RAA Liaison Letter – 2025 / 2026 Edition 75 8th/12th Regiment RAA As the door closes on 2025, it is timely to reflect on a year marked by high operational tempo, significant achievements, and hard-earned lessons. Across 8th/12th Regiment, soldiers, NCOs and officers have demonstrated resilience, technical excellence and a strengthening sense of identity. Gunners delivering effects during Assegai trial. The Regiment ends the year in fine spirits. Morale is high and our culture and esprit de corps continue to build—while we remain cleareyed about where we can improve and how we will do it in 2026. Shooting and Gunnery – A Year of Firsts and Milestones Gun line delivering timely fires under challenging conditions. After a slow start due to a late wet season, the Regiment built momentum through Ex Thunder Walk and Ex Predators Run. Beyond traditional missions, technical practices and fire plans, the Batteries deliberately expanded training realism - including Direct Fire serials using Danger Close procedures. This year the Regiment conducted more Danger Close than we have been able to routinely achieve. The Regiment pushed hard across multiple danger close contexts: in pits and in the open, mounted and dismounted, flanking fire, overhead fire, and culminating in Danger Close using Modified Safety procedures. These serials strengthened confidence across the gun line and observers alike, and improved readiness to deliver safe, accurate effects in complex conditions. A highlight in 2025 was a Regimental Fire Plan that placed one Battery north and one south, both firing into the same STA. This forced observers to consider terrain, geometry and accessibility when deciding which Battery could best adjust fires—an excellent learning opportunity aligned to modern warfighting demands. The Regiment conducted an Assegai ammunition trial, in September when following a thorough CPX, the Battery deployed to Mount Bundey the live fire. Despite challenging conditions in the build-up, all trial requirements were met. Notably, B Gun achieved the furthest M777 engagement by an RAA Regiment, firing out to 28.3km with Assegai base burn rounds. For 2025 8/12 Regiment have having conducted the longest and shortest engagement with the Assegai and Direct Fire Danger Close serials, a milestone of which the Gunners are rightly proud. 102nd ‘Coral’ Battery – Regional Reach and Technical Mastery 102 Battery achieved a series of historic milestones and consistently high performance across the year. The Battery executed dispersed operations, ran degraded emergency fire missions live, and delivered demanding Danger Close training that provided valuable battle inoculation for JFTs. The Battery’s deployment on Ex ALON was a landmark achievement—conducting the Regiment’s first overseas Battle Group live fire since Vietnam and strengthening interoperability alongside partner forces. The subsequent Assegai ammunition trial further demonstrated technical mastery, including long-range engagements that expanded confidence in the M777’s capability envelope.
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