The Defence Support Group (DSG) was an

executive agency An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Nort ...

and wholly owned

trading fund A trading fund is an executive agency, government department or often simply a part of a department, that enables the department to handle its own revenues and expenses separately from overall government finances and more like a business, as opposed ...

of 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 state ...

in the United Kingdom. It was established on 1 April 2008 by the merger of the

Defence Aviation Repair Agency The Defence Aviation Repair Agency, better known as DARA, was an executive agency of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, responsible for the maintenance and repair of Royal Air Force, Army and the Royal Navy's aircraft. It became part of the ...

and the

Army Base Repair Organisation The Army Base Repair Organisation (ABRO) was an executive agency which reported to the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. It provided engineering, repair and re-manufacturing services to the British Armed Forces and also to the police and som ...

. It was created under ''The Defence Support Group Trading Fund Order 2008''. Part of the group was sold to

Babcock International 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 ...

on 31 March 2015, while the remainder became the

Defence Electronics and Components Agency The Defence Electronics and Components Agency (DECA) is an executive agency sponsored by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. The agency was formed in April 2015 from the air division of the Defence Support Group, which was retained when ...

(DECA) on 1 April 2015.

History

DSG employed about 3,500 staff, with its head office in

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * And ...

. Annual turnover was in excess of £200 million. The chief executive was Archie Hughes, formerly from the

. DSG offered maintenance, repair and overhaul of military air and land equipment, mobile and in-barracks equipment support, fleet management, calibration, electronics, components and logistic support. It was one of the largest defence engineering service providers in the UK. DSG undertook a partnership with both

Deeside College Deeside College (Welsh: ''Coleg Glannau Dyfrdwy'') (now part of Coleg Cambria) is located in Connah's Quay, Flintshire, North Wales. It was formerly a further education colle.g in August 2013 to create the college for North East Wales, one of ...

and

Airbus UK Airbus UK is a wholly owned subsidiary of Airbus which produces wings for Airbus aircraft. When Airbus was incorporated as a joint-stock company in 2001, BAE Systems transferred its UK Airbus facilities in return for a 20% share of the new comp ...

to train its aeronautical engineers based at

RAF Sealand MoD Sealand (formerly RAF Sealand), is a Ministry of Defence installation in Flintshire, in the northeast corner of Wales, close to the border with England. It is a former Royal Air Force station, active between 1916 and 2006. Under defence cu ...

Sale

In October 2010 the government announced that DSG was to be sold off, along with other corporate assets, telecommunications spectrum and Marchwood Military Port. In November 2014,

was announced as the preferred buyer of DSG's land repair and maintenance business, and a sale for £140 million was reached in December 2014. The sale was completed on 1 April 2015. The remaining air division and the Electronics and Components business unit remained under MOD ownership, and on 1 April 2015 became the

Installations

The main sites were: *

Ashchurch Ashchurch is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ashchurch Rural, in the Tewkesbury district, in the county of Gloucestershire, England, east of the town of Tewkesbury, southwest of Evesham, north of Cheltenham, north-no ...

Bovington Bovington Camp () is a British Army military base in Dorset, England. Together with Lulworth Camp it forms part of Bovington Garrison. The garrison is home to The Armour Centre and contains two barracks complexes and two forest and heathland t ...

* Catterick *

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colc ...

* Donnington *

Sealand SeaLand, a division of the Maersk Group, is an American intra-regional container shipping company headquartered in Miramar, Florida with representation in 29 countries across the Americas. The company offers ocean and intermodal services using ...

St Athan St Athan ( cy, Sain Tathan) is a village and community in the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales. The village and its parish church are dedicated to Saint Tathan. The church dates to the 13th–14th century, though an earlier church was dated to ...

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in ...

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

Warminster Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-century Minster Church of S ...

Smaller support sites were: *

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alde ...

Bicester Bicester ( ) is a historical market towngarden town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in Southern England that also comprises an eco town at North-East Bicester and self-build village aGraven Hill Its loc ...

Sennybridge Sennybridge ( cy, Pontsenni) is a village in the historic county of Brecknockshire, Wales, now within the unitary authority area of Powys, situated some from Cardiff and from Swansea. It lies west of Brecon on the A40 trunk road to Llandove ...

References

External links

*
Deeside College Press Release
{{Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom Privatised executive agencies of the United Kingdom government Defence agencies of the United Kingdom Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom Military logistics of the United Kingdom