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Information About

Australian Army




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 Army (CA), who is responsible to the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF).

As well as ground troops, approximately 100 , Chinook , and has taken delivery of the first of 22 Eurocopter Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters (with the last of the UH-1 Iroquois serving with distinction in Aceh for humanitarian relief after 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake before removal from service). Recently plans have been announced to procure 59 M1A2 Tanks and 7 M88 Hercules II armoured recovery vehicles.

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.

The history of the Australian Army can be divided into two periods:
  • 1901-47, when limits were set on the size of the regular army, the vast majority of peacetime soldiers were in the '''reserve army''' units of the Australian Citizens Military Force (also known as the CMF or Militia), and Australian Imperial Force s were formed to serve overseas, and

  • post-1947, when a standing peacetime Infantry force was formed and the CMF (known as the Army Reserve after 1980) began to decline in importance.


The army has been involved in many peacekeeping operations, usually under the auspices of the 2005 .


THE ARMY TODAY



Organisation

The Australian Army is currently organised around two Division headquarters. The Deployable Joint Force Headquarters/1st Division has responsibility for the majority of the regular army, while 2nd Division is the main home defence formation, containing Army Reserve units. The regular army is organised around the six battalion Royal Australian Regiment - three of these are standard light infantry, with two of the others roled as paratroops and mechanised infantry. The final battalion is a specialised commando unit class as special forces. The Royal Australian Armoured Corps has three regular regiments, one of main battle tanks and two light cavalry (formation reconnaissance). These forces, together with the associated combat support (artillery, engineers, signals) and combat service support (logistics, maintenance etc) are based around two deployable brigades, 1 Brigade , which is primarily a heavy mechanised formation, and 3 Brigade , which is a light, air deployable formation. 7 Brigade is an integrated Regular/Reserve formation that would primarily be used in conjunction with DJHQ were it ever to be deployed overseas.


Statistics



Current deployments

The Australian Army currently has significant forces deployed on two major operations:
  • Operation Catalyst - Australia's commitment to the Coalition forces in Iraq . The army's contribution includes:

  • --- Al Muthanna Task Group ; this is a Battlegroup consisting of a headquarters, infantry company, armoured squadron and training team, with a total of 450 personnel. This has two tasks:


  • --Provide a secure environment for the Japanese Iraq Reconstruction and Support Group (JIRSG)


  • --Assist in the training of local Iraqi Army units so that they are able to take over the internal and external defence of their country

  • ---Australian Army Training Team; this encompasses 55 personnel providing logistic training to the New Iraqi Army .

  • ---Embassy security detatchment; this provides security protection and escort for staff at the Australian Embassy in Baghdad , and consists of 100 personnel.

  • Operation Slipper - Australia's commitment to the War On Terror . The army contribution is primarily concentrated in Afghanistan and consists of a '''Special Operations Task Group''' of personnel from the Special Air Service Regiment , 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and Incident Response Regiment .

  • In addition to these, small numbers of personnel are deployed on various operations around the world, including Timor-Leste , the Solomon Islands , and on peacekeeping duties with the Multinational Force And Observers and the United Nations .

  • "Hardened and Networked Army"

On , consisting of infantry, armour, artillery etc in the correct proportions relevant to each type of mission. For this, nine separate army units are being structured to act as battlegroup headquarters:

The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment will be relocated from Sydney to Adelaide, converting from its current parachute role into a mechanised unit. This new 'battle group' will take on a similar role to 5/7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment which is the major mechanised battalion. By the end of this process in approximately 2015, 1 Brigade will be the army's major mechanised formation. The armoured units of the Army Reserve in 2nd Division will be restructured, with four becoming pure light cavalry and the fifth being utilised in the armoured lift role.


RANK AND INSIGINA OF THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY

The Ranks of the Australian Army are based on the ranks of the British Army , and carry mostly the same actual insignia. Other than the shoulder title "Australia", the Officer ranks are exactly identical. The Non-Commissioned Officer insignia are the same up until Warrant Officer ranks, where they are stylised for Australia.


HISTORICAL UNITS AND RELATED TOPICS



CONFLICTS INVOLVING THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY



ARTICLES ON CONSCRIPTION AND NATIONAL SERVICE



NOTES



SOURCES




SEE ALSO



EXTERNAL LINKS


  • Website: http://www.army.gov.au

  • recruitment: http://www.defencejobs.gov.au

  • Defence Force Community: http://www.AusSpecialForces.com