The Defence High Frequency Communications Service or the DHFCS is a British military
beyond line-of-sight communication system operated by the
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
(MOD) and used predominately by the UK Armed Forces, as well as other authorised users. The system operates from six transmitting and receiving sites across the United Kingdom and is controlled from a network control centre located at
Forest Moor in North Yorkshire and a backup site at
Kinloss Barracks
Kinloss Barracks is a military installation located near the village of Kinloss, on the Moray Firth in the north of Scotland. Until 2012 it was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station, RAF Kinloss.
History
RAF Kinloss
The Royal Air Force station ...
in Moray. Overseas sites are located in
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory o ...
,
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
and
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...
. In 2003
VT Merlin Communications (now
Babcock International Group
Babcock International Group plc is a British aerospace, defence and nuclear engineering services company based in London, England. It specialises in managing complex assets and infrastructure. Although the company has civil contracts, its main b ...
) were awarded the contract to operate the system for a period of fifteen years on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. The system is to be replaced by the Defence Strategic Radio Service (DSRS) also operated by Babcock
History
Legacy systems
Prior to the creation of the DHFCS, the
Royal Air Force
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) and
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
(RN) operated their own independent
high frequency
High frequency (HF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) between 3 and 30 megahertz (MHz). It is also known as the decameter band or decameter wave as its wavelengths range from one to ten ...
(HF) communications systems. The RAF's
Strike Command Integrated Communications System (STCICS), later known as Terrestrial Air Sea Communications (TASCOMM), operated from six sites within the UK whilst the RN system had twelve sites. The systems overlapped in their capabilities whilst simultaneously having gaps in overall capability, high running costs, lack of flexibility and neither were used to their full capacity.
Public private partnership
In 2003 the
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
(MOD) decided to merge the existing high frequency communications systems into one enhanced system and thereafter operate and manage it as the Defence High Frequency Communications Service (DHFCS). The
Defence Communication Services Agency
The Defence Communication Services Agency (DCSA) was an agency of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence responsible for the procurement and delivery of Communications and Information Services (CIS) to the defence community and related public and ...
(DCSA) (now
Information Systems and Services
Information Systems & Services (ISS) was a cluster within Strategic Command Top Level Budget of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence. ISS was replaced by Defence Digital in 2019.
History
ISS was created from the former Defence Communicati ...
(ISS) under
Joint Forces Command
The United Kingdom's Strategic Command (StratCom), previously known as Joint Forces Command (JFC), manages allocated joint capabilities from the three armed services.
History
Background
In August 2010 the then Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, as ...
) awarded a £228m
public private partnership
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
contract to
VT Merlin Communications (now
Babcock International Group
Babcock International Group plc is a British aerospace, defence and nuclear engineering services company based in London, England. It specialises in managing complex assets and infrastructure. Although the company has civil contracts, its main b ...
) to upgrade and operate the system. The contract lasts for fifteen years (ending in 2018) and is funded by a reduction in the number of transmitting, receiving and control sites and a reduction of 266 military personnel.
Site rationalisation
Through the rationalisation of sites, twelve sites (four RAF, seven RN and a joint site in
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
) were closed between 2003 and 2006. Many sites were used for other military purposes with the sites at
Bampton Castle,
Chelveston
Chelveston is a small village in North Northamptonshire. It is about east of Higham Ferrers and east of Wellingborough on the B645 (former A45 road) from Higham Ferrers to St Neots. To the south is the hamlet of Caldecott and the settlement o ...
and
Milltown being the only sites which closed entirely.
Closed legacy system sites
Purpose
The service provides HF communications for the Ministry of Defence (Royal Air Force, Royal Navy,
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 Joint Forces Command), other British government departments and
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
(including its
Partnership for Peace
The Partnership for Peace (PfP; french: Partenariat pour la paix) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program aimed at creating trust between the member states of NATO and other states mostly in Europe, including post-Soviet states; ...
organisation). A
memorandum of understanding exists to allow cooperation between the DHFCS and the
US Air Force's (USAF) High Frequency Global Communications System (HFGCS) through a link to the HFGCS at the USAF facility at
RAF Croughton
Royal Air Force Croughton or more simply RAF Croughton is a Royal Air Force station which is currently a United States Air Force communications station in Northamptonshire, England. It is southeast of the village of Croughton. The station is ...
in Northamptonshire. A link with the
Australian Defence Force's High Frequency Communications System (HFCS) based in
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
also exists.
