• Corps, Regiments & Units

The Royal Armoured Corps

The Royal Armoured Corps provides the armour capability of the British Army. It combines speed, momentum, firepower and reconnaissance capabilities with armoured fighting vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank and Jackal Fighting Vehicle.

Active from: 

4 April 1939

Role: 

Armoured

Specialism: 

Fighting vehicles

We are physically and mentally prepared to succeed in complex and continually changing conditions, determined to seize and exploit fleeting opportunities and tactical and technical experts in all forms of mounted manoeuvre, from horses to tanks.

  • Armour
  • Armoured Cavalry
  • Light Cavalry
  • Ceremonial

Our Regiments are serving in different countries around the world.

We have a strong ethos that enables our officers and soldiers to exploit the capabilities of their fighting vehicles and the speed of manoeuvre to outwit, outfight and outlast the enemy through shock action and reconnaissance.

Home of the Royal Armoured Corps (RAC).

Bovington Garrison (including Lulworth) is the point of origin of the RAC.

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The Regiments of the Royal Armoured Corps form the core of the British Army’s Mounted Close Combat capability.

The nine Regular and four Reserve regiments that make up the Royal Armoured Corps are descendants of the famous Cavalry Regiments who rode into battle on horseback and of the Royal Tank Regiment, who manned the very first tanks during the Great War (First World War).

As one of the two Combat Arms, along with the Infantry, they are primarily focused on close combat through “closing with and destroying the enemy”.

Their core roles are Armour, Armoured Cavalry and Light Cavalry, as well as the ceremonial duties carried out by the regiments of the Household Cavalry.

Each member of the crew contributes to the Commander's situational awareness.

Johno, 22

The Regiments of the Royal Armoured Corps are descendants of the famous Cavalry Regiments who rode into battle on horseback as heavy or light horsemen; and of the Royal Tank Regiment who manned the first tanks during the Great War.

The Corps was created by combining Cavalry units and the Royal Tank Corps (renamed Royal Tank Regiment).

As other Cavalry and Yeomanry units became mechanised, the Corps was enlarged.

The Reconnaissance Corps was absorbed into the Royal Armoured Corps.

Headquarters Armour Centre Opened.

The Corps has 14 Regiments, 10 Regular and four Reserve.

Household Cavalry
Hyde Park Barracks, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 1SE 0207 414 2550

1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards
Robertson Barracks, Swanton Morley, Dereham, Norfolk, NR20 4TX 01362 62 7802

Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
Waterloo Lines, Leuchars Station, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 0JX 01334 85 6253

Royal Dragoon Guards
Battlesbury Barracks, Woodcock Lane, Warminster, BA12 9DT

Queen's Royal Hussars
Assaye Barracks, Tidworth (0044) 01980 651257

The Royal Lancers
Cambrai Lines, Munster Barracks, Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire DL9 3PZ 01748 87 3348

King's Royal Hussars
Aliwal Barracks, Tidworth, SP9 7BB 01980 650816

Light Dragoons
Gaza Barracks, Catterick, North Yorkshire DL9 4AU 01748 872801

Royal Tank Regiment
Kirkee Rd, Aliwal Barracks, Tidworth SP9 

Royal Yeomanry
Fulham House, Fulham SW6 3JS 020 7384 4644

Royal Wessex Yeomanry
Allenby Barracks, Bovington, Wareham, Dorset BH20 6JA 01929 402024

Queen's Own Yeomanry
Fenham Barracks, Barrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4NP 01912 393127

Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry
Redford Barracks, Edinburgh EH13 0PP 0131 310 5571

Equipment

The Challenger 2 is an all-weather platform that can operate in the day or night and has a variety of weapons to destroy enemy vehicles and infantry.

The Scimitar armoured fighting vehicle's exceptionally low ground pressure and small size make it useful where the terrain is hostile and movement is difficult.

Jackal 2 is a high mobility weapons platform, with a unique air-bag suspension system allowing rapid movement across varying terrain.

Fuchs is able to detect Chemical, Radiological and Nuclear hazards through Area Survey and Reconnaissance.

The RWMIK has the capacity to support itself and its crew over 800km.

Used in the reconnaissance role to find and mark targets to destroy. Equipped with their own anti-armour weapons, they can also pack a punch.

Extra two wheels gives a heavier vehicle, which can act in support of the Jackal 2 to transport supplies and equipment over similar terrain.

Weighing 7-tonnes, the Panther is air transportable and can be underslung beneath a Chinook helicopter.

This heavy-armoured truck is part of the Tactical Support Vehicles (TSV) group along with the Husky and the Coyote.