Why was the U.S. so interested in developing the system at Fylingdales? RAF Fylingdales is one of the 3 stations in an American BMEWS chain linked across the North Atlantic. The other stations are Thule in Greenland - operated by the 12th Space Warning Squadron (or SWS) and Clear in Alaska - operated by the 13th SWS - both components of the USAF 21st Space Wing based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. An amendment to the 1960 agreement in 1979 allowed the system to be further developed (a $1.9 million contract to modernise the tactical operations room was awarded to RCA in June 1979) to help provide (in conjunction with Defense Support early warning satellites) a Tactical Warning/Attack Assessment directly to the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. Fylingdales operates under the US "Masterplan for tactical Warning and Attack" which lists the aims of BMEWS as being to:

1. Support and aid the survival of strategic military forces.
2. Provide an accurate basis for national (i.e. US national) command authority response decisions.
3. Enhance warfighting effectiveness of the strategic nuclear forces.

As well as its Early Warning Function, Fylingdales also forms part of the Space Surveillance Network (SSN) - intelligence network, tracking and maintaining a catalogue of space objects (military and civilian satellites and space debris). Fylingdales is therefore a significant command, control, communications and intelligence installation. It operates as part of the North American Defence Command or NORAD operations. The information gathered by the radar installation is fed directly to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado. From there information is passed to the National Command authorities and to Headquarters, Strategic Air Command (SAC). In time of war, it would provide the US President with information on what has and has not been attacked, monitor trajectories of both surveillance satellites and incoming ballistic missiles and allow prioritising and accurate response and targeting on "enemy" satellites and ballistic missiles.

The US now intends to upgrade this early warning radar so that it can be used as part of the National Missile Defence (NMD) system to shield the US mainland from missile attack by a combination of radar and anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defences. See 'NMD upgrade'.

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February 1999