Large Regiment - Future Infantry Structure

Future Infantry Structure

In 2004, the Army Board announced the ending of the "Arms Plot" system, where individual battalions changed role and moved station every 2 to 6 years. The Board argued that the existing system led to seven or eight battalions being unavailable at any time due to retraining while changing roles. The lack of stability for the families of soldiers due to constant moving of locations was also cited as a disadvantage. In the future, battalions would retain the same role and largely the same location. As part of this process, all infantry would be organised as large single cap badge regiments of two or more battalions. At the same time, there was to be a reduction in the number of battalions, with amalgamations to take place within the administrative divisions created in 1968: The Scottish Division was to lose 1 battalion, the King's Division 2 and the Prince of Wales's Division 1. Each division was to consider one of two options:

• The "small/large" option of 2 (3 in the case of the Queen's Division) regiments, each of 2 or 3 battalions.
• The "large/large" option of one regiment of 4 or more battalions.

The results of the reorganisation, which were completed in September 2007, were:

The Scottish Division formed a single "large/large" regiment, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, on 28 March 2006 from:

• The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment)
• The Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment)
• The King's Own Scottish Borderers
• The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)
• The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons)
• The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's)

The Queen's Division adopted the "small/large" option, retaining the three existing regiments with two regular battalions each:

• The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires)
• The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
• The Royal Anglian Regiment

The King's Division also adopted the "small/large" option:

• The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border) was formed on 1 July 2006 (initially of three battalions, reduced to two in March 2007) from:
  • The King's Own Royal Border Regiment
  • The King's Regiment
  • The Queen's Lancashire Regiment
• The Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot) was formed on 6 June 2006 from:
  • The Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire
  • The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment)
  • The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding)

The Prince of Wales' Division formed two "small/large" regiments:

• The Royal Welsh was formed on 1 March 2006 from:
  • The Royal Welch Fusiliers
  • The Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot)
• The Mercian Regiment formed with 3 regular battalions on 1 September 2007 from:
  • The 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment
  • The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29th/45th Foot)
  • The Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's)
• In addition the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment and Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment were converted to light infantry in 2005 and transferred to the Light Division.

The Light Division formed a single five-battalion "large/large" regiment, The Rifles on 1 February 2007 from:

• The Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry
• The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry
• The Light Infantry
• The Royal Green Jackets

The Territorial Army has also been reorganised so that each large regiment has one or more TA battalions.

The Guards Division and those regiments outside the divisional structure (The Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling), 83rd, 87th and Ulster Defence Regiment), The Royal Gurkha Rifles and the Parachute Regiment were left unreformed.