The regiment was formed on 27 June 1961 with the re-designation of 33rd Parachute Light Regiment Royal Artillery as 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery. The regiment first saw action in the middle-east in
Kuwait in 1961 and then in
Aden in 1963–65 where it was involved in fierce fighting in the
Radfan mountains. The 1970s and 80s saw the regiment involved in four
Northern Ireland tours in the infantry role as well as a period where they briefly lost their airborne status and were arms-plotted to Germany until 1984 when they joined newly formed
5th Airborne Brigade and returned to Aldershot. In 1994 the regiment deployed to
Cyprus as part of the
UN mission to patrol the buffer-zone between Cypriot and Turkish forces. This was followed in 1996–97 with two battery deployments to
Bosnia as part of the
NATO mission and the
Kosovo campaign of 1999. In late 2003 the regiment moved from Aldershot to
Colchester to join the rest of 16 Air Assault Brigade. 2006 saw the first of the regiment's three tours of
Afghanistan. The first of these saw the regiment play a key role in the break into Helmand province. This tour attracted much public attention and has often been described as the most intense combat fighting since the Korean War of the 1950s. The regiment returned to Helmand two years later and were again involved in heavy fighting – cumulating in the large scale
operation to move a turbine from
Kandahar along a heavily mined and fiercely defended road to the
Kajaki Dam. 7 Para RHA's final deployment on Op Herrick saw the regiment's gun groups and Fire Support Teams deploy to central
Helmand Province in order to provide offensive support to 16th Air Assault Brigade. In May 2013, V Battery was disbanded. In September 2013, the regiment was part of Exercise Sphinx Resolve. Following the
Army 2020 Refine, the
Honourable Artillery Company formed
A (1st City of London) Battery, The Honourable Artillery Company to provide a reserve element for 7 Para RHA. This battery is co-located with RHQ HAC at
Finsbury Barracks. In August 2021, members of the Regiment (held at high readiness), deployed to Kabul in Afghanistan on
Operation Pitting. This was to aid in the extraction of British Nationals, following the rapid Taliban advance across the country and into the city. Over 15,000 eligible Afghans and British Nationals successfully evacuated, in an operation that marked the end of the UK’s 20-year military campaign in Afghanistan. Under the
Future Soldier Programme (from July 2023), the regiment remains under the renamed 16th Air Assault Brigade Combat Team. The regiment's role remains the same, however the regiment's overall structure and strength has expanded. I Parachute Battery (Bull's Troop) re-roles as a Light Gun battery, identical to F (Sphinx) Parachute Battery and G Parachute Battery (Mercer’s Troop).
H Battery (Ramsay's Troop) are reformed from suspended animation to take the role of Headquarters Battery in the form of H Parachute Headquarters Battery (Ramsay's Troop). In addition,
N Parachute Battery (The Eagle Troop) have joined the regiment to act as a Tactical Group Battery. ==Organisation==