List of equipment of the British Army


This is a list of equipment of the British Army currently in use. It includes small arms, combat vehicles, aircraft, watercraft, artillery and transport vehicles. 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

The British infantry section consists of eight men who are normally organised into two four-man infantry fireteams. While equipment formations can be tailored as required by section and platoon commanders, infantry sections are usually issued with the following:
;Weapons
;Vision systems
;Communications equipment

Pistols

Infantry rifles

Bayonet

Long range rifles

Submachine guns

Machine guns

Shotguns

Grenade launchers

Explosives

Indirect fire weapons

Portable anti-material weapons

Non service weapons

In addition to the weapons above, several foreign weapons and former British service weapons are held as non service pattern light weapons in order to conduct familiarisation and/or usage training, obtain data on and demonstrate weapon characteristics and performance, make comparisons to current British service weapons, and test items such as ammunition and ancillary equipment.

Handguns

Protective equipment

Helmet

Many 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.
Prior to this, the standard helmet in service was the Mk7 which replaced the older Mk6 and Mk6A helmets on operations. The Mk7 helmet offered the same protection as the Mk6A but had a lower weight and was equipped with a new harness that kept the helmet more stable on the head when night vision equipment was fitted. The shape of the helmet was better integrated with new weapon sights compared to the Mk6A, making it easier to use in a variety of fighting positions. All helmets allow the soldier to wear a respirator, hearing protection, goggles and/or a radio headset as necessary.

Combat Body Armour

The British Army utilises three combat body armour systems. For training activities, old stocks of Enhanced Combat Body Armour are utilised; first introduced in the 1980s, this is a soft body armour vest that can be augmented with hard armour plates. For operational activities since 2006, soldiers have been issued with a combined soft and hard body armour vest known as Osprey body armour, with the latest iteration being the Mk 4 and Mk 4A 'Osprey Assault' body armour. The Osprey Mk 4 vest provides the same level of ballistic protection as older Osprey vests while improving the comfort of personnel on operations by being closer fitting, less bulky and easier to move in; this is aided by having a thinner hard armour plate which is carried in an internal pocket as opposed to the external pockets of Enhanced Combat Body Armour and earlier Osprey vests. A new ribbed material lining on the inside of the vest improves breathability in hotter climates such as that of Afghanistan. The Mk 4A version achieves a further weight reduction by switching from a cummerbund to a smaller side plate pouch. All versions of Osprey body armour are modular in that MOLLE loops on the outside of the vest allow soldiers to attach various load carrying pouches to suit their role, with the Osprey Mk 4 having a higher number of loops and introducing new pouches such as a "commander's pouch" for holding stationery and open magazine pouches with elastic draw-cords for easier access to ammunition.
Osprey Mk 4 and Mk 4A body armour has mostly been replaced by the Scalable Tactical Vest component of Virtus body armour, which is even closer fitting and lighter than the Opsrey Mk 4 and can have its level of protection scaled up or down to match the prevailing type of threat. 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.
Ancillary to regular body armour is a three-tier pelvic armour system issued since 2010 to mitigate against the effects of blasts, including shrapnel. The first layer is a pair of underwear shorts manufactured from scientifically-tested 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; it can be rolled up and clipped to a belt and then pulled through the legs to form a protective pouch, ensuring that mobility is not impeded while the second layer is worn. 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.

Respirator

By January 2015, over 300,000 General Service Respirators had been delivered to replace the older S10 respirator. These respirators are also used by the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Uniforms

Boots

In 2012, the MOD purchased a newly designed range of brown combat boots from Haix, Alt-Berg, and other manufacturers for the Army, Royal Navy and RAF to replace the black and desert combat footwear previously worn. Five different boots, developed to match the Multi-Terrain Pattern uniform, are available to Armed Forces personnel depending on where they are based and what role they are in. Each of the five boot types comes in two different styles, with personnel being able to wear the particular style they find most comfortable. Black boots have been retained for wear with most non-camouflage uniforms as well as units on parade in full dress uniform, such as regiments performing ceremonial duties in central London.
Before the adoption of the brown boots, British troops were issued with desert combat boots manufactured by Meindl and Lowa for use in Afghanistan. Both boots remain listed as part of the MOD's 'Black Bag' of operational clothing despite their official replacement by the brown boots, and may be worn by individual soldiers in lieu of the issue footwear.