The service allows real-time strategic communications between users which comprise ground stations, submarines, surface vessels, fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.
Structure and operation
The DHFCS was declared operational in March 2008. Within the UK, the system is divided into three stations of paired transmitter and receiver sites. 'UK North' comprises sites at
Kinloss Barracks
Kinloss Barracks is a military installation located near the village of Kinloss, on the Moray Firth in the north of Scotland. Until 2012 it was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station, RAF Kinloss.
History
RAF Kinloss
The Royal Air Force station ...
and
Crimond
Crimond is a village in Aberdeenshire, in the northeast of Scotland, located northwest of the port of Peterhead and just over from the coast.
Geography
The main A90 road runs through Crimond and is lined by Crimond Church with a villag ...
in north east Scotland, 'UK Middle' at
Forest Moor and
Inskip in northern England and 'UK South' at
St. Eval and
Penhale Sands
Penhale Sands ( kw, Peran Treth, meaning ''St Piran's sands''), or Penhale Dunes, is a complex of sand dunes and a protected area for its wildlife, on the north Cornwall coast in England, UK. It is the most extensive system of sand dunes in Cornw ...
in south west England. Three overseas stations, with two sites each, are located in
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
,
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory o ...
and the
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...
.
The system was originally operated from a network control station (NCS) located at Forest Moor, with an alternate network control station (ANCS) at Kinloss which could be used in the event that Forest Moor station was unavailable. Split site working was introduced in 2011 which allows both the Forest Moor NCS and Kinloss ANCS to control 50% of the network, increasing resilience and recovery time in the event of a loss of service and minimising potential network unavailability.
Sites at
Anthorn
Anthorn (pronounced ) is a village in Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Cumberland, it is situated on the south side of the Solway Firth, on the River Wampool, Wampool estuary, about west of Carlisle, Cumbria, C ...
(Formerly HMS Nuthatch) and
Skelton in northern England provide a
Very Low Frequency
Very low frequency or VLF is the ITU designation for radio frequencies (RF) in the range of 3–30 kHz, corresponding to wavelengths from 100 to 10 km, respectively. The band is also known as the myriameter band or myriameter wave a ...
(VLF) transmitting capability which is used to send
communications to submerged submarines. Due to the low frequencies involved submarines can only receive VLF communications and do not carry VLF transmission aerials. Therefore, there is no requirement for land-based receiver sites as communications are one way.
The DHFCS is known to have the following capabilities.
* Nuclear Firing Chain (HF/LF Secure Data)
* Ship to shore
Automatic Link Establishment Automatic Link Establishment, commonly known as ALE, is the worldwide de facto standard for digitally initiating and sustaining HF radio communications. ALE is a feature in an HF communications radio transceiver system that enables the radio statio ...
(ALE), Non ALE (Secure Data) – STANAG 5066 ARQ & DRC
* Direct Access users Channels (Voice)
* Multi Channel Broadcasts (Secure Data)
* Single Channel Broadcasts (Data & Voice)
* NATO Broadcasts (Secure Data)
* Off the Air Monitoring (Secure Data)
* Legacy Ship to Shore Services (Secure Data)
* Rear Links Services (Secure Data)
* Maritime Air Telecommunication Organisation (Secure Data & Voice)
* Terrestrial Air Sea Communications (TASCOMM - Voice)
* Voice Automatic Link Establishment
DHFCS sites in the United Kingdom
Overseas DHFCS sites
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
* {{cite web, url = http://www.hfindustry.com/meetings_presentations/presentation_materials/2012_sept_hfia/presentations/Babcock_DHFCS_NCS_Forest_Moor_Visit.pdf, title = Defence High Frequency Communications Service, date = 5 September 2012, website = High Frequency Industry Association, publisher = Babcock International Group, archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20171001213609/http://www.hfindustry.com/meetings_presentations/presentation_materials/2012_sept_hfia/presentations/Babcock_DHFCS_NCS_Forest_Moor_Visit.pdf, archivedate = 1 October 2017, url-status = dead, accessdate = 5 June 2017, ref = {{sfnRef, Babcock International Group, 2012
British Armed Forces
British military radio
History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom
Military communications of the United Kingdom
Military electronics of the United Kingdom
Organisations based in Harrogate
Organisations based in Moray
Science and technology in North Yorkshire