1st Artillery Brigade (United Kingdom)


The British Army's 1st Artillery Brigade, formerly 1st Artillery Brigade and Headquarters South West, is a formation under 3rd UK Division that has control over close support artillery units within the British Army and was the Regional Point of Command for British Army units in the South West Region.

Cold War

The brigade was originally formed as the 1st Artillery Group, Royal Artillery. On 1 September 1977, 1st Artillery Brigade and 7th Artillery Brigade were both disbanded, and their units absorbed by the new 1st Artillery Division which had its headquarters at Dortmund. On formation the division had a MGM-52 Lance regiment; a M107 self-propelled gun regiment; and 94 Locating Regiment RA, as well as two RA Rapier air defence regiments. It was redesignated simply as the Artillery Division in 1981, and Artillery I Corps in 1984. 1st Artillery Brigade was further reformed on 1 November 1985 to control field and missile artillery..

Structure in 1989

Structure of the 1st Artillery Brigade in 1989:
After the Options for Change of 1992, the brigade was withdrawn from Germany and moved to Woolwich the next year where it took control of the specialist artillery regiments of the army.
The brigade consisted of:
On 1 September 2014 under the original Army 2020 plan, the brigade merged with 43rd Brigade to become 1st Artillery Brigade and Headquarters South West. The brigade's mission includes commanding, preparing and generating assigned deployable forces. The brigade comprises a large number of units including 1 Royal Horse Artillery and 19 Regiment Royal Artillery, and 15 garrisons and stations across the south west.
In 2014, news articles reported that its personnel had control over the testing of the Watchkeeper Remotely Piloted Aerial System.
The brigade used to be under Forces Troops Command but has shifted operational command to 3rd UK Division. Headquarters South West remains as a Regional Point of Command under Regional Command.

Current Structure

The brigade, which is based at Tidworth Camp, consists of the following units: