Army 2020 Refine was the name given to the restructuring of theBritish Army in the mid-to-late 2010s, in light of theStrategic Defence and Security Review 2015. As its name suggests, it was a "refinement" ofArmy 2020, an early 2010s reorganisation of the Army to be completed by 2020, originally conducted in light of theStrategic Defence and Security Review 2010. It was succeeded byFuture Soldier.
TheStrategic Defence and Security Review 2015 announced that the structure of the Reaction and Adaptable Forces would further change, in an evolution of the previousArmy 2020 plan. The main changes of Army 2020 Refine were:
The armoured infantry brigades were reduced from three to two, as one was converted to a Strike Brigade. In a Defence Committee hearing, Chief of the General Staff Sir Nicholas Carter stated that "each of these [Strike] brigades will have twoAJAX regiments and probably twoMechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) battalions as well". There was to be around 50 to 60 Ajax vehicles per Strike Brigade.[3]
A December 2016 written statement[4] stated that the first Strike Brigade to form would consist of:
Other units such as1 Regiment RLC,1 Close Support Battalion REME,3 Medical Regiment and21 Engineer Regiment would provide close support to this Strike Brigade.[5]3rd Regiment,Royal Horse Artillery, and4th Regiment,Royal Artillery were to provide artillery support to the Strike Brigades.
A total of five Specialised Infantry battalions, around 300 personnel strong:[6][7]
Several units were initially meant to be rationalised, with all manpower in those units being redeployed to other areas of the Army in its refined structure. These were originally:
However,35 Engineer Regiment was retained and reformed as an explosive ordnance and search regiment.[9] 32nd Regiment, Royal Artillery, was also retained in October 2019.[10][11]
TheScottish andPrince of Wales' Divisions of infantry merged, incorporating theRoyal Regiment of Scotland,Royal Welsh andRoyal Irish Regiment. This administrative division was called theScottish, Welsh and Irish Division. The Mercian Regiment transferred from the Prince of Wales’ Division to theKing's Division.
TheField Army was restructured in July/August 2019 as set out below.[12][13][14]
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