The Iron Fist Brigade Combat Team
Soldiers serving with the Brigade Combat Team proudly wear the insignia of a white mailed fist on a blue background as a symbol of the hard punch that this historic and battle-proven armoured formation can give any enemy. Lethal and Ready for 21st Century warfighting, The Iron Fist will have the privilege of providing the armoured forces held at high readiness to both the UK and NATO from 1 Apr 20.
Lead Armoured Task Force (LATF) and Vanguard Armoured Infantry Brigade (VAIB)
2020 will see The Iron Fist as the LATF and VAIB; the UK’s leading armoured element on elevated readiness, supporting a rapid deployment to undertake any short notice contingency tasks. The Iron Fist can operate within a UK, US, FR or NATO division for warfighting at scale. It provides the British Army’s best deterrence for the conventional defence of the UK.
Operations and Exercises
The Iron Fist is currently deployed in over 10 countries around the world. Deployments vary in strength from single military advisors to full Combined Arms Battle Groups.
The Iron Fist conducts various training exercises with the most notable being Combined Arms live and dry training at the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS), Canada. Once trained, Battle Groups from The Iron Fist will conduct operations in Estonia as part of NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence initiative; contribute to the UN Peace Keeping Mission in Cyprus; provide a Battle Group to support Operation TORAL in Afghanistan; as well as providing a Company for Public duties at Buckingham Palace; all whilst poised to support UK resilience tasks.
Locations
- Afghanistan
- Estonia
- Canada, BATUS
- Cyprus, Sovereign Base Area
- Kenya
- Germany
- Poland
- USA