British Forces Cyprus British Forces Cyprus ( BFC ) is the name given to the British Armed Forces stationed in the UK sovereign base areas of Dhekelia and Akrotiri on the island of Cyprus . The United Kingdom retains a military presence on the island in order to keep a strategic location at the eastern end of the Mediterranean , for use as a staging point for forces sent to locations in the Middle East and Asia . BFC is a tri - service command , with all three services based on the island reporting to it . At present , there are approximately 3 , 500 personnel serving in Cyprus . History . Following the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960 , the UK retained two Sovereign Base Areas in Akrotiri and Dhekelia and an RAF air marshal was appointed as the Administrator of the Sovereign Base Areas . The following year the British Forces Near East organization was created , the command of which was then held concurrently with that of the post of Administrator . On 1 March 1961 the Southern Group of Middle East Air Force became Near East Air Force and was based in Cyprus . By 1962 the title " British Forces in Cyprus " was in official use . Command . Episkopi is the current command center of British Forces Cyprus . The commander of the Sovereign Base Areas / British Forces Cyprus ( CBF ) is a two - star appointment , alternating every three years between the Army and the RAF . Consequently , the Deputy British Forces Cyprus ( DBFC ) is a one - star appointment from the opposite service of the commander . The current CBF is Major - General Richard J . Cripwell and the DCBF is Air Commodore Andrew Huggett . Episkopi Cantonment is home to the Sovereign Base Areas Administration , the civilian authority in the territory . Force structure . Within British Forces Cyprus are a number of permanently based units ; however , the large proportion of British forces in Cyprus are on operational tours : History . Cyprus was the last location in which the Royal Armoured Corps used FV601 Alvis Saladin , Ferret armoured car and Alvis Saracen armoured vehicles , long after they had fallen out of use by the regular Army . They were still being used by the Cyprus Armoured Squadron well into the mid 1980s . An even stranger situation developed when the resident Royal Air Force Regiment Squadron was equipped with FV101 Scorpion and FV103 Spartan CVRT at RAF Akrotiri for airfield defence ; this meant that the RAF had better armoured vehicles than resident Army units . The last British Army unit to train soldiers in the use of the Ferret was 1st Bn Royal Irish Regiment at Episkopi during 1992 ; it was finally withdrawn in 1994 , being replaced by Saxon APC . Future . In the future , The Queen ’ s and King ’ s Divisions will continue to move battalions through Cyprus every 3 years . The 2nd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment will be stationed there in 2013 and the 2nd Battalion Princess of Wales ’ s Royal Regiment will rotate into Cyprus in 2014 . These are both Foxhound - mounted infantry battalions . An update plan of which units will rotate can be found on page 9 of this document . Commanders . The following officers have been in command of British Forces Cyprus : Operation TOSCA . Operation TOSCA is the name given to the British contribution to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus ( UNFICYP ) . The British Contingent ( BRITCON ) numbers 278 , and consists of three distinct parts : One of the roles of the support units of BFC is to assist as needed the British units deployed with UNFICYP , which are not part of BFC , but are instead under the direct command of the United Nations .