From Daily Escape

The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff (CGS), who is responsible to the Chief of the Defence Force Staff (CDS). The current Chief of the General Staff is Lieutenant General P.F. Leahy, AC.

Australian soldiers have been involved in a number of minor and major conflicts throughout its history, but only in World War II did Australian territory come under direct attack.

Australian Army Rising Sun badge

Contents 1 Mission 2 Organsation 2.1 Line Combat Forces 2.2 Army Reserve 2.3 Special Forces 2.4 Regional Force Surveillance Units 2.5 Corps 3 Equipment 3.1 Small Arms 3.2 Artillery 3.3 Air Defence 3.4 Armoured Vehicles 3.4.1 Reserve Equipment 3.5 Aircraft 3.6 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles 3.7 Future Equipment Requirements 4 Combat Uniforms 4.1 Disruptive Pattern Camouflage Uniform 4.2 Disruptive Pattern Desert Uniform

Mission

Australian Government websites state that the Army's mission is to provide a potent, versatile and modern Army to promote the security of Australia and protect its people and interests. Further, the Army's key doctrine publication, The Fundamentals of Land Warfare, states that "the Army’s mission is to win the land battle".

Organsation

Line Combat Forces

The Australian Army consists of a number of Brigades, each of which has different roles. The Brigades are based around Infantry Battalions. Elements from other units, (or the entire units themselves) are attached as required to form Brigade battle groups, or Battalion battle groups

• 1 Brigade (Mechanised infantry, equipped with CV90A and ASLAV)
  • 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
  • 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
  • 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment
• 2 Brigade (Motorised Infantry, equipped with M113, and ASLAV)
  • 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
  • 8th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
  • 9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
• 3 Brigade (Light Infantry, equipped with Bushmaster IMV, and ASLAV)
  • 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
  • 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
  • 1st Battalion, Royal Pacific Islands Regiment
• 4 Brigade (Airborne)
  • 1st Battalion, Fiji Infantry Regiment (Airborne)
  • 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (Airborne)

Elements from the following units are attached to the above brigades to form complete battlegroups.

• 1st Armoured Regiment, Armoured Regiment
• Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles, Armoured Regiment
• 2/8th Armoured Regiment (Light), Light Armoured Regiment, equipped with M8 Buford
• 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Formation Reconnaissance Regiment
• 3rd/4th Cavalry Regiment, Formation Reconnaissance Regiment
• 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment, Formation Reconnaissance Regiment
• 16 (Aviation) Brigade
  • 1st Aviation Regiment, Attack helicopter Regiment
  • 5th Aviation Regiment (transport helicopter)
  • 173rd Surveillance Squadron (light aircraft)
  • Aviation Support Group Workshop
• Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery
  • 1st Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (Close Support, 2 Light Batteries, 1 Medium Battery)
  • 4th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (Close Support, 3 Light Batteries)
  • 8th/12th Medium Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (General Support, 3 Medium Batteries)
  • 16th Air Defence Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (MANPADS, 3 RBS-70 Batteries)
  • 3rd Air Defence Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (Light Air Defence, 3 M163A4 Vulcan/Stinger Air Defence System Batteries)
  • 11th Air Defence Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (Mechanised Air Defence, 3 CV9035A AAV Batteries)
  • 9th Air Defence Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (Medium Range Air Defence)
    • A Battery (MTVL HAWK-AMRAAM)
    • B Battery (HAWK-AMRAAM)
    • C Battery (HAWK-AMRAAM)
    • D Battery (HUMRAAM)
  • 20th Surveillance and Target Acquisition Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery

Army Reserve

Special Forces

Special Forces are controlled by Australian Special Operations Command

• Australian Special Service Regiment
• 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
• 1st Commando Regiment (Australia)
• 171st Aviation Squadron (Australia)
• Incident Response Regiment
  • Special response unit for nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological hazards, and explosive hazards.

Regional Force Surveillance Units

The Regional Force Surveillance Units (RFSUs) are specialised units of the Australian Army responsible for patrolling northern Australia. The RFSUs regularly conduct operational patrols during peacetime, and the reservists who make up 90% of the RFSUs personnel carry out most of their training during these patrols.

• North-West Mobile Force (NORFORCE) (responsible for the Northern Territory and Kimberley region of Western Australia)
• The Pilbara Regiment (responsible for the Pilbara region of Western Australia)
• 51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment (responsible for North Queensland)

Corps

• Royal Australian Infantry Corps
• Royal Australian Armoured Corps
• Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery
• Australian Army Aviation
• Royal Australian Engineers
• Royal Australian Corps of Signals
• Royal Australian Infantry Corps
• Australian Army Band Corps
• Australian Army Intelligence Corps
• Royal Australian Corps of Transport
• Australian Army Catering Corps
• Royal Australian Army Medical Corps
• Australian Army Psychology Corps
• Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps
• Royal Australian Army Dental Corps
• Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps
• Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
• Royal Australian Corps of Military Police
• Royal Australian Army Pay Corps
• Australian Army Legal Corps
• Royal Australian Army Education Corps
• Royal Australian Chaplains Department
• Royal Australian Survey Corps
• Australian Army Public Relations Service
• Corps of Staff Cadets

