Fearsome Gurkha soldiers will be used to form a new Army regiment that could be sent to Ukraine in the wake of a peace deal with Russia. The new regiment, approved by Defence Secretary John Healy, will initially include 500 of the Nepalese troops as an elite surveillance unit attached to the Royal Regiment of Artillery
It comes as the head of the British Army, General Sir Roly Walker, assesses the readiness of UK troops for a potential deployment to Ukraine later this year as part of a multinational security and stabilisation operation. The head’s of Europe’s militaries will meet in Paris on Tuesday to plan a ‘force generation’ of combat capabilities for any deployment of Alliance troops – with 20 countries so far agreeing to the plan.
While Gurkhas have a proven track record for skill and ferocity on the battlefield, they are more commonly associated with infantry roles.
But now the outgoing regimental head of the Royal Artillery has confirmed plans to create a new Gurkha Artillery regiment to help fill a 700-soldier shortfall.
Writing in the regiment’s Gunner Magazine, Col Charlie Harmer said: “The Gurkha Artillery proposition is not just significant in terms of growing our overall workforce to meet the existing demand for Artillery. It also promises an exciting new chapter not just for us but for the Brigade of Gurkhas.”
According to senior sources, current plans will see 500 additional Gurkhas recruited specifically for the new regiment, though this is believed to be the first tranche in broader moves to further boost the overall size of the Gurkha Brigade, which stands at 4,127 soldiers.
With a current shortage of artillery guns and ammunition, the new batch of Gurkhas will be assigned vital intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (Istar) roles, mainly with surface to air missiles systems such as Javelin and Starburst.
“The Gurkha is an extraordinarily high quality soldier both down to his fitness and his brain power, » said a former Royal Tank Corps captain who spent a year on secondment with the Nepalese warriors.
« The great thing about Gurkhas is that you teach them how to do something and they will do it exceptionally well.
“And, unlike our youth who are readily distracted, they possess the patience that comes with being from a rural community. If you put a Gurkha in an ambush, he will sit there patiently for days and days. And then he will kill the enemy. »
The new regiment is unlikely to have guns in the short term, since most were donated to Ukraine, including 50 tracked AS 90 Howitzers and multiple launch rocket systems.
The Royal Artillery recently took delivery of 14 Archer 155mm artillery systems, and also has 126 L118 105mm light guns.
But of the 179 AS90s Howitzers – its main punching power – it possessed in the 1990s, only 30 remain.
A German-UK replacement, the Remote-Controlled Howitzer 155mm Wheeled Artillery Systems (RCH 155) is set to be delivered by the end of this year, though the first batch is already earmarked for Ukraine.
In the meantime, commanders at Army headquarters in Andover, Wiltshire, are preparing what the military term a ‘combat estimate’ to ensure they have the resources and equipment to meet any deployment directed by the Foreign Office.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has described a Ukraine military force as an ‘assurance operation’ which would monitor the buffer zone only after a full ceasefire and agreement has been made with Russia withdrawing.
One challenge to General Walker’s task is that the army – already at its smallest size since the Napoleonic Wars – is failing to attract enough new recruits, leading to a net loss of 300 soldiers every month. This has left many key regiments with glaring gaps in their ranks.
Despite a deliberate downsizing to 73,000 regular soldiers, the British Army suffered a stark shortfall in recruitment last year, with just 6.720 enlistments, 63% of its 10,450 target.
Measures such as a 6% pay hike and the repurchasing of 40,000 previously leased military homes in a £6bn deal in order to upgrade accommodation standards are yet to bear fruit.
“We can’t seem to secure enough recruits from within the UK and we would be stupid not to take cognisance of that, » said defence expert Col Stuart Crawford.
“Gurkhas are excellent soldiers. Would-be recruits go through a highly-competitive process – fewer than ten per cent make it. So the British army only gets the very best. »
The MoD was contacted but declined to comment at this time.
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