Personal Role Radio

A Personal Role Radio is distributed to every member of an eight-strong infantry section.

Load Carrying Equipment

Soldiers need to carry ammunition, water, food, protective equipment, and various other supplies; Personal Load Carrying Equipment, officially known as 90 Pattern Webbing, is the current webbing system used by the British Army for this purpose. The webbing consists of a belt, a yoke harness, and various belt pouches, as well as two daysacks for use with the Combat Order; these can be attached to a larger 'Bergen' rucksack for use with the Marching Order. Associated with PLCE is a series of similar load carrying equipment and rucksacks. PLCE webbing is capable of holding everything that a soldier needs to operate for 24 hours without resupply in its Fighting Order, for up to two or three days without resupply in its Combat or Patrol Order and for up to two weeks without resupply in its Marching Order.
PLCE is now very unlikely to be spotted during operations due to the introduction of the Osprey body armour series and the later Virtus scalable tactical vest, both of which feature MOLLE loops for direct attachment of load carrying pouches as well as various associated load carrying items such as rucksacks that also feature MOLLE attachment loops, though PLCE webbing produced in the newer MTP pattern does exist and, due to its durability and the quantity produced, the webbing is often seen in use during training exercises.

Future Integrated Soldier Technology

The Future Integrated Soldier Technology is a programme under development by the Ministry of Defence. The programme is designed to achieve enhanced military effect through the used of advanced technologies improving the situational awareness, lethality and survivability of soldiers. Ultimately, the programme is part of the wider British Armed Forces doctrine of network-enabled capability. 35,000 sets of kit are expected to be bought and issued between 2015 and 2020. This equipment is designed to bring the British infantryman up to standards and link with new technology currently employed, including the new underslung grenade launcher for the SA80 and the deployed Bowman communications network. It is not intended that every soldier be equipped with FIST: instead, unit commanders will request FIST kits as necessary so that they can be tailored to the situation and mission aims.

Vehicles

Armoured

Artillery and air-defence

List of obsolete anti-tank guided missiles

The Mobile Artillery Monitoring Battlefield Radar is a counter-battery radar. It detects enemy artillery projectiles fired by one or more weapons and from their trajectories locates the position of the weapon that fired it. It has a detection range of up to 30 km and can process up-to 100 projectiles simultaneously. It is mounted on a Bandvagn 206 all-terrain vehicle. Five vehicles are operated by the 5th Regiment Royal Artillery.

Exactor

The Exactor is a previously classified purchase of the Rafael Spike-NLOS missile system. The system is primarily used for precise indirect counter barrage attacks at long ranges where the GMLRS would result in too much collateral damage. It originally consisted of six Mk2 or Mk4 missiles mounted on an M113 chassis, of which 12 were purchased directly from the Israeli Defence Force with a further two chassis leased.
In 2010, the United Kingdom hired Rafael to produce an improved Mk 5 missile and also ditched the M-113 based launchers as they were poorly air-conditioned and difficult to keep running. These new missiles were mounted on a simpler flatbed trailer containing four missiles each. This new system was dubbed the Exactor 2 by the U.K. Ministry of Defence. 18 such systems now exist within the Royal Artillery in six batteries of three.

Centurion

Centurion is a C-RAM system based on the 20mm Phalanx CIWS, originally acquired for used in Basra, Iraq. It is operated by 16th Regiment Royal Artillery, and intended to intercept incoming rockets, shells and mortars out to a 1.2 km square area. They are maintained by Babcock International in the United Kingdom. A total of ten sets were purchased in 2005, but since then four have been reconverted back to the maritime variant.

