The UK Royal Army has announced the establishment of 1st Aviation Brigade, the service’s first ever aviation brigade that was stood up in April this year.
The brigade will combine the reconnaissance capabilities of the Wildcat helicopter of 1st Regiment Army Air Corps (AAC), together with the attack firepower of the Apache helicopter used by 3rd and 4th Regiment AAC.
It is designed to unite the resources previously split between the aviation reconnaissance force and the attack helicopter force, and as a brigade is a capability distinct from previous airmobile and air assault brigades.
As well as the tasks conducted by 5th Regiment AAC and their Gazelle helicopters, the reservists of 6th Regiment AAC and the specialist aviation mechanical engineers of 7th Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers complete the lineup of Brigade units.
The Royal Army said the brigade would generate a combat aviation force in order to deploy on operations, which will possess the capacity to concurrently plan, execute and sustain multiple aviation maneuvers, and scale up and down in size and power as required.
“As well as looking to the future and meeting emerging threats with world-class equipment, we must also acknowledge that the formation of 1st Aviation Brigade ties together a long history of Army aviation, particularly that of the 24th Airmobile Brigade,” the army said in an announcement.
The 1st Aviation Brigade flash is a pair of red griffin wings on a background horizontally halved on the colors of the Army Air Corps. It was in the guise of the 24th Airmobile Brigade where Army Air Corps units would first wear these Griffin Wings. These were lost from the insignia when 24th Airmobile Brigade combined with elements of 5th Airborne Brigade to become 16th Air Assault Brigade in 1999.
