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British Forces Cyprus (BFC) is the name given to the British Armed Forces stationed in the UK sovereign base areas of Dhekelia and Akrotiri on the island of Cyprus. The United Kingdom retains a military presence on the island in order to keep a strategic location at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, for use as a staging point for forces sent to locations in the Middle East and Asia.
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British Forces Cyprus (BFC) is the name given to the British Armed Forces stationed in the UK sovereign base areas of Dhekelia and Akrotiri on the island of Cyprus. The United Kingdom retains a military presence on the island in order to keep a strategic location at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, for use as a staging point for forces sent to locations in the Middle East and Asia. BFC is a tri-service command, with all three services based on the island reporting to it. At present, there are approximately 3,500 personnel serving in Cyprus.
Command
Episkopi is the current command center of British Forces Cyprus. The commander of the Sovereign Base Areas/British Forces Cyprus (CBF) is either a Major General or an Air Vice Marshal, alternating every three years transferring the command between the British Army and the Royal Air Force. Consequently, the Deputy British Forces Cyprus (DBFC) is from the opposite service of the commander, either a Brigadier or an Air Commodore.
The current CBF is Major-General Jamie Gordon and the DCBF is Brigadier David Santa-Ollala.
Episkopi Cantonment is home to the Sovereign Base Areas Administration, the civilian authority in the territory. This branch is commanded by an officer with the one star rank OF-6, similar to that of the DBFC.
Force structure
Within British Forces Cyprus are a number of permanently based units; however, the large proportion of British forces in Cyprus are on operational tours:
- Permanent Units
- HQ, British Forces Cyprus
- 62 (Cyprus) Support Squadron, Royal Engineers
- Joint Service Signal Unit (Cyprus) (Ayios Nikolaos Station)
- Cyprus Communications Unit, (an amalgamation of 12 Signals Unit RAF & 259 Signal Squadron, Royal Signals)
- 16 Flight, Army Air Corps
- Cyprus Service Support Unit
- No 84 Squadron, RAF
- Resident infantry battalions - two light role infantry battalions, one at Dhekelia and one at Episkopi, are permanently based on the island; the battalions are usually rotated every two years.
These two battalions are now the theatre reserve for Iraq and Afghanistan
- The Royal Navy Cyprus Squadron - two P2000 class patrol ships HMS Pursuer (P273) and HMS Dasher (P280).
- Cyprus Joint Police Unit (CJPU), a Tri-Service Military Police Unit comprising of Royal Navy Police, Royal Military Police and RAF Police.
- HQ CJPU - Episkopi
- 1 Platoon CJPU - Dhekelia
- 2 Platoon CJPU - Episkopi
- 3 Platoon CJPU - Akrotiri
- SIB Cyprus
- ESBA Section SIB
History
Cyprus was the last location that the Royal Armoured Corps,used FV601 Alvis Saladin , Ferret armoured car and Alvis Saracen Armoured vehicles long after they had fallen out of use with the regular army they were still being used by the Cyprus Armoured Squadron well into the mid 1980s. A even stranger situation developed when the resident Royal Air Force (RAF) Regiment Squadron was equipped with FV101 Scorpion and FV103 Spartan CVRT at RAF Akrotiri for airfield defence meant that the RAF had better armoured vehicles than resident Army units.
Commanders
The following officers have been in command of British Forces Cyprus:
- 16 July 1962 Air Vice-Marshal Sir Denis Barnett
- List incomplete
- 6 May 1969 Air Marshal D G Smallwood
- List incomplete
- 25 June 1973 Air Vice-Marshal J A C Aiken
- 1 April 1976 Air Vice-Marshal R D Austen-Smith
- 28 April 1978 Major-General W R Taylor
- 3 October 1980 Air Vice-Marshal R L Davis
- 29 March 1983 Major-General Sir Desmond Langley
- 24 October 1985 Air Vice-Marshal K W Hayr
- 21 April 1988 Major-General J P W Friedberger
- 1990 Air Vice-Marshal A F C Hunter
- 25 March 1993 Major-General A G H Harley
- List incomplete
- 6 January 1998 Major-General A I Ramsay
- 5 September 2000 Air Vice-Marshal T W Rimmer
- 5 September 2003 Major-General P T C Pearson
- 26 April 2006 Air Vice-Marshal R Lacey
Operation TOSCA
Operation TOSCA is the name given to the British contribution to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). The British Contingent (BRITCON) numbers 278, and consists of three distinct parts:
- HQ BRITCON - responsible for the administration and support of the British Contingent.
- Force Military Police Unit- the FMPU is commanded by a major of the Royal Military Police, with seven other members of the RMP as part of the multi-national unit.
- UN Roulement Regiment - the URR is usually provided by the Royal Artillery or the Royal Logistic Corps and has responsibility for patrolling Sector 2 of the Green Line in Nicosia. Between October 2008 and April 2009, this role was filled by 32 Signal Regiment Group, a composite TA unit. This was the first time a TA unit had been deployed on a UN Peacekeeping mission
One of the roles of the support units of BFC is to assist as needed the British units deployed with UNFICYP, which are not part of BFC, but are instead under the direct command of the United Nations.
See also
External links
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