Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps

The Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps is the overall umbrella grouping of Regular Force and Territorial Force units equipped with armoured vehicles in the New Zealand Army. The corps was formed in 1942 as the New Zealand Armoured Corps, before being given the Royal prefix in 1947. The RNZAC is second in seniority of corps within the New Zealand Army.
The Divisional Cavalry Regiment and the 4th Armoured Brigade were among the foremost NZ armoured units during World War II, though at home the 1st Army Tank Brigade was also established.
Although the RNZAC did not deploy one of its own units to the Vietnam War, from 1965-1971 RNZAC personnel served within other New Zealand and Australian units including artillery, infantry, command and support, and logistics. Several members served as tank crew with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps, and 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment Two RNZAC pilots served with the Australian 161st (Independent) Reconnaissance Flight.
During the 1990s, corps personnel contributed to the deployment of a mechanized infantry company group to Bosnia-Hercegovina for UNPROFOR as part of the NZDF Operation Radian.
Among the surviving Territorial Force units at the end of the 20th Century was the Wai/WEC Squadron, later the Waikato Mounted Rifles in Hamilton, and the fast-diminishing New Zealand Scottish Regiment, also at squadron size technically but actually dwindling into single figures, in the South Island. The New Zealand Scots were finally disbanded in 2016.

Current units

RNZAC personnel serve in:
Regular Force

Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles
Combat School

Territorial Force

Waikato Mounted Rifles - Mounted Reconnaissance

On 5 December 2025 the Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles were formally amalgamated into the 1st Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, which would now become a motorized infantry battalion: "The new unit will retain the name 1 RNZIR and will be organised as a Motorised Infantry Battalion, with one of its sub-units retaining the QAMR name."
As of 16 January 2026, Brigadier General G. A. Motley, Chief of Staff, HQNZDF, replied : "The Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps remains active. The Waikato Mounted Rifles remains a reserve sub-unit reporting under the 1st Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment; the sub-unit does not currently appear on the NZ Army Organisational Map as it is in the process of being updated."

Equipment

The RNZAC is primarily equipped with two types of vehicle:

NZLAV - the NZLAV armoured fighting vehicle is a variant of the General Dynamics LAV III.
Pinzgauer - the Army's Light Operational Vehicle with command and control, general service, and armoured variants.

Alliances

Lineage of units

The units of the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps have a complicated and intermingled heritage. The following table shows the relationship between units since 1944. Titles in bold denote regiments, while non-bold titles are individual squadrons.