Indian Army Corps of Signals

Indian Army Corps of Signals is a corps and an arm of the Indian Army, which handles its military communications. It was formed on the 15 February 1911 as a separate entity under Lt Col S H Powell, and went on to make important contributions to World War I and World War II. The corps celebrated 100 years of its raising on 15th February 2011.

History
After a notification was issued as a Special Army Order dated February 3, 1911, for the organisation of the signal companies, the corps was formed on February 15, 1911, when 31st and 32nd Divisional Signal Companies, the first Signals units, were raised at Fatehgarh in present Uttar Pradesh. Lt Col SH Powell, Royal Engineers, was the founder and first head of the Indian Signal Service which later became the Indian Signal Corps. Till then, the Sappers part of the Indian Army Corps of Engineers established in 1777, where in charge of passing battlefield messages. Subsequently, the 33rd and 34th Divisional Signal Companies were raised at Ahmednagar, along with the nucleus of 41st Wireless Squadron at Roorkee on March 1, 1911.

After Independence in 1947, Brig CHI Acehurst was the first head of the Corps of Signals, after the 1965 and 1971 wars, the corps underwent important expansions. The corps formally received its regimental colours on 20 February 1965 and on 15 February 1981.

In the mid-1980s, a dedicated organisation to test communication systems was formed, it is now known as the Army Centre for Electromagnetics (ACE), eventually Indian Army became the first agency to use digital technology for both switching and transmission.

Overview
The Corps works closely with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to develop command and control software, notably Samyukta Electronic Warfare System, a mobile integrated electronic warfare system, developed along with  Bharat Electronics Limited.

Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE), Mhow is a premiere training institute of the Corps of Signals, while its war museum is situated at Jabalpur, where 1 Signal Regiment is based.