and had to deal with disarming the many explosives attached to the infrastructure. The brigade was subsequently used to guard the oil fields and protect Allied supply lines with elements moving further north of Basra – Iraq's second largest city – to provide a screen protecting it from Iraqi attack. On 31 March, the brigade, assisted by artillery and air support, attacked an Iraqi armoured column advancing on Basra, destroying 17 T-55 tanks, 5 artillery pieces and 7 armoured personnel carriers. After British forces entered Basra on 6 April 3 PARA was employed to clear the 'old quarter' of the city on 7 April due to the narrow streets making it inaccessible to vehicles. After Basra's capture, the brigade was based in Maysan Province, centred around the province's capital Al-Amarah. The brigade carried out patrols into towns, helped bring normality back to the south, tried to maintain order and destroyed any conventional weapons caches that were found. The war was officially declared over on 1 May and the brigade began to return home that same month. During one patrol into Majar al-Kabir on 24 June, the brigade suffered its largest casualties in Iraq when six Royal Military Policemen of 156 Provost Company were killed by a large Iraqi mob. Future Under the Defence in a Competitive Age programme and subsequent Future Soldier, the brigade will be redesignated as the 16th Air Assault Brigade Combat Team. At the same time, the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment will re-join the brigade after a 8 year hiatus. Structure As the British Army's rapid response formation, 16 Air Assault Brigade has served in the vanguard of all of the Army's recent operational deployments to Sierra Leone, Macedonia, Iraq and Afghanistan, and is the largest brigade in the Army, with 6,200 personnel. It comprises: three airborne infantry battalions one air assault infantry battalion one light recce strike infantry battalion one airborne close support artillery regiment one close support air manoeuvre engineer regiment one air assault logistics regiment one air manoeuvre medical regiment one Communication and Information Support squadron the Pathfinder Platoon The brigade HQ is based in Colchester Garrison and reports directly to Commander Field Army whilst the Army Air Corps units previously assigned to the brigade will remain under Joint Helicopter Command. The Brigade Headquarters has personnel from both the British Army and the Royal Air Force assigned, enabling it to carry out air