The Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery is descended from the original colonial artillery units prior to Australia's federation. Currently, the corps is divided into Regular Army and Army Reserve units:
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Regular Army
Unlike the Royal Artillery and Royal Canadian Artillery, there are no regiments of horse artillery in the order of battle of the Royal Australian Artillery. The Australian Regular Army came into being in 1947 and prior to this Artillery units were predominately Militia. The Australian Army only maintained one permanent Artillery unit 'A' Field Battery which formed in 1871. Prior to the Second World War specialist coastal artillery units were established at strategic locations around the coastline, however these were progressively phased out by the 1950's. During the Second World War the Royal Australian Artillery raised some 50 regiments of anti-tank, anti-aircraft, field, medium and coastal units with all unts engaged in combat throughout the war.
- 1st Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery - this is a close support regiment attached to the 7th Brigade at Enoggera Barracks in Queensland. It is equipped with the L119 Howitzer Field Gun.
- 4th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery - this is a close support regiment attached to the 3rd Brigade at Townsville in Queensland. It is equipped with the L119 Howitzer Field Gun.
- 8th/12th Medium Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery - this is a general support regiment attached to the 1st Brigade at Palmerston in the Northern Territory. It is equipped with the M198 Howitzer.
- 16th Air Defence Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery - this is the Australian Army's sole air defence regiment, and is based at Woodside in South Australia. It is equipped with the RBS-70 Surface to Air missile.
- 131st Surveillance and Target Acquisition Battery, Royal Australian Artillery - this is a single battery employed in the surveillance and target acquisition mission. It is located at Enoggera Barracks in Queensland and will form part of the 20th Surveillance and Target Acquisition Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery when that Regiment becomes operational.
Army Reserve
- 2nd/10th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery - this is a general support regiment attached to 4th Brigade at St Kilda in Victoria with gun batteries located in Dandenong (22 Field Battery)and Geelong (38 Field Battery). It is equipped with the M2A2 Field Gun. The 2nd/10th is the foster unit of the 36th ACU.
- 3rd Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery - this is a close support regiment that consists of a single battery. It is attached to 13th Brigade at Karrakatta in Western Australia, and is equipped with the M2A2 Field Gun.
- 7 Field Battery
- 6th/13th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery - this regiment does not strictly exist; its two former batteries reverted to independent status in 1997. Both are attached to 9th Brigade, and are based at Launceston in Tasmania and Keswick in South Australia. They are equipped with the M2A2 Field Gun.
- 16 Field Battery
- 48 Field Battery
- 7th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery - this is a close support regiment attached to 8th Brigade at Pymble in New South Wales. It is equipped with he L119 Field Gun.
- 23rd Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery - this is a close support regiment attached to 5th Brigade at Kogarah in New South Wales. It is equipped with the L119 Field Gun.
Future Development
The Royal Australian Artillery maintains the leading edge of Joint Offensive Support coordination and planning for the Australian Defence Force and is presently studying options that will see significant changes in its structure for the future. The RAA is presently applying the latest available tehnologies to maximise the effectiveness of the extant fleet of towed guns by the application of satelite and innertial based fixation and orientation systems in addition to state of the art meteorology, stand alone gunnery computer programs and laser range finding/desigation systems. Leading to project Land 17, the RAA is implementing a project that will see a signifiant upgrade and updating of ammunition and fuzes to maximise efficiency and effectiveness in the present and future fleet of guns to meet the needs of supported arms and allies.
As part of the Australian Army's Hardened and Networked Army [[1]] project, by 2012 the Regiment of Australian Artillery is presently not forecast to expand in terms of its manning or units, however the Australian Army will invest considerably in the re-equipment, restructuring and re-rolling of various RAA units to fulfil the Australian Army's needs for the 21st Century. Current Australian Army planning will see the Regular Army units structured and equipped with highly mobile, longer ranging, harder hitting weapon systems by 2012. By 2015 the RAA will be fully digitally networked and assume a lead role in the coordination of ADF fire resources maximising economy of effort and resources.
Land 17 Artillery Replacement. This programme is trialling new systems with a view to replacement of all 155 mm M198 medium guns and 105 mm L119 and M2A2 field guns as well as the adoption of an integrated digital fire control network structure. m-land-17-artillery-replacement-gets-goahead/index.php. The project has several hundred million dollars allocated for the purchase of new guns, through life support and maintenance, replacement infrastructure, retraining of personnel and provision of simulation and training systems. However, Land 17 does not allow for the purchase of new guns in sufficient quantity to re-equip the Army Reserve and trialing is presently underway for the re-rolling of Army Reserve Artillery units as close support mortar units that will enable Reservists to acheive a high degree of specialisation in their field and more flexible use of pesonnel in support of vital assets and tasks. Final short listed contenders for Land 17 gun replacement are:
SP Guns:
- PzH2000 155mm SP Gun (Germany/Holland).
- K9 Thunder 155mm SP Gun (South Korea).
- G6 155mm SP Gun (South Africa).
- Bofors Archer 155mm SP Gun (Sweden).
Towed Gun Replacement:
- M777 155mm Lightweight Medium Howitzer (USA).
- Pegasus 155mm Lightweight Medium Howitzer (Singapore) - Has limited SP manouverability.
Land 19 Short Range Air Defence. Ground Based Air Defence has recently been equipped with additional RBS-70 systems and a significant upgrade of the radar and monitoring systems. This project is forecast to meet the Army's needs until 2015 where future forecast planning calls for a significant upgrade of the longer ranging air defence capability from 2018.
- Surveillence and Target Acquisition. Recently, a new regiment, 20 Surveillance and Target Acquisition Regiment, has raised for the operation of UAVs, to be used in both the reconnaissance and attack roles. The new regiment incorporates the former independent 131 Surveillance and Target Acquisition Battery, together with the newly formed UAV battery.
- Land 58 AN-TPQ36 Weapon Locating Radar Life of Type Extension. This project seeks to extend the fully functional operational life of the weapon locating radars to 2015.
Traditions
- Battle Honour - "UBIQUE" - Meaning 'Everywhere'.
- The Regimental Colours - The guns, colours serve as rallying points in battle. The rallying point for gunners is the guns.
- Troops stand to attention when being passed by the guns when on parade.
- It is considered rude and insulting to the colours to lean on or rest against a gun.
- Motto - "QUO FAS ET GLORIA DUCUNT" - Meaning 'Whither right and glory lead'.
- Head of Regiment - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II - Captain General of the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery.
- Patron Saint - Saint Barbara, Protector from fire and explosion.
- Regimental Birthday - 1st August.
- Regimental Marching Tune - "British Grenadiers".
- Always first in the order of march when on parade.
- When addressed or referring to the group always referred to as "The Gentlemen of Artillery".
- Ceremonial colours - Red over blue.
- Regimental lanyard colour - White, signifying it as the first corps of the British Armies to wear lanyards.
