Modern equipment of the British Army

Infantry section equipment

The infantry section normally has two four-man infantry fire teams. On operations, each fire team is usually equipped with the following:

Protective equipment

The standard helmet in service is the Mk.7, which replaced the older Mk 6 helmet. The Mk.7 helmet is equipped with a new harness that keeps the helmet more stable on the head when night vision equipment is fitted. It is also better integrated with new weapon sights, making it easier to use in a variety of fighting positions.

Since 2006, troops in Afghanistan (and until 2009 Iraq), have been issued with Osprey body armour. This has provided much better protection than previous body armour systems. The new Mk 4 'Osprey Assault' body armour, which replaced the older Osprey vests, provides the same ballistic protection, while improving the comfort of personnel on operations in Afghanistan. It has all the stopping power of the previous body armour, but is closer fitting, less bulky and is easier to move in. It is specifically developed to meet the British Army's requirements, using cutting edge materials and manufacturing technology.

Both the Mk 7 helmet and the Osprey armour are slated to be replaced by the Virtus system. The Virtus vest is even closer fitting and lighter than the Opsrey Mk 4, and features a quick-release mechanism to aid safe extraction from hazardous situations such as burning vehicles, and a dynamic weight distribution system which, when linked to a user's waist belt, aids in spreading the load of the armour and a bergen or other backpack across the back, shoulders, and hips. The Virtus helmet provides increased blunt impact protection, is specially shaped to allow effective weapon usage while in a prone position, and features a permanent night vision mount and a scalable counterweight attached to the helmet’s rear in order to ease strain on the user’s neck.

In January 2015, over 300,000 General Service Respirators had been delivered to replace the in-service S10 respirator. These respirators are also used by the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Multi-Terrain Pattern

The Multi-Terrain Pattern is designed and intended to perform consistently across a wide range of environments. A wide range of camouflage colours were trialled in Britain, Cyprus, Kenya and Afghanistan, ultimately the Crye's "Multicam" pattern was determined to be the best performing, across the widest range of environments (by a significant margin) and was subsequently selected as the basis for the new British MTP camouflage, and combined with the existing British DPM pattern. The MTP pattern itself was not trialled against other patterns and its adoption was based solely on its similarity to the original Crye Multicam pattern.

Boots

In 2012 the MOD purchased a newly designed range of brown combat boots from Haix, Alt-Berg, and other manufacturers for the Army, Royal Navy and RAF to replace the black and desert combat footwear previously worn. Five different boots, developed to match the Multi-Terrain Pattern uniform, are available to Armed Forces personnel depending on where they are based and what role they are in. Each of the five boot types comes in two different styles, with personnel being able to wear the particular style they find most comfortable; the boots have also been designed with different width fittings for the first time to take account of the different shapes of men and women's feet. Black boots have been retained for wear with most non-camouflage uniforms as well as units on parade in full dress uniform, such as regiments performing ceremonial duties in central London.

Before the adoption of the brown boots, British troops were issued with desert combat boots manufactured by Meindl and Lowa for use in Afghanistan. Both boots remain listed as part of the MOD's 'Black Bag' of operational clothing despite their official replacement by the brown boots, and may be worn by individual soldiers in lieu of the issue footwear.

Bayonet

The current British L3A1 bayonet has a hollow handle that fits over the L85 rifle's muzzle and slots that line up with those on the flash eliminator. The blade is offset to the side of the handle to allow the bullet to pass beside the blade. It can also be used as a multi-purpose knife and wire-cutter when combined with its scabbard. The scabbard also has a sharpening stone and folding saw blade.

Personal Role Radio

A Personal Role Radio (PRR) is distributed to every member of an eight-strong infantry section.

Personal Load Carrying Equipment

Soldiers need to carry ammunition, water, food and protective equipment. They use Personal Load Carrying Equipment (PLCE), a tough, modular system of camouflaged belt, yoke and pouches. To this can be added two small rucksacks and a large rucksack for additional carrying capacity, when required. The PLCM is due to be upgraded to the new VIRTUS tactical vest next year, with testing with selected units currently taking place.

PLCE is now very unlikely to be spotted on the front-lines due to the introduction of Osprey body armour, though MTP versions do exist and, due to its durability and the quantity produced, the webbing is often seen in use during training exercises.

Future Integrated Soldier Technology

The Future Integrated Soldier Technology (FIST) is a programme under development by the Ministry of Defence. The programme is designed to achieve enhanced military effect through the used of advanced technologies improving the situational awareness, lethality and survivability of soldiers. Ultimately, the programme is part of the wider British Armed Forces doctrine of network-enabled capability. 35,000 sets of kit are expected to be bought and issued between 2015 and 2020. This equipment is designed to bring the British infantryman up to standards and link with new technology currently employed, including the new underslung grenade launcher for the SA80 and the deployed Bowman communications network. It is not intended that every soldier be equipped with FIST: instead, unit commanders will request FIST kits as necessary so that they can be tailored to the situation and mission aims.

