List of equipment of the British Army


This is a list of equipment of the British Army currently in use. It includes current equipment such as small arms, combat vehicles, explosives, missile systems, engineering vehicles, logistical vehicles, vision systems, communication systems, aircraft, watercraft, artillery, air defence, transport vehicles, as well as future equipment and equipment being trialled.
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of British Armed Forces. Since the end of the Cold War, the British Army has been deployed to a number of conflict zones, often as part of an expeditionary force, a coalition force or part of a United Nations peacekeeping operation.
To meet its commitments, the equipment of the Army is periodically updated and modified. Programs exist to ensure the Army is suitably equipped for both current conflicts and expected future conflicts, with any shortcomings in equipment addressed as Urgent Operational Requirements, which supplements planned equipment programmes.

Infantry section equipment

Each rifle section typically consists of 8 soldiers. They are each commanded by a corporal assisted by a lance corporal acting as section second-in-command. The section is further subdivided into 2 fireteams. The section commander typically commands the Charlie Fire Team, while the 2IC commands the Delta Fire Team.
While equipment formations can be tailored as required by section and platoon commanders, infantry sections are usually issued with the following:
  • Charlie Fire Team
  • * 1× Section Commander, Corporal, armed with 1 L85A3 rifle and 1 Glock 17 pistol
  • * 1× Rifleman, Private, armed with 1 L85A3 rifle
  • * 1× Grenadier, Private, armed with 1 L85A3 rifle and 1 L123A2 under-barrel grenade launcher
  • * 1× Sharpshooter, Private, armed with 1 L129A1 Sharpshooter rifle
  • Delta Fire Team
  • * 1× Second-in-Command, Lance Corporal, armed with 1 L85A3 rifle and 1 Glock 17 pistol
  • * 1× Rifleman, Private, armed with 1 L85A3 rifle
  • * 1× Grenadier, Private, armed with 1 L85A3 rifle and 1 L123A2 under-barrel grenade launcher
  • * 1× Machine Gunner, Private, armed with 1 L7A2 general-purpose machine gun
The rifles are typically paired with the ELCAN SpecterOS 4× Lightweight Day Sight with a mini-red dot sight mounted on the top and a foregrip with an integrated bipod.
The section also operates NLAW disposable ATGMs, as well as multiple L109A2 high explosive grenades, and L83A1 smoke grenades. Specialist equipment such as claymore mines, L26A1 bangalore torpedoes, L128A1 combat shotgun, etc, is available if there is a requirement.

Vision systems

  • Sight Unit Small Arms, Trilux or SpecterOS Lightweight Day Sights - for use with the SA80.
  • Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight - to be used with the L129A1 Sharpshooter.
  • ARILLS - new infrared / thermal imaging sight for the SA80 A3.
  • Laser Light Module - used for aiming and illumination with the SA80 A3.
  • Jim Compact Sight - new infared binoculars that can spot targets from more than 5 km away, have both thermal and low-level light capabilities and can take HD pictures and video recordings. It also has a laser positioning system.
  • Magnum Universal Night Sight - high-resolution clip-on night vision weapon sight for the L129A1 Sharpshooter. Detects and recognizes man-size targets in excess of 800 meters.
  • FIST Thermal Sight - thermal imaging scope designed to be mounted on rifles and light machine guns. Acquired as part of the MoD's Future Integrated Soldier Technology.
  • Common Weapon Sight - image-intensification night vision scope for weapons or handheld surveillance.
  • Head mounted Night Vision System, based on the American AN/PVS-14.
  • Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 PM II - 25x magnification day scope for the L115A3 Sniper Rifle.
  • Sniper Thermal Imaging Capability - thermal imagining sight that is mounted on the L115A3 and AX50.
  • The command launch unit of the Javelin anti-tank missile contains a sophisticated thermal imaging sensor that can double as a reconnaissance tool.
  • SMASH X4 sighting system - anti-drone sight mounted on the SA80 A3 that automatically acquires a target from the sight’s field-of-view, and then displays a box around the target in the shooter’s reflex sight, only allowing the shooter to fire when the sight is aligned to hit the target.

