2.5: People Overview
Program 1.3 – Army Capabilities
Department outputs 2014-15: $5,986 million
In 2009, the Australian Army was restructured to ensure it is more effective and efficient in its conduct of force generation and force preparation—for current operations and potential operations of the future. The Army was structured around three functional commands. The three functional commands and their roles are as follows:
Special Operations Command commanding Army’s Special Forces units.
Forces Command is responsible for the force generation of Army individual and collective conventional capabilities based on Foundation Warfighting skills.
1st Division focuses on the force preparation of conventional Army force elements for specified operations and contingencies. It also forms the basis of the Deployable Joint Force Headquarters, capable of providing Command and Control to Australian and coalition forces at short notice.
Army
Army Headquarters
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Headquarters 1st Division
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Special Operations Command
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Army Aviation Training Centre * Combined Arm Training Centre * 2nd Division
Director-General Army Operations *
Director General Strategic Plans - Army *
Director-General Personnel * Director General Reserves *
Chief Finance Officer - Army * Deputy Chief of Army Army Logistics Training Centre *
90 Headquarters 1st Division
Headquarters 1st Division is based in Brisbane, and prepares and certifies Army conventional force elements, as assigned by Chief of Army, in order to meet the specific operational and contingency requirements directed by Chief Joint Operations.
Headquarters 1st Division also commands a number of specialist units which support its role and prepare and certify forces for operations. These include the 1st Signals Regiment (Brisbane), the Combat Training Centre (Townsville), the 39th Operational Support Battalion (Randwick, Sydney) and the 2nd/30th Training Group (Butterworth, Malaysia).
Special Operations Command
The Special Air Services Regiment (SASR) in Western Australia provides special recovery (including domestic and overseas counter terrorism by the west coast Tactical Assault Group (TAG)), long-range reconnaissance and offensive operations. The 2nd Commando Regiment (2 Cdo Regt) in Sydney (including east coast TAG) and the 1st Commando Regiment (a reserve unit split between Sydney and Melbourne) are the Army’s two commando
regiments. Commando roles include special recovery and land, sea- and air-borne offensive raids. The 126 Signals Squadron in Sydney provides a Special Forces signals capability to 2 Cdo Regt and 152 Signals Squadron in Perth provides a signals capability to the SASR. There is also a Special Operations Engineer Regiment based in Sydney, a Special Forces Logistics Squadron in Sydney, a Special Forces Training Centre in Sydney and Parachute Training School in Nowra.
Forces Command 1st, 3rd and 7th Brigades
Forces Command includes three combat brigades. Each Brigade contains two Infantry Battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment, and Armoured Cavalry Regiment equipped with M113AS4 armoured personnel carriers and Australian modified ASLAV light armoured vehicles. Each Brigade also contains an Artillery Regiment equipped with towed M777 155mm Lightweight Towed Howitzers. Additionally, each Brigade includes command and control, combat support and combat service support elements based in a Brigade
Headquarters, Signals Regiment, Combat Engineer Regiment and Combat Service Support Battalion.
1st Brigade The 1st Brigade is headquartered in Darwin and has units located in both Darwin and Adelaide. The 1st Armoured Regiment is the Brigades Armoured Cavalry Regiment and also currently contains Army’s armoured capability, equipped with reconditioned US-made M1A1 Abrams tanks. The 7th Battalion, The Royal Austrlian Regiment is based in Adelaide.
3rd Brigade The 3rd Brigade headquartered in Townsville. In addition to its two standard Infantry Battalions, 3rd Brigade also commands the 2nd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, which is Army’s dedicated unit supporting the ADF Amphibious Capability.
7th Brigade The 7th Brigade is headquartered in Brisbane.
91 6th Brigade
Headquartered at Victoria Barracks in Sydney, the 6th Brigade commands a diverse collection of units including:
• 1st Intelligence Battalion (Brisbane)
• 16th Air Land Regiment (Woodside SA) equipped with the Swedish RBS 70 shoulder launched, optically guided, surface-to-air missiles, as well as Giraffe sense and warn Agile Multi-Beam (GAMB) radars.
• 20th Surveillance and Target Acquisition Regiment (Brisbane)
• 7th Signals Regiment - Electronic Warfare (Carbalah, Queensland)
• 19th Chief Engineer Works (Sydney)
• 6th Engineer Support Regiment (Brisbane) comprising:
o 17th Construction Squadron (Sydney) o 21st Construction Squadron (Brisbane)
o 20th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Squadron (Enoggera, Queensland).
17th Brigade
The 17th Brigade, headquartered at Randwick Barracks in Sydney, is a brigade-sized grouping of reserve, integrated and permanent Army units which can sustain a brigade on operations for extended periods while concurrently maintaining a battalion group
elsewhere. The Brigade provides supply, fuel, communications, transport (surface vehicle and small watercraft), repair, and health and psychology capabilities. The Brigade is headquartered in Sydney and comprises of the following units:
• 2nd Force Support Battalion (Glenorchy, Tasmania)
• 9th Force Support Battalion (Amberley, Queensland)
• 10th Force Support Battalion (Townsville)
• 1st Close Health Battalion (headquartered in Sydney)
• 2nd General Health Battalion (Brisbane)
• 3rd Health Support Battalion (headquartered in Adelaide)
• 1st Psychology Unit (Sydney).