Mobile artillery monitoring battlefield radar

The Mobile Artillery Monitoring Battlefield Radar ( or Mobile Artillery Monitoring Battlefield Asset) is a counter-battery radar. It detects enemy artillery projectiles fired by one or more weapons and from their trajectories locates the position of the weapon that fired it. It has a detection range of up to 30 km and can process up-to 100 projectiles simultaneously. It is mounted on a Bandvagn 206 (Bv206) all-terrain vehicle. Five vehicles are operated by the 5th Regiment Royal Artillery.

Exactor

The Exactor is a previously classified purchase of Spike-NLOS pods originally mounted on an M113 chassis. The system is primarily used for precise indirect attacks at long ranges (26 km (16 mi)). Exactor is to be brought into the core budget, with options to be remounted on a less specialist and more expeditionary focused chassis. It is used as an ultra-long range anti-armour and anti-structure weapon, where the GMLRS would result in too much collateral damage. 18 such systems now exist within the Royal Artillery in six batteries of three, with some remounted on more mobile trailers.

C vehicle fleet

The job of the Royal Engineers is to restrict the enemy's ability to advance, while also allowing friendly combat forces the freedom to maneuver as necessary. Other tasks undertaken are bomb disposal, the construction of fortifications, runways, roads and bridges and the improvement of existing infrastructure to support operations - such as improving existing roads for logistic convoys. To achieve this, the Royal Engineers operate a large and diverse fleet of vehicles. At present, the C vehicle fleet is provided by a private finance initiative (PFI) and consists of some 2,500 vehicles of over 160 types of "earthmoving plant, Engineer Construction Plant (ECP) and rough terrain Materials Handling Equipment (MHE)".

The provider of the PFI is Amey Lex Consortium (ALC), which was awarded a 15-year contract in 2005 for £600 million. The handing over of the C vehicle fleet to a PFI has improved overall efficiency, with ALC selecting common chassis for multiple roles and significantly reducing equipment types. This has led to reduced training needs in personnel, commonality of spares and an overall reduction in the logistic footprint and cost of maintenance. ALC maintains the fleet at various degrees of readiness, with a large pool of the vehicles being modified and adapted for military use - however, the majority of the fleet is maintained at commercial standards. The fleet is dispersed worldwide to accommodate both existing and future operations. When in use, the vehicles are essentially being "hired on an ad hoc basis". To help sustain the C vehicle fleet on operations, the PFI includes a logistics support package.

All-terrain vehicles

There are a number of all-terrain vehicles in service with the British Army. The Supacat ATMP is a lightweight 6×6 used by airborne and air-mobile forces. It can carry up to 8 troops with a standard NATO pallet of stores and ammunition. The Springer all-terrain vehicle is a light-role 4×2 load carriage platform, which can self-load a 1-ton pallet. Each vehicle is equipped with an 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) self-recovery winch and sand ladders, which act as loading ramps for a cargo pallet. Approximately 900 Grizzly 450 quad bikes are used as light transport for things such as mortars, ammunition and general supplies. Finally, the Harley Davidson MT350E and Honda R250 motorcycles are used by dispatch riders and for a variety of liaison and traffic control tasks.

Special forces

The Special forces maintain a unique fleet of vehicles to support their covert operations. In 2001, 65 Supacat High Mobility Transporter (HMT) 400 vehicles were ordered under Project Minacity after being in development for a special forces protected vehicle requirement since the late 1990s. The Minacity vehicles entered service in 2003 in Afghanistan. In 2008, 24 Australian Bushmaster armoured vehicles were purchased under a UOR for the SAS in Iraq providing all-round protection unlike the Minacity with an exposed crew. It is fitted with additional armour, counter-IED electronics, and a .50 calibre machine gun mounted in a RWS. In addition, other vehicles known to be in service are: 60 Toyota Hilux for special forces mobility; and 78 ACMAT VLRAs as tactical support vehicles to resupply and sustain special forces on operations. In August 2016, the BBC reported that the Jankel Toyota Land Cruiser-based Al-Thalab long range patrol vehicle was being used in Syria.

Raiding craft

The raiding craft in service with the British Army are operated in large numbers, predominately with the Royal Engineers and the Royal Logistic Corps, for supporting both bridging and amphibious operations. These craft are highly versatile and often find themselves serving in environments ranging from the Arctic to the tropics.

Mk.4 Workboat

Four boats in service, operated by the Royal Logistic Corps as small tugs and general purpose work-boats in support of amphibious operations. They have a displacement of 48 tonnes and a maximum speed of 10 knots.

Mexeflotes

Mexeflotes are amphibious landing raft operated by the Royal Logistic Corps for amphibious operations and are designed to deliver both armoured vehicles and material from ship to shore. They are deployed on the 16,160 tonne Bay-class landing ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Future equipment