16th Air Assault Brigade (United Kingdom)

16 Air Assault Brigade
Insignia of 16 Air Assault Brigade
Active	1999 – present
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Role	Air assault
Size	8,000 troops
Part of	Field Army
Garrison/HQ	Colchester Garrison
Colours	Light-Blue & Maroon
Engagements	Iraq War War in Afghanistan

16 Air Assault Brigade (16 Air Asslt Bde) is a formation of the British Army based in Colchester in the county of Essex. It is the Army's rapid response airborne formation and is the only brigade in the British Army capable of delivering Air Manoeuvre, Air Assault and Airborne operations.

All personnel in the brigade wear the maroon beret, and those qualified as military parachutists wear the appropriate Parachutist Badge.

The brigade was formed as part of the defence reforms implemented by the Strategic Defence Review on 1 September 1999, by the merging of 24 Airmobile Brigade and elements of 5th Airborne Brigade. This grouping created a highly mobile brigade of parachute units and airmobile units, which employ helicopters.

After a ceasefire was declared in the Republic of Macedonia between government forces and rebels known as the National Liberation Army, NATO launched a British-led effort, Operation Essential Harvest, to collect weapons voluntarily given up by the rebels. The brigade HQ and some of its elements deployed in August 2001, acting as the spearhead for the NATO operation. It returned home after the NATO mission was successfully completed in September.

After the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, NATO established a peacekeeping force in December known as the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), based in the capital Kabul. The brigade HQ and some of its units deployed to Afghanistan in 2001, 2006, 2008 and again in 2010–11, 16th Air Assault Brigade has deployed to Afghanistan more than any other formation to date.