    Communications equipment

  • Personal Role Radio - small, light UHF radio with a range of 500m and a battery life of 20 hours, issued to every member of the Infantry section.
  • Bowman Combat Net Radio - secure HF, VHF, UHF voice and data communications. The MoD plans to replace Bowman with a system named Morpheus in the future.
  • - joint tactical trunk communications system for the Land Environment.
  • Reacher - is a mobile X-Band Satellite Ground Terminal that uses the Skynet V military satellite network
  • Small SATCOM - the satellite ground terminal is reasonably lightweight and can be set up by a single trained operator in less than 30 minutes, also using the Skynet V network.
  • Skynet - is a family of military communications satellites, they provide strategic and tactical communication services to the branches of the British Armed Forces, the British intelligence agencies, some UK government departments and agencies, and to allied governments including the Five Eyes intelligence alliance members.
  • - use low orbiting communications satellites to relay radio signals between operators. The advantage to this method is the ability to communicate in remote areas out of reach of terrestrial transmitters.

    Weapons

Pistols

Infantry rifles

Bladed weapons

Long range rifles

Submachine guns

Machine guns

Shotguns

Grenade launchers

Explosives

Indirect fire weapons

Portable anti-material weapons

Surface-to-air missile system

Personal equipment

Protective equipment

Helmet

All soldiers are now equipped with the new Virtus helmet which provides increased blunt impact protection, has a lighter weight than the preceding Mk7, can be fitted with face and mandible guards for certain roles, is specially shaped to allow effective weapon usage while in a prone position and wearing body armour, and features a permanent universal night vision mount and a scalable counterweight attached to the helmet's rear in order to ease strain on the user's neck while a night vision device is equipped. The helmet allows the soldier to wear a respirator, hearing protection, goggles and/or a radio headset as necessary.
The previous standard helmet in service was the Mk7 which replaced the older Mk6 and Mk6A helmets on operations.
84,000 Mk 7 helmets were donated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2022.

Combat body armour

The British Army uses two main combat body armour systems;
The Virtus Scalable Tactical Vest is the primary body armour system used on live operations, LFTT, and firing ranges and has replaced the previously used Osprey body armour. It is 10 lbs lighter than Osprey and closer-fitting and can have its level of protection more closely scaled to the prevailing threat type. The vest also features a quick-release mechanism to aid safe extraction from hazardous situations such as burning vehicles or drowning and a dynamic weight distribution system which, when linked to a soldier's waist belt, aids in spreading the soldier's load across the back, shoulders, and hips; a mechanism in the small of the back allows the wearer to adjust the weight bias depending on the situation. The STV can be used in a variety of ways including; load carriage without armour, a fragmentation vest with soft composite armour but no hard plates, a plate carrier with no soft armour, and a full body armour system with both soft armour padding and hard plates.
Enhanced Combat Body Armour is a soft body armour vest that was first introduced in the 1980s and can be augmented with ceramic ballistic plates. It was used on operations until the introduction of the Osprey body armour series in 2006 and is now used solely for training purposes, primarily for non-infantry phase one training recruits.
Ancillary to regular body armour is a three-tier pelvic armour system - issued since 2010 - to mitigate against shrapnel and other blast effects. The first layer is a pair of underwear shorts manufactured from a ballistic silk material. The second layer consists of detachable pelvic body armour that is intended to be worn while 'outside the wire' to meet the greater threats faced by soldiers on patrol. The third layer consists of knee-length ballistic shorts worn over a soldier's combat trousers, offering coverage of the upper leg and wider abdominal region and designed for use by soldiers operating hand-held metal detectors to search for explosive devices or otherwise serving in a combat role where greater levels of protection are required.
8,450 sets of Osprey body armour were donated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2022.

Respirator

By January 2015, over 300,000 General Service Respirators had been delivered to replace the older S10 respirator.
Features which differentiate it from the S10 which it replaced are:
  • Twin filter canisters can be changed more easily while in a CBRN environment
  • Single visor provides better visibility and reduces the claustrophobic effect
  • Improved drinking system
  • Ability to convert to EU standard canisters with a simple modification
These respirators are also used by the rest of the British Armed Forces.

Uniforms

The multi-terrain pattern combat clothing is designed to blend with the range of environments such as woodland, jungle, compounds, crops, grassland and arid stone. This change to the British camouflage pattern was the first in 40 years. The uniform is flame-retardant and insect-repellent treated.
Troops on operations are issued with knee length, waterproof socks that have antimicrobial properties similar to those found in medical dressings and keep feet warmer than conventional socks.