Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps

The Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps (RNZAC) is the overall umbrella grouping of Regular Force and Territorial Force units equipped with armoured vehicles in the New Zealand Army. The corps was formed in 1942 as the New Zealand Armoured Corps, before being given the Royal prefix in 1947. The RNZAC is second in seniority of corps within the New Zealand Army.

Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps
Active	1 January 1942— present
Country	New Zealand
Branch	New Zealand Army
Colors	Brown, Red and Green
Anniversaries	Cambrai Day 20 November
Engagements	Battle Honours are awarded to individual RNZAC units
Commanders
Colonel Commandant	Lieutenant General(Rtd.)Richard Rhys Jones CNZM

The Divisional Cavalry Regiment and the 4th Armoured Brigade^[1] were among the foremost NZ armoured units during World War II, though at home the 1st Army Tank Brigade was also established.

Although the RNZAC did not deploy one of its own units to the Vietnam War, from 1965-1971 RNZAC personnel served within other New Zealand and Australian units including artillery, infantry, command and support, and logistics. Several members served as tank crew with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps,^[2] and 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment (U.S Army.)^[3] Two RNZAC pilots served with the Australian 161st (Independent) Reconnaissance Flight.^[4]

During the 1990s, corps personnel contributed to the deployment of a mechanized infantry company group to Bosnia-Hercegovina for UNPROFOR as part of the NZDF Operation Radian.

Among the surviving Territorial Force units at the end of the 20th Century was the Wai/WEC Squadron, later the Waikato Mounted Rifles in Hamilton, and the fast-diminishing New Zealand Scottish Regiment, also at squadron size technically but actually dwindling into single figures, in the South Island. The New Zealand Scots were finally disbanded in 2016.^[5]

Current units

RNZAC personnel serve in:

Regular Force

• Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles (QAMR)
• Combat School

Territorial Force

• 4th Waikato Mounted Rifles - Mounted Reconnaissance

Equipment

A NZLAV

The RNZAC is primarily equipped with two types of vehicle:

• NZLAV - the NZLAV armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is a variant of the General Dynamics LAV III.
• Pinzgauer - the Army's Light Operational Vehicle (LOV) with command and control, general service, and armoured variants.

Alliances

•  United Kingdom - The Royal Tank Regiment
•  United Kingdom - The King's Royal Hussars
•  United Kingdom - The Royal Dragoon Guards

See also

• Royal Armoured Corps
• Royal Australian Armoured Corps
• Royal Canadian Armoured Corps
• Tanks of New Zealand

Lineage of units

The units of the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps have a complicated and intermingled heritage. The following table shows the relationship between units since 1944. Titles in bold denote regiments, while non-bold titles are individual squadrons.^[6][7][8]

Lineage chart

1944 New Zealand Scottish Regiment (Infantry Corps) Waikato Regiment (Infantry Corps) 1st Armoured Regiment 2nd Armoured Regiment 3rd Armoured Regiment 1948 1st Divisional Regiment (New Zealand Scottish) 1950 1st Armoured Car Regiment (New Zealand Scottish) 1951 1st Armoured Regiment (Waikato) 1953 Divisional Regiment 1956 Suspended animation 4th Armoured Regiment Suspended animation 1958 2nd Armoured Regiment 1958 Queen Alexandra's Armoured Regiment 1959 Waikato Regiment Queen Alexandra's Regiment Wellington East Coast Regiment (City of Hasting's Own) 1960 1st Armoured Regiment Waikato Squadron 1st Armoured Regiment Queen Alexandra's Squadron 1st Armoured Regiment Wellington East Coast Squadron 1963 1st Reconnaissance Squadron (New Zealand Scottish) 2nd Reconnaissance Squadron (New Zealand Scottish) 2nd Armoured Squadron (Waikato) 1st Armoured Squadron (Queen Alexandra's) 1965 Disbanded 1970 1st Squadron (New Zealand Scottish) 2nd Squadron (New Zealand Scottish) Queen Alexandra's (Waikato/Wellington East Coast) Squadron 1982 Waikato/Wellington East Coast Squadron Queen Alexandra's Squadron 1990 Disbanded 1st Armoured Group New Zealand Scottish Squadron 1st Armoured Group Waikato/Wellington East Coast Squadron 1st Armoured Group A Squadron 1st Armoured Group B Squadron 1993 Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles New Zealand Scottish Squadron Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles Waikato/Wellington East Coast Squadron Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles A Squadron Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles B Squadron 1999 4th Otago and Southland Battalion Group New Zealand Scottish Squadron 6th Hauraki Battalion Group Waikato/Wellington East Coast Squadron Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles A Squadron Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles B Squadron 2003 6th Hauraki Battalion Group Waikato Mounted Rifles Squadron 2004 Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles 2011 Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles New Zealand Scottish Squadron Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles Wellington East Coast Squadron 2012 Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles Waikato Mounted Rifles Squadron 2013 Disbanded 2025

Order of precedence

Preceded by Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery

New Zealand Army Order of Precedence

Succeeded by Corps of Royal New Zealand Engineers

Further reading

• Cooke, Peter; Crawford, John (2011). The Territorials: The History of the Territorial and Volunteer Forces of New Zealand. Auckland: Random House. ISBN 9781869794460.
• Major G.J. Clayton, The New Zealand Army, A History from the 1840s to the 1990s, New Zealand Army, Wellington, 1990
• Damien Marc Fenton, A False Sense of Security?, Centre for Strategic Studies New Zealand