Description

Description: Colour Patch – 16th Air Defence Regiment.

Condition: Mint

Comments: Colour Patch – 16th Air Defence Regiment.

Reference: ATY0066

The 16th Air Defence Regiment (16 AD Regt) is the youngest regiment in the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery (RAA). Its origins can be traced to the formation of two independent batteries, 110th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery and 111th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, at Woodside. The amalgamation of these two batteries on 2 June 1969 was the foundation of the 16th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment (16 LAA Regt).
At this time the Vietnam War was at its peak and many personnel were deployed with other units (Field Artillery and otherwise) in Vietnam. Although no Australian LAA unit served in Vietnam, personnel from 16 LAA Regt manned 40mm Bofors guns during this time on the landing craft of the 32nd Small Ships Squadron while on operations in South Vietnamese waters.
In 1971, acute manning shortage restricted manning to only one Battery (111 LAA Bty), although 110 LAA Bty was not disestablished and was still on the Australian Order of Battle (ORBAT).
Discussions throughout the 1970s about the requirement for Low Level Air Defence (LLAD) in the Army resulted in the Australian Government committing to the purchase of Rapier in 1977. 110th Air Defence Battery was raised on 1 July 1978 and the unit was renamed 16th Air Defence Regiment (16 AD Regt) the same day. 16 AD Regt Workshops was raised to provide repair and recovery support for the Regiment.
110 AD Bty received the first Rapier equipment from 1979, and it was officially brought into service in 1980. and the Radar Trackers (providing all weather, day/night capability) arrived in 1981. In December 1984, replacement for Redeye was announced, and in March 1987, RBS-70 was introduced into 111 AD Bty (Lt).
In 1991, RBS-70 detachments from 111 AD Bty (Lt) were deployed aboard HMAS Success and Westralia for operational service during the Gulf War. This was repeated in support of the International Coalition Against Terror (ICAT) aboard HMAS Kanimbla and Manoora during 2001-2002 and more recently a RBS-70 detachment was used aboard HMAS Kanimbla during The Coalition War disarming Iraq.
In May 2003, 16 AD Regt was allocated 83 million dollars to be used to replace the Rapier Missile system with an up-graded RBS-70 system. This replacement will be completed during 2005. In August 2003 a contract was signed for a new simulator trainer to be built at 16 AD Regt. This new simulator will be state of the art and allow far more realistic training for the operators of the RBS-70 system.

It became the 16th Air Land Regiment on 9 Dec 2011.