ISS Boddington

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ISS Boddington
Code
County Gloucestershire
Badge of the Royal Air Force
Badge of the Royal Air Force
Owner Ministry of Defence
Location 51°55’18"N, 0°9’55"W
Website

ISS Boddington is an installation of Information Systems & Services, an operating cluster of the Ministry of Defence. It was formerly RAF Boddington, a non-flying Royal Air Force station located in Barrow, close to Boddington, in Gloucestershire. It was the former home of No. 9 Signals Unit RAF.

Boddington was the first computerised communication centre in the 1950s when it was run by the Army. The use of computerised relay communications has continued to the present day.

History

The station was established in 1940 as an army telephone exchange operated by the Auxiliary Territorial Service under the guard of the Gloucestershire Regiment. It was later controlled by the Royal Signal Corps before passing to the Royal Air Force.

On 1 October 1978 RAF Boddington became No. 9 Signals Unit (No. 9 SU), an independent Unit under the control of RAF Support Command Signals Headquarters (SCSHQ), with functional control of their respective networks by Communication Defence Control Network (CDCN) and Headquarters RAF Strike Command (HQSTC).

In 1998 operational command of Boddington transferred to the newly formed Defence Communication Services Agency (DCSA), with the unit becoming known as DCSA 9 SU Boddington. The unit was subsequently chosen as the Primary Message Agent site for the United Kingdom as part of the Automated Messaging Systems Communications Equipment Replacement Programme (AMSCERP) which provided secure messaging services for the RAF and British Army.[1]

The facility was upgraded in 2006 during which time temporary buildings were used to accommodate Information technology equipment.[2]

After the RAF

Although the site ceased to be an RAF station in December 2007, it was retained by the Ministry of Defence as a communications station. The site is now known as ISS Boddington, having initially been operated by the Defence Communication Services Agency and now Information Systems and Services (ISS), part of Joint Forces Command.

References

  1. End of an era for historic Gloucestershire unit: Ministry of Defence
  2. Planning papers; Construction of concrete raft and siting of 2 no. temporary buildings and plant. Construction of temporary car park, RAF Boddington

Warning: Default sort key "Boddington" overrides earlier default sort key "ISS Boddington".