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16 Air Assault Brigade
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The 16 Air Assault Brigade is the Rapid Response Airborne Formation of the British Army and is formed from the Parachute Regiments, the United Kingdoms airborne troops. They are the only brigade in the British Army capable of conducting Air Operations and Air Assault tasks, 16 Air Assault Brigade work very closely with the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division & the French Army's 11e Brigade Parachutiste. The brigade was formed in 1999 and is based in the Colchester Barracks as apart of the Field Army. The brigade is made up of an Reconnaissance Squadron, an artillery regiment with an air defence battery, an engineer regiment, two parachute infantry battalions, two air assault infantry battalions, three aviation regiments and all required logistical and medical personnel. 16 Air Assault Brigade also consists of the specialist Pathfinder Platoon which I will go into detail on later.
16 Air Assault Brigade are specially equipped and trained to be ready to deploy by helicopter, parachute and air-landing. The Brigade is tasked with maintaining the Air Assault Task Force at high readiness to deploy anywhere worldwide for war-fighting or for non-combatant operations.
The brigade places a large importance on the interoperability between the 11e Brigade Parachutiste & the 82nd Airborne Division. Para's apart of the Brigade train with their foreign counter parts often and all 3 are ready to deploy with one another at any time.
The 16 Air Assault Brigade was formed from two previous groups, 5 Airborne Brigade & 24 Airmobile Brigade. The Brigade is the largest one in the entire British Army consisting of 8,000 troops and is commanded by Brigadier Nick Perry. The units that form up the brigade are as follows, 216 Parachute Signal Sqn, 2, 3, 4th Battalion (Parachute Regiment), 7 Para (Royal Horse Artillery), 23 Parachute Rgt Eng, 2nd Battalion (Royal Ghurka Rifles), 13 Air Assault Support (Royal Logistical Corps), 16 Medical Regiment, 7 Air Assault Battaltion (Apart of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) and the Pathfinder Platoon.
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Pathfinder Platoon
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The Pathfinders are a key element of 16 Air Assault Brigade, they are one of the best pathfinder elements in the British Army and are elite specialist troops who are first on the battlefield. The Pathfinders act as an advance & reconnaissance force, the platoon is equipped to move quickly and efficiently and only ever engage the enemy when engaged upon. Their role includes marking drop zones and helicopter landing zones for air operations to help bring the main force in. Once this is done they provide intelligence and offensive assistance in the battlefield. The platoon consists of around 50 men and was formed in 1985, the Pathfinders have now been joined into the 16 Air Assault Brigade.
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History
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Throughout their history the Brigade has taken part in major conflicts with the British Army. In 1999 the Pathfinder Platoon was deployed to Kosovo in Operation Agricola where they provided Forward Air Control and Reconnaissance missions. The Pathfinders also got deployed to Sierra Leone in 2000 to support the United Nations mission there. 16 Air Assault Brigade took part in Operation Essential Harvest in Macedonia which was a British-Led effort to collect weapons and such after the cease fire between the government and the NLA, the brigade took part in operations leading up to Operation Telic in Iraq and played a major role working with allies to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan during Operation Helic. These allies included international ones and the Afghani ANA & ANP.
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Equipment
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The Paratroopers/Infantry are equipped with the standard SA80A2 rifle and soon to be the SA80A3. Specialist units in the brigade utilise the L119A2 (C8) however as their roles requires a better weapon. The standard protection kit for the soldiers will be the Virtus-System.
For deploying by parachute 16 Air Assault Brigade utilises RAF C-17 Globemaster, C-130J Hercules and A400M heavy transport aircraft which are also capable of carrying their equipment. 16 Air Assault Brigade uses helicopters controlled by Joint Helicopter Command, the air element of the brigade consists of Apache attack helicopters from the Army Air Corps, Puma & Chinooks from the RAF and Merlin support helicopters from the Fleet Air Arm. Artillery elements of the Air Assault Task Force use the L118 105mm Light Gun.
When it comes to operating on the ground the 16 Air Assault Brigade uses a range of lightweight mobile vehicles such as the FV107 Scimitar Reconnaissance Light Tank and WMIK Land Rovers. The brigade also uses Javelin anti-tank missiles and Starstreak anti-air missiles, 16 Air Assault Brigade works very closely with RAF personnel in HQ and on the field.
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HMS CyBer
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Citations- Wikipedia
Comments (11)
of the pathfinder platoon
what is the trf
ok can you fucking stop with the repeat
what is the colour of the pathfinder trf
eh