224 Signal Squadron (Cyber) is a company sized military communications unit of the British Army's

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

and forms part of the corps' new 13th (Cyber) Signal Regiment. The squadron was originally formed in 1959 as part of the army's wider expansion of the Royal Signals, but disbanded in 1980 afters its tasks were taken over by a joint communications training group. In 2020, the squadron was reformed as part of the June 2020 reorganisation of the corps.

First Formation (1959)

In 1959, the

went through a massive reorganisation, the first of its type since 1944. As part of the 1959 reorganisations, led by the

1957 Defence White Paper The 1957 White Paper on Defence (Cmnd. 124) was a British white paper issued in March 1957 setting forth the perceived future of the British military. It had profound effects on all aspects of the defence industry but probably the most affected wa ...

, the Royal Signals former squadrons were all brought into a 'standard numbering and organisation' system. This system was brought in and was to be modelled on the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

and

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

recent reorganisations. As part of these reorganisations, 224 Signal Squadron (Wireless Training) was formed in

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...

as the immediate successor to the former 10 Wireless Training Squadron.Lord & Watson, pp. 92, 277.224 to 226 Squadrons at British Army units from 1945 on
224 Signal Squadron, RAF Digby

Archived
on 19 May 2011 from th
Original
Retrieved 22 September 2020. In 1961 the squadron was renamed as 224 Signal Squadron (Radio Training), while initially remaining independent, however shortly after this change, the squadron moved into Garats Hay Barracks in Loughborough, which were specially built for the squadron's tasks. The squadron was tasked with providing the radio training in the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

and support to Eastern District. Eventually in March 1976 following the

1975 Defence White Paper The 1975 Mason Review was a review of UK defence policy conducted by the Labour Government's Secretary of State for Defence, Roy Mason. The review was influenced by a Government decision to reduce the defence budget to 4.5% of Gross Domestic Prod ...

, the squadron absorbed 223 Signal Squadron (Radio) without a change of title. On 1 November 1980 the squadron was disbanded and its tasks taken over by 4 Special Communications Unit. Part of the squadron then became the Communications and Systems Group located at the same barracks. The squadron's lineage though officially ended, was unofficially continued through the Special Projects Agency of the same group. The training section of the group then moved to

Chicksands Chicksands is a village in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England, and part of the civil parish of Campton and Chicksands, whose population in 2007 was estimated to be 2,510. By the 2011 census the figure was accurately placed ...

in 1990, and elements moved to

RAF Digby Royal Air Force Digby otherwise known as RAF Digby is a Royal Air Force station located near Scopwick and south east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Lincoln, in Lincolnshire, England. The station is home to the tri-service Joint Service Signals Organi ...

. It was this later group that would reform the squadron in 2004.

Second Formation (2004)

On 21 June 2004, 224 Signal Squadron was formed as a joint service sub-unit of the 14th Signal Regiment (Electronic Warfare) and based at

, as the successor to the Joint Service Signal Unit. The new squadron became a fully deployable field unit, with the specific role of providing specialist operators, equipment, and enhanced communications to elements of 14 Signal Regiment deployed on operations worldwide (notably

Operation Herrick Operation Herrick was the codename under which all British operations in the War in Afghanistan were conducted from 2002 to the end of combat operations in 2014. It consisted of the British contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assis ...

). The squadron on formation comprised around 90 specialist personnel drawn from the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

(

and Intelligence Corps) and

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

(RAF Signal Service). The squadron also comprised a handful of personnel from the

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers". History Prior to REME's for ...

(LAD),

Royal Logistic Corps The Royal Logistic Corps provides logistic support functions to the British Army. It is the largest Corps in the Army. History The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) was formed on 5 April 1993, by the union of five British Army corps: * Royal Engine ...

, and

Adjutant General's Corps The Adjutant General's Corps is a corps in the British Army responsible for many of its general administrative services, named for the Adjutant-General to the Forces (now the Commander Home Command). As of 2002, the AGC had a staff of 7,000 peopl ...

. By 2009, the squadron was again officially disbanded, its size reduced to a troop (equivalent of a platoon), with its personnel moving to the army element of the

Joint Signals Intelligence Unit A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

, still based at

Third Formation (2020)

In 2020, as part of the

Army 2020 Refine Army 2020 Refine was the name given to the restructuring of the British Army, in light of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015. Army 2020 Refine The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 announced that the structure of the Reac ...

, it was announced a new dedicated cyber regiment would be formed in the

, though this regiment would be multi-capbadged and joint service unit. This new regiment was formed on the basis of the 15th Signal Regiment based in Colerne, and became known as the 13th Signal Regiment (Cyber), which stood up on 1 June 2020. As part of this reorganisation, which then affected the entire corps, 224 (Cyber Protection Teams) Signal Squadron was reformed and based at Azimghur Barracks, drawing personnel from the cyber teams of 14 Signal Regiment.FOI(A) Army/Sec/21/02/FOI2019/06365 on changed relating to the Army 2020 Refine since 2017
18 July 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2020.

Footnotes

References

* {{cite book, last=Graham E. Watson, first=Cliff Lord, title=The Royal Corps of Signals: Unit Histories of the Corps (1920–2001) and its Antecendents, publisher=Helion & Company, year=2004, isbn=978-1874622925, location=Solihull, West Midlands, England, oclc=1232308243 Military units and formations established in 1959 Squadrons of the Royal Corps of Signals Military units and formations in Dorset