Close Support Air Defence
12th Regiment Royal Artillery are the Army’s only Regiment to provide Close Support Air Defence to our most important assets on the battlefield, using state-of-the-art missiles and detection systems. This gives us the ability to destroy a variety of threats from enemy rotary wing to unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
Our Regiment
Facts & Figures
Active From:
1947
Role:
AIR DEFENCE
Specialism:
Close Support Air Defence and Counter-Uncrewed Aerial Systems (C-UAS)
Our Skills
We specialise in delivering vital Close Support Air Defence to the UK’s manoeuvre forces, providing protection to critical assets from a range of airborne threats.
Specialist trade areas:
- Guided missile operator
- Armoured vehicle operator
- Advanced communicator
- Parachutist
We are also the premier sporting regiment within the Royal Artillery, particularly at Rugby, Nordic Skiing, Football and Boxing.
Current Deployments
- Operation Cabrit (Estonia): Deployed to provide Close Support Air Defence to NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence in the Baltics.
- Operation Crossways (Saudi Arabia): Deployed with High Velocity Missile Self Propelled (HVM SP) to defend our allies from modern attack UAVs.
- Operation Shader (Iraq): The Regiment are currently deployed on Op Shader providing the LML capability.
- USA: Working with US partners to provide Close Range Air Defence in a coalition environment.
- Operation Temperer (UK): On standby to provide domestic support to the Civil Authorities.
Recent Deployment:
Soldiers from 12 Regiment Royal Artillery, deployed as part of the UK’s enhanced Force Presence commitment to Operation Cabrit. They to conduct a joint live firing exercise with their Estonian Army counterparts. The exercise, which saw the deployment of the British Army’s Stormer - High Velocity Missile Self Propelled – and Estonian Mistral, CV90 and Heavy Machine Gun.
Past deployments:
We have been involved in every major operational deployment, and every major exercise for the past 20 years.
Our Location
Thorney Island, Emsworth, Hampshire
The jewel in the crown of Royal Artillery locations, Thorney Island is located on the South coast of England and forms part of the beautiful Chichester harbour. Only 10 miles East along the coast from Portsmouth city centre, it is the only Royal Artillery camp to boast its own sandy beach!
Thorney Island is also home to the Army Inshore Sailing Training Centre (AISTC). Many of soldiers take advantage of the various courses they offer, including paddle boarding, windsurfing, kitesurfing and dinghy sailing.