Equipment

Small Arms

• L9A1 Browning Hi-Power Pistol
• Heckler und Koch USP Pistol (Special Forces)
• F88 Austeyr Rifle
• M4A5 Carbine (Special Forces)
• Heckler und Koch MP5 Submachine Gun (Special Forces)
• F89 Minimi Light Machine Gun
• MAG 58 General Purpose Machine Gun
• M2 QCHB Heavy Machine Gun
• Remington 870 Shotgun
• M203-PI Grenade Launcher
• Mk 19 Automatic Grenade Launcher
• SR-98 Sniper Rifle
• AW50F Anti-Material Rifle
• 66 mm Short-Range Anti-Armour Weapon
• 84mm Carl Gustav Medium Range Anti-Armour Weapon (MRAAW)
• FGM-148 Javelin

Artillery

• F1 81mm Mortar
• L118 Hamel 105mm Light Gun
• M2A2 105mm howitzer (Reserve)
• M198 155mm howitzer

Air Defence

• FIM-92 Stinger
• RBS-70
• MIM-163 Scimitar
• AIM-120 AMRAAM
  • MTVL HAWK-AMRAAM (M727 Launcher on MTVL chassis with 8 missiles used to provide medium range air defence to Mechanised units)
  • HAWK-AMRAAM (Modified M192 towed launcher with 8 missiles used to provide medium range air defence to Motorised, and Light Infantry units)
  • HUMRAAM (HMMWV Launched AMRAAM, Australian version has 5 missiles on a Right Hand Drive HMMWV made in Australia Holden under license from AM General, used to provide medium range air defence to Airborne units)

Armoured Vehicles

• M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank
  • M104 Wolverine Heavy Assault Bridge
  • M1 Grizzly Engineer Vehicle
• M88A2 Hercules Armoured Recovery Vehicle
• CV90A (CV90 modified for Australian conditions, including ADF standard communications equipment, and environmental systems for Australian conditions, drinking water cooling and storage)
  • CV9040A Original version, upgraded with twin TOW launchers
  • CV9035A AAV (Turret system with 2 35mm cannon, and 8 ACLOS/IR guided missiles, Battalion level air defence)
  • CV90A-AMOS (Twin 120mm Mortar Turret System)
  • CV90A-R Armored Recovery Vehicle
• Mobile Tactical Vehicle Light (MTVL)
  • Mobile Tactical Light Recovery Vehicle (MTVR)
  • Mobile Tactical Vehicle Light Cargo Carrier (MTVC)
  • Mobile Tactical Light Fitters Vehicle (MTVF)
  • Mobile Tactical Vehicle Light Ambulance (MTVA)
  • M1108 Universal Carrier
  • Mobile Tactical Vehicle Engineering Squad Vehicle (MTVE)
  • M901A4 Improved TOW Vehicle
  • M163A4 Vulcan/Stinger Air Defence System
  • M577A4 Command Vehicle
  • M106A4 Mortar Carrier (MC) armed with M120 120 mm Mortar
• M8 Buford
• ASLAV
  • ASLAV-25 (Reconnaissance)
  • ASLAV-S (Surveillance)
  • ASLAV-F (Fitter)
  • ASLAV-R (Recovery)
  • ASLAV-A (Ambulance)
  • ASLAV-PC (Personnel Carrier)
  • ASLAV-TOW (Anti-Tank)
  • ASLAV-AD (Air Defence)
  • ASLAV-AMS (120mm Mortar Carrier)
  • ASLAV-CS (Combat Support)
• Bushmaster IMV

Reserve Equipment

Reservists use normal Army vehicles with the following exceptions:

• M113A1 Armoured Personnel Carrier/Light Reconnaissance Vehicle
  • M113 Medium Reconnaissance Vehicle (M113 with Scorpion Turret)
  • M125A1 81mm Mortar Carrier
  • M577A1 Command Vehicle
  • M548A1 "Tilly" (Tracked Load Carrier)
  • M579 Fitters Vehicle
  • M806 Recovery Vehicle

Aircraft

• UN-1H Iroquois
• S-70A Blackhawk
• CH-47D Chinook
• OH-58A Kiowa
• Tiger ARH
• Beech King Air
• AS 350BA Squirrel

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

• Boeing ScanEagle
• Elbit Systems Skylark

Future Equipment Requirements

The Australian Army is currently examining options for new Artillery systems, both towed and self-propelled.

Combat Uniforms

The Australian Army (along with the Royal Australian Navy, and Royal Australian Air Force wear a distinctive camouflage uniform designed for the Australian environment.

Disruptive Pattern Camouflage Uniform

Disruptive Pattern Camouflage Uniform, suitable for any non-desert environment.

Disruptive Pattern Desert Uniform

Disruptive Pattern Desert Uniform, suitable for any desert environment.

Australian Defence Force
Australian Army | Royal Australian Air Force | Royal Australian Navy