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 Operational Brigade in the British Army capable of delivering Air Manoeuvre, Air Assault and Airborne operations.It 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.