Engineering and logistics

Miscellaneous

C vehicle fleet

The job of the Royal Engineers is to restrict the enemy's ability to advance, while also allowing friendly combat forces the freedom to maneuver as necessary. Other tasks undertaken are bomb disposal, the construction of fortifications, runways, roads and bridges and the improvement of existing infrastructure to support operations - such as improving existing roads for logistic convoys. To achieve this, the Royal Engineers operate a large and diverse fleet of vehicles. At present, the C vehicle fleet is provided by a private finance initiative and consists of some 2,500 vehicles of over 160 types of "earthmoving plant, Engineer Construction Plant and rough terrain Materials Handling Equipment ".
The provider of the PFI is Amey Lex Consortium, which was awarded a 15-year contract in 2005 for £600 million. The handing over of the C vehicle fleet to a PFI has improved overall efficiency, with ALC selecting common chassis for multiple roles and significantly reducing equipment types. This has led to reduced training needs in personnel, commonality of spares and an overall reduction in the logistic footprint and cost of maintenance. ALC maintains the fleet at various degrees of readiness, with a large pool of the vehicles being modified and adapted for military use - however, the majority of the fleet is maintained at commercial standards. The fleet is dispersed worldwide to accommodate both existing and future operations. When in use, the vehicles are essentially being "hired on an ad hoc basis". To help sustain the C vehicle fleet on operations, the PFI includes a logistics support package.

All-terrain vehicles

There are a number of all-terrain vehicles in service with the British Army. The Supacat ATMP is a lightweight 6×6 used by airborne and air-mobile forces. It can carry up to 8 troops with a standard NATO pallet of stores and ammunition. The Springer all-terrain vehicle is a light-role 4×2 load carriage platform, which can self-load a 1-ton pallet. Each vehicle is equipped with an 8,000 lb self-recovery winch and sand ladders, which act as loading ramps for a cargo pallet. Approximately 900 Grizzly 450 quad bikes are used as light transport for things such as mortars, ammunition and general supplies. Finally, the Harley Davidson MT350E and Honda R250 motorcycles are used by dispatch riders and for a variety of liaison and traffic control tasks.

Special forces

The Special forces maintain a unique fleet of vehicles to support their covert operations. In 2001, 65 Supacat High Mobility Transporter 400 vehicles were ordered under Project Minacity after being in development for a special forces protected vehicle requirement since the late 1990s. The Minacity vehicles entered service in 2003 in Afghanistan. In 2008, 24 Australian Bushmaster armoured vehicles were purchased under an UOR for the SAS in Iraq, as these provided all-round protection unlike the Minacity. It is fitted with additional armour, counter-IED electronics, and a.50 calibre machine gun mounted in a RWS. In addition, other vehicles known to be in service are: 60 Toyota Hilux for special forces mobility; and 78 ACMAT VLRAs as tactical support vehicles to resupply and sustain special forces on operations. In August 2016, the BBC reported that the Jankel Toyota Land Cruiser-based Al-Thalab long range patrol vehicle was being used in Syria.

Aircraft

Watercraft

Raiding craft

The raiding craft in service with the British Army are operated in large numbers, predominately with the Royal Engineers and the Royal Logistic Corps, for supporting both bridging and amphibious operations. These craft are highly versatile and often find themselves serving in environments ranging from the Arctic to the tropics.

Mk.4 Workboat

Four boats in service, operated by the Royal Logistic Corps as small tugs and general purpose work-boats in support of amphibious operations. They have a displacement of 48 tonnes and a maximum speed of 10 knots.

Mexeflotes

Mexeflotes are amphibious landing raft operated by the Royal Logistic Corps for amphibious operations and are designed to deliver both armoured vehicles and material from ship to shore. They are deployed on the 16,160 tonne Bay-class landing ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Future equipment