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King’s Gurkha Artillery is officially a thing

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First announced just 10 weeks ago, the King’s Gurkha Artillery is fast becoming a thing.

The first new British Army Gurkha unit in 14 years, the first to carry King Charles’s name, and the first Gurkha “cannon cockers” since their WWII/Malaysian Emergency era field artillery units were disbanded in 1950, there are a lot of eyes on the new unit.

Members have already started to get hands-on with the now-classic 105mm L118 Light Gun and will eventually be operating the shot-n-scoot-oriented Swedish-designed BAE Archer 155mm L52 SPG system.

They have also created and issued the first batch of the new unit’s cap badges. The first of 20 new volunteers has already received them.

The badge, the first created for a Gurkha regiment in 14 years, reflects a pairing of two of the Army’s most recognized symbols – the crossed kukri of the Gurkhas and the field gun of The Royal Artillery, and bears the words “Ubique” meaning “Everywhere” and “Quo Fas et Gloria Ducunt” which means “Whither Right and Glory Lead.”

Image: 20 recruits have been selected to join the newly formed King’s Gurkha Artillery. This is the new cap badge on their berets. Gurkha recruits celebrate a cap badging ceremony at the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick. 

The unit, when fully fleshed out by 2029, will contain 400 soldiers, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that period was compressed.

Approximately 10,000 to 20,000 Nepali men eagerly compete for a position in the 4,000-strong British Army’s Brigade of Gurkhas every year. Only a few hundred, typically between 200 and 320, are selected to begin training. That’s usually 30 or so very gung-ho candidates for every slot. They have an extremely low wash-out rate.

British Army to stand up Gurkha Artillery

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The Staff Captain, Captain Tom Mountain inspects every detail during the inspection of The Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment.

The Staff Captain, Captain Tom Mountain, inspects every detail during the inspection of The Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment, 2019, MoD photo.

Currently, around 4,000 Nepalese Gurkhas serve in six dedicated units across a range of roles in the British Army, a time-honored and unbroken tradition that dates back to 1814.

Those units include the Queen’s Gurkha Signals, the two-battalion (and three separate companies attached to the Ranger Regiment) Royal Gurkha Rifles, the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers, the 10th Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment, the Gurkha Allied Rapid Reaction Corps Support Battalion, and the British Gurkhas Nepal (BGN).

Stemming from the PM’s promise to raise defense spending to 2.5% of GDP, the MOD announced the new King’s Gurkha Artillery (KGA), the first new British Gurkha unit in 14 years.

The 400-member unit will start filling slots in November, and recruits will likely be easy to find. Approximately 10,000 to 20,000 Nepali men eagerly compete for a position in the British Army’s Brigade of Gurkhas every year. Only a few hundred, typically between 200 and 320, are selected to begin training. That’s usually 30 or so candidates for every slot. They have an extremely low wash-out rate.

As noted by MOD:

As part of the new offer for Gurkha soldiers, and in recognition of the demands of modern warfare, personnel who join the KGA will be trained on advanced equipment, including the Archer and Light Gun artillery systems. In the future they will also train on the remote-controlled Howitzer 155 artillery system.

The Gurkha Museum points out that the cheerful little warriors from Nepal have long had arty units, and of course, the RGR has integral “foot artillery” in the form of L16A2 81mm mortars and NLAW, et. al.