The 4th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery is an artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 unit of the Australian Army

Australian Army

The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...

. Currently it provides direct-support to the 3rd Brigade and is based at Lavarack Barracks

Lavarack Barracks

Lavarack Barracks is a major Australian Army base located in Townsville, Queensland. Lavarack Barracks is currently home to the Army's 3rd Brigade and 11th Brigade. Elements of the 3rd Brigade based at the Barracks include the Combat Signals Regiment, 3rd Combat Services Support Battalion and the...

 in Townsville

Townsville, Queensland

Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland. Adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2006 census...

, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

. The unit was raised in 1960 and is currently re-equipping with M777A2 lightweight towed howitzer

M777 howitzer

The M777 howitzer is a towed 155 mm artillery piece, successor to the M198 howitzer in the United States Marine Corps and United States Army. The M777 is also used by the Canadian Army, and has been in action in Afghanistan since February 2006 along with the associated GPS-guided Excalibur...

s. The unit deployed during Australia's commitment to the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 and has subsequently deployed to Singapore and East Timor.

History

The 4th Field Regiment was raised at Wacol

Wacol, Queensland

Wacol is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia. According to the 2001 census, a total of 4851 people lived within the boundaries of Wacol. The suburb is located on the east bank of the Brisbane River, 18 km south-west of the Brisbane central business district, on the Brisbane-Ipswich railway...

 on 3 May 1960, being the first major Regular Army unit to be raised in Queensland. The Regiment moved to Lavarack Barracks in 1968. As a complete unit, the Regiment served two tours of duty in South Vietnam, as well as sending individual batteries to South Vietnam, Singapore, Malaya and East Timor.

In January 2011 the Australian Regular Army field regiments were reorganised in preparation for re-equipment with new guns and battle management systems to each contain three observation post batteries, supported by a single gun battery equipped with 12 guns. As part of this reorganisation the regiments were renamed, with the word "field" removed from their title. Under the new structure each regiment is capable of providing a brigade-level Joint Fires and Effects Coordination Centre (JFEEC) and every observation post batter provieds a battle group

Battalion

A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...

 JFECC as well as three combat team joint fires teams. Every gun battery now comprises three troop

Troop

A troop is a military unit, originally a small force of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron and headed by the troop leader. In many armies a troop is the equivalent unit to the infantry section or platoon...

s of 155 mm towed howitzers.

Under the Land 17 project in 2011 4th Regiment will receive 12 M777A2 lightweight towed howitzers to replace its L119 field gun

L118 Light Gun

The L118 Light Gun is a 105 mm towed howitzer, originally produced for the British Army in the 1970s and widely exported since, including to the United States, where a modified version is known as the M119A1...

s, and the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS), which is a fully automated digital battle-management system. In early 2012 it will take delivery of the Digital Terminal Control System for observation post batteries. The regiment is currently based at Chau Pha Lines, Lavarack Barracks in Townsville.

Current formation

• Operations Support Battery
• 106th (Observation Post) Battery
  106th Field Battery, Royal Australian Artillery
  The 106th Field Battery was an artillery battery unit of the Royal Australian Artillery. The battery was formed in 1966 and served two tours during the Vietnam War before being disbanded.-History:...
  
  
• 108th (Observation Post) Battery
• 109th (Observation Post) Battery
• 107th (Gun) Battery
• Combat Service Support Battery