Australia — Army Reserve to get Bushmasters

Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary for Defence, Sen­a­tor David Feeney, and Com­man­der 2nd Divi­sion, Major Gen­er­al Craig Williams AM, today announced major reforms for Army Reserve under Plan Beer­she­ba at Simp­son Bar­racks in Wat­so­nia, Mel­bourne.

Sen­a­tor Feeney said that Plan Beer­she­ba, a restruc­ture of the Aus­tralian Army, will achieve a greater inte­gra­tion of full and part time forces and strength­en the oper­a­tional capa­bil­i­ty of our part time forces. 

“In an increas­ing­ly com­plex strate­gic envi­ron­ment, we must make sure our forces are posi­tioned for the full range of pos­si­ble contingencies. 

“Plan Beer­she­ba posi­tions Army to deliv­er capa­bil­i­ty in an effec­tive, time­ly and afford­able way to meet these con­tin­gen­cies,” Sen­a­tor Feeney said. 

“This Gov­ern­ment will ensure that all Reserve Armoured Corps will receive Bush­mas­ter Pro­tect­ed Mobil­i­ty Vehi­cles to pro­vide pro­tect­ed trans­port for our troops. 

“This will be the first time in more than five years that all Army Reserve Armoured units will have armoured vehicles. 

“In addi­tion, under Beer­she­ba we intend to cre­ate a new armoured squadron with pro­tect­ed vehi­cles in Queens­land. This is a major boost to the capa­bil­i­ty of the Reserve. 

“In Mel­bourne, the armoured unit of 4th Brigade – 4th/19th Prince of Wales Light Horse who famous­ly fought at Beer­she­ba – will get Bush­mas­ters,” said Sen­a­tor Feeney. 

Com­man­der 2nd Divi­sion, Major Gen­er­al Craig Williams said that the Army’s Reserve Force (2nd Divi­sion) will be realigned with the Reg­u­lar Army, with two Reserve Brigades linked to each Mul­ti-role Manoeu­vre Brigade. 

“There will be a sig­nif­i­cant increase in the oper­a­tional focus of the Reserve which will be effect­ed through the devel­op­ment of habit­u­al rela­tion­ships between reserve brigades and the reg­u­lar Mul­ti-role Manoeu­vre Brigades,” Major Gen­er­al Williams said. 

“The 2nd Divi­sion will be aligned with the 36 month Force Gen­er­a­tion Cycle and assigned pre­pared­ness levels.” 

Defence Reserves Asso­ci­a­tion (DRA) Pres­i­dent, Major Gen­er­al Jim Bar­ry (Retd) said: 

“This is the most impor­tant struc­tur­al change for the Army Reserve in decades. 

“The six Army Reserve Brigades of 2 Divi­sion are now assigned spe­cif­ic roles and tasks and are struc­tural­ly aligned with their reg­u­lar coun­ter­parts. There is now a defined oper­a­tional focus which the DRA has been advo­cat­ing for some time,” Major Gen­er­al Jim Bar­ry (Retd) said. 

Plan Beer­she­ba is the Aus­tralian Army’s plan for the next phase of the Adap­tive Army Cam­paign. It fol­lows the changes in Army’s com­mand and con­trol struc­ture made dur­ing 2008. 

Under the plan, the 1st, 3rd and 7th Brigades will form three new Mul­ti-role Manoeu­vre Brigades. 

These Brigades will be fun­da­men­tal­ly alike in struc­ture to enable sus­tained oper­a­tions with­in a new 36-month Force Gen­er­a­tion Cycle. 

Force Gen­er­a­tion is the process through which Army read­ies itself to respond to con­tin­gen­cies that may arise. Each Brigade will have the fol­low­ing com­po­nents – infantry, armour, artillery, engi­neers, logis­tics and communications. 

Australia’s Reserve Force will be more focused on sta­bil­i­ty oper­a­tions and will be involved in major exer­cis­es with their part­nered Mul­ti-role Manoeu­vre Brigades. 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

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