Menwith Hill to form part of missile defence

A NORTH YORKSHIRE spy base is set to form part of America's highly controversial missile defence shield following a UK government announcement.

Defence Secretary Des Browne told Parliament yesterday (Wednesday) that the Government has agreed to a US request for RAF Menwith Hill to be used as part of the American missile defence system. He also said that the radar upgrade at RAF Fylingdales, started in 2003 by the US, is now complete.

The massive Menwith Hill facility with its "golf ball" style radomes is perched high on the hills of the Yorkshire Dales between Harrogate and Skipton and will not host any interceptor missiles. The site will only be used to feed tracking information in to the American System.

"The work at RAF Menwith Hill will both support the existing joint UK-US missile warning mission and also enable satellite data to be passed into the new US missile defence system," said Mr Browne.

"Missile defence systems are just that - defensive. They are not for offensive use and by supporting American efforts in this area, both through scientific cooperation and by allowing the use of facilities in the UK, we are helping to build future protection for our citizens.

The decision is sure to anger local campaigners who hold weekly protests outside the base. They claim that whilst it is called RAF Menwith Hill, the base is actually run by the American government and used to intercept massive amounts of electronic communications.