• 146th Signals Squadron (Sydney)
• 1st Military Police Battalion (Brisbane) 2nd Division
The 2nd Division commands all those Reserve units not integrated into other formations. It is structured around six infantry brigades, each of which has a HQ, two/three infantry battalions, a cavalry unit in some cases, and combat and combat service support units. These brigades are:
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• 4th Brigade (Melbourne and Victoria)
• 5th Brigades (Sydney and southern New South Wales)
• 8th Brigade (Sydney and northern New South Wales)
• 9th Brigade (South Australia and Tasmania)
• 11th Brigade (Townsville and Queensland)
• 13th Brigade (southern Western Australia and Perth).
The Division also includes three regional surveillance units predominately manned by reserve personnel. These are:
• 51st Battalion Far North Queensland Regiment responsible for conducting
reconnaissance and surveillance over 640,000 square km in Far North Queensland and the Gulf country.
• The Pilbara Regiment (Karratha, WA) with 1.3 million square km to cover from the Kimberley boundary in the north, to Shark Bay in the south, then east to the NT/SA/WA border.
• North West Mobile Force (NORFORCE) which covers the Northern Territory and the Kimberly region of northern Western Australia, an area of operations covering nearly one quarter of Australia’s land mass—1.8 million square kilometres.
16th Brigade
Army aviation support is generated by 16th Aviation Brigade, headquartered in Brisbane.
The Brigade commands the 1st Aviation Regiment (Tiger) in Darwin, the 5th Aviation Regiment (Black Hawk, MRH-90 Taipan and CH-47 Chinook) in Townsville, and the 6th Aviation Regiment (Black Hawk) in Sydney, 16th Aviation Brigade provides the following capability in support of Joint Land Combat and Amphibious Operations: Reconnaissance, Escort, Attack, Airmobile Operations, Aero Medical Evacuation, Combat Service Support, and support to Special Operations.
22 Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters, and 40 MRH-90 Taipan Troop Lift Helicopters, are being introduced into service with Full Operational Capability expected in 2016 and 2019 respectively, while the Black Hawk fleet will be retired commensurate with MRH-90
introduction. The CH-47D Medium Lift Helicopter fleet is due to be replaced by seven CH-47F Chinooks in the period 2015-2016 under project AIR 9000 Phase 5C.
Assets include: 34 Black Hawk troop-lift helicopters, 41 Kiowa light observation & training helicopters, 6 Chinook medium lift helicopters. All these helicopters are of US design. There are also 22 of an eventual fleet of 24 European-designed Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters (ARH) and 47 MRH-90 troop-lift helicopters are being progressively brought into service.
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0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000
14,000 Black Hawk Flying Hours
Target Actual
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500
Chinook Flying Hours
Target Actual
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000
16,000 Kiowa Flying Hours
Target Actual
94 Royal Military College of Australia (RMC-A)
The Royal Military College of Australia is headquartered in Canberra and is responsible for the delivery of individual foundation training for Officers and Soldiers, including the first Appointment Course, Recruit Training and Promotion courses. RMC-A consists of the following units:
• Royal Military College – Duntroon (Canberra)
• Army Recruit Training Centre (Wagga Wagga)
• Land Warfare Centre (Headquartered at Canungra, Queensland with presence in all states and territories).
Army Logistic Training Centre (ALTC)
The Army Logistic Training Centre (ALTC) is principally centred in Albury-Wodonga, however conducts training in Darwin, Townsville, Brisbane, Sydney and Puckapunyal through two training wings and four On-the-Job Training cells. ALTC delivers training in logistics,
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000
10,000 MRH-90 Helicopter Flying Hours
Target Actual
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000
Armed Recon Helicopter Flying Hours
Target Actual
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ordnance, road and maritime transport, medical, health and electrical and mechanical engineering. ALTC consists of the following schools:
• Army School of Logistics Operations (Albury-Wodonga)
• Army School of Ordnance (Albury-Wodonga)
• Army School of Transport (Albury-Wodonga, Townsville and Puckapunyal)
• Army School of Health (Albury-Wodonga)
• Army School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (Albury-Wodonga).
Combined Arms Training Centre (CATC)
The Combined Arms Training Centre is headquartered at Puckapunyal and is the Australian Army's centre of excellence for individual combined arms training. The force structure includes:
• School of Armour (Puckapunyal)
• School of Artillery (Puckapunyal)
• School of Infantry (Singleton)
• School of Military Engineering (Sydney).
Army Aviation Training Centre (AAVNTC)
The Army Aviation Training Centre is located in Oakey and is responsible for the effective instruction of Pilot, Aircrewmen and Groundcrewmen courses as well as the training of Aircraft Technicians for employment within Army Aviation. AAVNTC also contributes to the development of doctrine and materiel plans for Army Aviation. The training centre includes:
• The Army Helicopter School
• The RAEME Aircraft Maintenance School
• The School of Army Aviation.
Defence Command Support Training Centre (DCSTC)
The Defence Command Support Training Centre is headquartered at Simpson Barracks in Melbourne and it is a training formation within Army responsible for the conduct of Intelligence, Signals, Police and Music training, training design and trade management for members of the Australian Defence Force. The training centre also provides training for selected members of the Australian Public Service and nominated students from Defence forces of other nations. DCSTC comprises the following Units:
• Defence Intelligence Training Centre (Canungra)
• Defence Force School of Music (Melbourne)
• Defence Force School of Signals (Melbourne)
• Defence Police Training Centre (Sydney).
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