new uk forces "ranger" unit

[rockape roon]

news from a tabloid newspaper
i would take this with a tablespoon of salt


"The main manpower for the Rangers — modelled after the US Army force of the same name , will be taken from 1 Para.

But it will include elements from other Army units, the Royal Marines and RAF Regiment."


heres the link
new "ranger " unit for brit forces (http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004582094,00.html)

[rockape roon]

By TIM RIPLEY JDW Correspondent
London
Additional reporting
Robin Hughes JDW Deputy News Editor
London

British Army chiefs have managed to save an infantry battalion being cut from the service by reroling it as a 'Ranger'-type or special forces support role battalion.

Following a week of acrimonious meetings in the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), the new plan emerged on 16 December as part of a package of measures to implement the Future Army Structure (FAS), which reduces the overall manpower ceiling of the service to some 102,000 and aims to redistribute some 10,000 personnel from infantry, armour and artillery units into low-density/high-demand specialist roles.

Under the plans, the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment (1Para), is to move from being under the direction of the infantry to be under the control of the Director of Special Forces. This could involve it relocating from its current base at Colchester, Essex, where it serves with the army's 16 Air Assault Brigade, to be near the Hereford base of 22 Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment, according to UK Chief of the General Staff General Sir Michael Jackson. The other two Parachute Regiment battalions would remain with 16 Brigade and continue to provide the lead airborne battlegroup in rotation.

No extra funding has been made available by the Treasury for the plan and Gen Jackson admitted that it would "require careful work" to pull off the plan while keeping the army within its reduced manpower ceiling and new budget.

Although the new unit was initially branded by Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon as being a "triservice organisation", Gen Jackson said the core would come from 1 Para and anyone who joined would have to re-badge to become a member of the Parachute Regiment. In another sign that the new formation was part of a last minute deal, Gen Jackson admitted details were "still to be worked out". He said the triservice element would not be a simple one-third split.

One MoD source suggested that elements of the Royal Air Force Regiment that were reroling from air defence into combat search-and-rescue support forces could be assigned to the new unit.

heard about this new csar role for the raf regiment a few years back....

[rockape roon]

more info re new unit !!!!

Britain's special forces moved closer to their American counterparts, creating a dedicated special forces direct support unit based on a similar concept to that of the US Rangers.



The decision to set up what Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the Chief of the General Staff, openly described as "a ranger battalion" follows the announcement in July that Britain is to set up a special forces intelligence regiment modelled on a top secret intelligence US unit.

The first battalion of The Parachute Regiment will form the core of what Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, told MPs will be a tri-service unit.

It was unclear precisely what the tri-service element of the unit will be, given that it will continue to be known as 1 Bn, The Parachute Regiment.

Gen Jackson, who is himself a former member of The Parachute Regiment, said that recent experience in Iraq and Afghanistan had shown a clear gap in the British special forces capability.

The British Army has been determined to keep the SAS and SBS very small and elite, allocating paratroopers or Royal Marine commandos to provide additional back-up for large-scale operations where necessary.

The increasing number of special forces operations undertaken by the SAS and SBS have left them overstretched, and adding a permanent direct support unit will ease those difficulties.

"There is a clear operational requirement to establish a dedicated support battalion to our special forces, thereby making a very significant improvement to our prosecution of global counter-terrorism," Gen Jackson said.

"We need to do a little work completely to define the construct and role of such a battalion and this will done in the New Year."

The move makes Britain's special forces look increasingly similar to the small number of elite special operations forces that are controlled by the US Joint Special Operations Command.

JSOC controls Delta Force, the US Navy's DevGru and an intelligence unit that operates behind a series of code names. They are all able to call on support from the US Rangers.

[Hammer]

The latest I've read is that 1 Para is going to be the first to rotate in, but the other Para Batallions will rotate in as well, with 2 Batallions always remaining with 16AA. Looks like an exciting time to join the Paras. How long these rotations will be is another question. Cheers.

[dsumner]

Originally posted by rockape roon
By TIM RIPLEY JDW Correspondent
London
Additional reporting
Robin Hughes JDW Deputy News Editor
London

British Army chiefs have managed to save an infantry battalion being cut from the service by reroling it as a 'Ranger'-type or special forces support role battalion.

Following a week of acrimonious meetings in the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), the new plan emerged on 16 December as part of a package of measures to implement the Future Army Structure (FAS), which reduces the overall manpower ceiling of the service to some 102,000 and aims to redistribute some 10,000 personnel from infantry, armour and artillery units into low-density/high-demand specialist roles.

Under the plans, the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment (1Para), is to move from being under the direction of the infantry to be under the control of the Director of Special Forces. This could involve it relocating from its current base at Colchester, Essex, where it serves with the army's 16 Air Assault Brigade, to be near the Hereford base of 22 Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment, according to UK Chief of the General Staff General Sir Michael Jackson. The other two Parachute Regiment battalions would remain with 16 Brigade and continue to provide the lead airborne battlegroup in rotation.

No extra funding has been made available by the Treasury for the plan and Gen Jackson admitted that it would "require careful work" to pull off the plan while keeping the army within its reduced manpower ceiling and new budget.

Although the new unit was initially branded by Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon as being a "triservice organisation", Gen Jackson said the core would come from 1 Para and anyone who joined would have to re-badge to become a member of the Parachute Regiment. In another sign that the new formation was part of a last minute deal, Gen Jackson admitted details were "still to be worked out". He said the triservice element would not be a simple one-third split.

One MoD source suggested that elements of the Royal Air Force Regiment that were reroling from air defence into combat search-and-rescue support forces could be assigned to the new unit.

heard about this new csar role for the raf regiment a few years back....

Any new info on the new CSAR role for the RAF Regiment? I'm surprised the RAF never had a dedicated CSAR unit before.

[tony762]

Originally posted by Hammer
[B]The latest I've read is that 1 Para is going to be the first to rotate in, but the other Para Batallions will rotate in as well, with 2 Batallions always remaining with 16AA.

this sounds more like it to me, the paras are (from what i know) at least as well trained as the US rangers, and can fill the role without any extra training etc...
this sounds more like the army securing the paras and streamling ops as opposed to creating a new unit.
the paras have been doing this kind of thing off and on for a while now.