- Prototype warfighting and experimentation Battlegroup
being established
- The force will hone skills to tackle the latest hybrid
and conventional threats.
Soldiers will have their future warfighting skills
sharpened and developed further by the establishment of the
new dedicated force, based on an infantry battalion but
with elements from across the army, designed to fight
prototype warfare at the leading edge of defence.
In setting a bold ambition for the future, the
experimentation Battlegroup will pit soldiers, equipment
and tactics against the very latest hybrid and conventional
threats posed by terrorist, proxy and state adversaries.
Minister for the Armed Forces, said:
With every great advance in technology comes an advance
in the way we fight. The British Army has a proud
tradition of experimenting and innovating with new
technologies during each of the previous industrial
revolutions so as we enter this new age of big data,
automation and artificial intelligence, it’s important
that the new Experimental Battlegroup will be able to
build on that tradition and integrate these latest
advances into our force structures, equipment
requirements and tactics.
Supercharging experimentation, the force will lead in
trialling cutting-edge technology and its integration into
the way we fight; testing the force to its limits, driving
innovation and ensuring that the army’s structures,
equipment and way of fighting evolve in line with the
threats.
This will push forces to their limits to drive innovation
to the core of British Army structures and future-proof the
battlefield for British personnel.
The Battlegroup draws on the heritage of previous
experimental units during earlier industrial revolutions
such as the Experimental Corps of Riflemen in the
Napoleonic Campaign who introduced rifles, sharpshooting
and skirmishing tactics for the first time and the
Experimental Mechanised Force formed in 1927 to investigate
and develop the techniques and equipment required for
armoured warfare.
This announcement follows the publication of the Integrated
Review earlier this week. The Integrated Review is the
most comprehensive articulation of a defence, foreign and
national security approach published by a British
Government in decades.
As part of the Integrated Review, the army will modernise
to form a more agile and integrated force able to exploit
Defence’s network across the globe delivering vital
capabilities in the most-contested environments.
The Defence Command
Paper published on 22 March and outlines further
details on how defence will adapt and modernise to meet
future threats.
