North Irish Horse Merges into New Regiment

Based at Dunmore Park in North Belfast – the North Irish Horse recently re-roled as Light Cavalry – the Army’s new Combat role which was born out of the Afghan deserts where high mobility platforms equipped with both medium to heavy firepower was required.

 The North Irish Horse has been re-equipped with four ton R-WMIK Land Rovers fitted with either 7.62mm General Purpose Machine Guns of 12.7 mm Heavy Machine Guns capable of firing over 600 rounds a minute. They carry a crew of three – a commander, driver and gunner.

Major Mark Gannon of The North Irish Horse says the merger into a new regiment and the new role means an exciting time ahead as well as increased opportunities.

“Tactics, vehicle characteristics, gunnery and maintenance in extreme conditions mean fairly intensive training for the crews and we have been up to the challenge. For the troopers it means a whole new operational focus and of course, with recruitment ongoing we can offer exciting challenges.”