The Defence School of Aeronautical Engineering (DSAE) is a Defence Training Establishment (DTEs) of the British

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 ...

. It was formed on 1 April 2004 and provides training for aircraft engineering officers and tradesmen across the three British

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

. The school comprises a headquarters, No. 1 School of Technical Training and the Aerosystems Engineer and Management Training School all based at

RAF Cosford Royal Air Force Cosford or RAF Cosford (formerly DCAE Cosford) is a Royal Air Force station in Cosford, Shropshire, Cosford, Shropshire, just to the northwest of Wolverhampton and next to Albrighton, Bridgnorth, Albrighton. History Origins RA ...

, the Royal Naval Air Engineering and Survival School (RNAESS) at , with elements also based at

RAF Cranwell Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the Royal Air Force College (RAFC), which trai ...

and MOD St. Athan.

History

The school was formed on 1 April 2004 as the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering (DCAE) and was one of five federated defence colleges formed after the

Defence Training Review The Defence Training Review was established by the then Defence Secretary, Lord Robertson, on 22 July 1999 to examine all individual training and education, Service and civilian, in the British armed forces. The review report, ''Modernising Defen ...

. In 2012, it joined three other technical training colleges under a combined organisation, the Defence College of Technical Training, and reverted in title to being a Defence School. On 17 January 2007,

Secretary of State for Defence The secretary of state for defence, also referred to as the defence secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Ministry of Defence. The incumbent is a membe ...

Des Browne Desmond Henry Browne, Baron Browne of Ladyton, (born 22 March 1952) is a Scottish politician who served in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as Secretary of State for Defence 2006 to 2008 and Secretary of St ...

announced that

Metrix UK Metrix UK Ltd is a joint venture company, originally a 50/50 equity partnership between QinetiQ and LandSecurities Trillium, specifically set up to bid for the two main contracts under the UK Government's 2001 Defence Training Review (DTR) rati ...

, a joint venture between Qinetiq and

Land Securities Land Securities Group plc is the largest commercial property development and investment company in the United Kingdom. The firm became a real estate investment trust (REIT) when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007. It is ...

, had been selected as preferred bidder for Package One of Defence training. This would locate all Aeronautical Engineering training for all three services at

MOD St Athan Ministry of Defence St Athan or MOD St Athan (Welsh: Maes awyr Sain Tathan), formerly known as RAF St Athan, is a large Ministry of Defence unit near the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales. It was the designated site fo ...

in 2017. The project was terminated in 2010 as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, undertaken by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.

Constituent elements

The school comprises a headquarters and three affiliated schools.

Headquarters

The DSAE headquarters is based at the

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

. The school reports to the Defence College of Technical Training (DCTT) which, in turn, is part of the Royal Air Force's

No. 22 Group No. 22 Group is one of five groups currently active in the Royal Air Force, falling under the responsibility of Deputy Commander-in-Chief (Personnel) in Air Command. Its previous title up until 2018 was No. 22 (Training) Group. It is responsible ...

. Between 2004 and 2009 the station at Cosford was known as DCAE Cosford.

No. 1 School of Technical Training

The RAF's No. 1 School of Technical Training is based at RAF Cosford and provides RAF personnel with mechanical, avionics, weapons and survival equipment training. The school trains around 2,000 students per year.

Aerosystems Engineer and Management Training School

Professional and management training is provided to RAF personnel by the Aerosystems Engineer and Management Training School (AE&MTS) based at RAF Cosford.

Royal Navy Air Engineering and Survival School

Based at located at

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite t ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, the Royal Navy's Air Engineering and Survival School provides aeronautical engineering and survival equipment training to Royal Navy personnel. The school is divided into six elements – a headquarters, 764 Initial Training Squadron, the Advanced Training Group, the Common Training Group, the Specialist Training Group and the Training Support Group.{{Cite web, url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/our-organisation/where-we-are/training-establishments/hms-sultan/rn-air-engineering-and-survival-school, title=RN Air Engineering and Survival School, website=Royal Navy, language=en, access-date=18 November 2018

References

External links

DCAE Website

DCAE Cranwell

No. 22 Training Group
Engineering education in the United Kingdom Military training establishments of the United Kingdom Military units and formations established in 2004 Organisations based in Shropshire Organisations based in Lincolnshire Aeronautics organizations Defence agencies of the United Kingdom 2004 establishments in the United Kingdom