page_title: Royal Australian Regiment
section_title: Reorganisation, 2005–17
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Australian Regiment / History / Reorganisation, 2005–17
caption_attribution_description: English: Australian Army Soldiers, 3rd Royal Australian Regiment, conduct a dawn static line parachute jump from a C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft over the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA) in Rockhampton, Australia as part of exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2005. TALISMAN SABRE is an exercise jointly sponsored by the US Pacific Command (USPACOM) and Australian Defense Force Joint Operations Command, and designed to train the US 7th Fleet Commander's staff and Australian Joint Operations staff as a designated Combined Task Force (CTF) headquarters. The exercise focuses on crisis action planning and execution of contingency response operations. USPACOM units and Australian forces will conduct land, sea and air training throughout the training area. More than 11,000 US and 6,000 Australian personnel will participate.
context_page_description: The Royal Australian Regiment is the parent administrative regiment for regular infantry battalions of the Australian Army and is the senior infantry regiment of the Royal Australian Infantry Corps. It was originally formed in 1948 as a three battalion regiment; however, since then its size has fluctuated as battalions have been raised, amalgamated or disbanded in accordance with the Australian government's strategic requirements. Currently, the regiment consists of seven battalions and has fulfilled various roles including those of light, parachute, motorised and mechanised infantry. Throughout its existence, units of the Royal Australian Regiment have deployed on operations in Japan, Korea, Malaya, Borneo, Vietnam, Somalia, Rwanda, Cambodia, East Timor, the Solomon Islands, Iraq and Afghanistan.
context_section_description: In 2005, the Australian Army began planning for a reorganisation as part of an initiative known as "Hardening and Networking the Army" (HNA). The key impact of this plan on the regiment was that 3 RAR would surrender its parachute role, moving from Sydney to Adelaide to become the Army's second mechanised battalion. However, in August 2006 the government announced that the regiment would expand from five to seven battalions, as part of an initiative known as "Enhanced Land Force" to be implemented together with a modified HNA. As such, 5/7 RAR conducted a de-linking parade on 3 December 2006, reforming as 5 RAR and 7 RAR. 5 RAR reformed in a largely mature state and included a company serving on operations in Iraq, while 7 RAR reformed with a company on operations in Afghanistan. Both battalions remained in the mechanised role. Meanwhile, the regiment marked its 60th Birthday on 23 November 2008 with a parade at Victoria Barracks, Sydney, including a Queens Guard provided by 3 RAR and the Colours of the Regiment. Achieving operational status in 2009, 7 RAR relocated to Adelaide in 2011. Under the new scheme 3 RAR relinquished the parachute role, becoming a light infantry battalion. It subsequently relocated to Townsville in 2012. 8/9 RAR reformed as a motorised battalion at Enoggera on 31 October 2007 in the last element of the Enhanced Land Force, and was equipped with Bushmaster PMVs. It subsequently served on operations in Timor Leste and Afghanistan.
  In 2009, the reorganisation was again re-titled, this time as the "Adaptive Army" which sought to re-balance the Army and shape it to become an adaptive, learning organisation. Under the Plan Beersheba element of the Adaptive Army reforms announced in 2011 and confirmed in the 2013 Defence White Paper, the three Regular Army brigades will be restructured between 2014 and 2017 into three Combat Brigades with a similar structure and capabilities, each consisting of: a Brigade Headquarters, an Armoured Cavalry Regiment, two Light Infantry Battalions, an Artillery Regiment, a Combat Engineer Regiment, a Combat Service Support Battalion and a Combat Signals Regiment. With the establishment of the Armoured Cavalry Regiments, 5 and 7 RAR gave up their M113 armoured personnel carriers and re-roled as light infantry. Meanwhile, the motorised battalions also re-roled as light infantry with a transport squadron being established in each Combat Service Support Battalion equipped with Bushmaster PMVs to provide protected mobility. 2 RAR was selected to specialise in amphibious warfare.
  In 2017, further changes to the Beersheba Combat Brigade construct were announced known as the "workforce alignment" of Plan Beersheba with the PMVs and M113s again planned to go back to the infantry battalions, with each brigade to include one motorised infantry battalion and one mechanised infantry battalion. Under this plan in 1st Brigade 5 RAR will receive PMVs and 7 RAR will be equipped with M113s, in 3rd Brigade PMVs will go to 1 RAR and M113s to 3 RAR, while in the 7th Brigade 8/9 RAR will receive PMVs and 6 RAR will get M113s. 2 RAR will continue to specialise in amphibious operations.
caption: Soldiers from 3 RAR jump from a C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft in 2005
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