - Lightweight Multiple Launcher

*58 (Eyre's) Battery Royal Artillery - Self Propelled HVM Stormer (

)

References

External links

Official site
{{British Army Artillery Regiments Royal Artillery regiments Air defence regiments of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1947