32nd Regiment Royal Artillery
British Army artillery regiment
32 Regiment Royal Artillery (The Wessex Gunners) is a regiment in the Royal Artillery, part of the British Army and is the only Royal Artillery unit equipped with miniature unmanned aerial systems.
History
The regiment has its origins in 7th Medium Brigade, which was raised in 1927, equipped with 60 Pounders and 6" Howitzers. It evolved into 7th Medium Regiment and served throughout the Second World War.
In 1947, the 32nd Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) was retitled as the 45th Field Regiment and the 7th Medium Regiment RHQ was retitled as the 32nd.
In 1966, the regiment became a Heavy Regiment with M107 175 mm self-propelled
guns. In 1972, it became a light Regiment, equipped with 105mm Light Guns; then, in 1978, a Guided Missile Regiment equipped with Swingfire anti-tank missile. In 1985, it became a heavy regiment again with M107 guns based in Dortmund. During the Gulf War, the regiment was equipped with M110 self-propelled 203 mm howitzers and served as part of the Divisional Artillery Group supporting the 1st Armoured Division.
In December 2016, it was announced that the regiment would be disbanded and its personnel redistributed to other parts of the British Army. In the British Army's Soldier Magazine, October 2020 edition, it was confirmed the regiment would not disband but would continue to support the field army in the Mini-Unmanned Aerial Systems (MUAS) support role, using the Puma and Wasp AE (All Environment) mini unmanned air system.
The public source identifies “32nd Regiment Royal Artillery” as british Army artillery regiment. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around 32nd, Regiment and Royal.
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This entry incorporates text from “32nd Regiment Royal Artillery” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.