Page 18 - 1RHA 2023

1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
O (Headquarters) Battery
(The Rocket Troop) Major Andrew Chalmers RHA BC O (HQ) Bty
It gives me great pleasure to write this overview of The Rocket Troop’s last 12 months, a period that has seen diverse employ- ment across the Battery and across the world. The chang-
ing landscape of Eastern Europe has sharpened the need for warfighting capability and 1 RHA within 3UK Div and particularly to 20 ABCT have been at the forefront of those efforts.
Following a late summer leave for many due to deployment on Ex DYNAMIC FRONT in Germany at the end of the last period, elements of The Rocket Troop prepared to support 20 ABCT as the training audience on Project CONVERGENCE in California, an experimental exercise under the Futures Directorate of Army HQ, seeking to test the ‘any sensor, any decider, any effector’ across continents. The previous work completed with the Artillery Sys- tems Cooperation Activities (ASCA) programme in the last period and was developed significantly as part of Pj CONVERGENCE, in particularly by WO2 (WOCIS) Rees who was awarded a DCGS Coin and subsequently awarded the Royal Artillery Lefroy Medal.
Throughout the autumn term the Regiment was held at readiness for the UK Standby Battalion (UKSB), the preparations for which and maintenance of, were resource heavy with The Rocket Troop providing the HQ element. UKSB provides tangible benefit to the UK public if activated so those held at readiness saw the benefit of their efforts. Significantly during this same period broader specialists from The Rocket Troop deployed in support of The Chestnut Troop to Japan on Ex VIGILANT ISLES a key defence activity across the arduous woodland terrain of the Japanese mountains. In particular the Air Cell provided broad expertise in both the preparation and execution and commended for their efforts. With an already busy start to the period, the Rocket Troop took the opportunity to spend time together in the festive period with the Reunion Dinner, Seniors to Officers and the Battery Christmas Party well attended.
Much needed Christmas leave was taken before support to 20 ABCT HQ readiness and support to pre-deployment training for E Bty kicked in the new year. I have been often struck
by the diversity of talents of the Regiment and
in particular the Rocket Troops broad span, spe- cialists in Joint Fires but also excellent general- ists, the Joint Fires Cell attached to 20 ABCT Controls are the epitome of this, often work-
ing in isolation to fight the Bde deep battle, whilst simultaneously providing insight- ful advice on the full remit of armoured warfare, from the Tactical Air Control Party, through to the Fires team lead-
ing on ISTAR integration and main- tenance of the common operating period, they have been a real credit
to The Rocket Troop. This was par- ticularly obvious as the JFC deployed on Ex STANZEN FIST as part of the 20 ABCT readiness cycle.
With the continued development of 1 DRS ABCT and assimilation into 3UK Div, The
Avebury Stones the start point
Rocket Troop’s part in developing and integrating the 1 DRS ABCT processes into 20 ABCT warfighting practices and this has been in part delivered by a 20 ABCT Deep Battle Study Day at Larkhill hosted and delivered by 1 RHA and specifically The Rocket Troop. Coordination and translation of the battlespace management is a key tenet of the modern battlespace, which allows timely and deadly delivery of direct and indirect fires. Even more so as we work through the various permutations and variances of receiving a new equipment type in the form of Archer.
As I eluded to earlier, a significant portion of this period has been aligned to preparing E and B Batteries for their deployments on Op CABRIT (E), a real pleasure to support those committed to operations. The most obvious support is directly with the training and allocating of qualified and current TACP support to each. The Air Cell have repeatedly fought the frictions of resource and wider Army support to ensure that those deploying are not only expert specialists but adding value in all areas. Capt Mike Gaughan and his team deployed with E Battery and have at every turn deliv- ered, most notably with the planning and execution of Ex FURI- OUS WOLF an exercise across three countries in eastern Europe with 14 nations participating, demonstrating the significant air-
power available and its utility in air land integration in support of ground operations. The other significant contribution to preparing the Batteries for operations is the HICON and EXCON support to the CSTTX and FTX por- tions of the PDT process, seeking to create the wrap in which the training is conducted and offer- ing advice and guidance from the Regimental
SMEs within The Rocket Troop.
The most significant support to Ukraine was seen this period with the Gifting in Kindness of various vehicle platforms to the front line. For 1 RHA this meant the gifting of the AS90 fleet. Upon the announcement furious activity was conducted in order to prepare the fleet and it was a true whole Regiment effort. That being said the QM(T) department led the charge for which they are to be com-
BSM Byrne awarded a commendation for his work on Ex WARFIGHTER
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