Global protector or prime target of war?

AS THE cold war wound down, a radar station experienced its worst ever crisis. Tracked from the Polar ice cap, radar technicians at RAF Fylingdales thousands of miles away had locked on an object travelling at lightning speed towards Russia.

A Soviet Typhoon-class submarine had launched a test missile. But the Russians hadn't bothered to inform anybody.

As they stood, rooted to the spot, watching the blip move inexorably across their radar screens, staff at the North York Moors early warning base realised what they could do to stop it. Absolutely nothing.

'Son of Star Wars' will change this, America asserts. From now on, we can act and we can fight back.

President George W Bush may believe in America's right to 'protect the world', but there are many others - including the Fylingdales Action Network, Yorkshire CND and the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases - who do not.

They insist that expansion of the radar station makes North Yorkshire more of a potential target, with little perceivable benefit to the UK.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's official request this week to use Fylingdales in the Son of Star Wars scheme, will go down as one of history's worst kept secrets.

So obvious was it that the request was coming that its absence had fuelled conspiracy theories among these sceptical protest groups. The decision to bring Son of Star Wars to Fylingdales had already been made, they say - so why the charade about asking the British Government for permission?

Intelligence expert Mark Birdsall, who edits the International Eye Spy magazine, shares this scepticism, and is treating the current moves for consultation with "suspicion".

He believes that Fylingdales' role in Son of Star Wars was actually negotiated several years ago.

"There was probably a deal brokered long ago", he said. "The intelligence community has long known of Fylingdales' worth, and Menwith Hill's.

"Campaigners were resigned to it and we can expect to see some big changes up there in the next few years."

But what kind of changes? Ever since it was constructed, nearly 40 years ago, Fylingdales has played a key role in watching the skies.

Its radar is so powerful, it could knock a plane out of the sky. Closer to home, mobile telephones and radios are rendered useless whenever they come within the range of the radar's welcoming arms.

The end of the Cold War removed much of the need for Fylingdales' famous 'golf ball' antennae.

But America now has new enemies. September 11 saw the US finally shift its eyes away from Russia and Cuba and fix them firmly on the Middle East.

Rogue states are the worry now. Bin Laden's ability to destroy the heart of New York brought home the need to protect from within.

And for America, protect from within appears to mean build facilities somewhere else.

Fylingdales is crucial to American plans because of elementary science. Son of Star Wars will work on a simple premise.

If you detect a missile early enough, you can shoot it down. Where you place the detectors is the key.

Because the earth is a globe and radar waves travel in a straight line, you need detectors at different points to cover the whole planet.

Much of the world is already covered. US stations in Greenland and Alaska can detect 'launches' from China, Russia, North Korea and other states which don't share the unique Bush world view.

But only Fylingdales can detect an attack from the Middle East. So with Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein dominating the so-called "Axis of Evil", upgrading Fylingdales is now a number one priority.

America only recently asked for Fylingdales to be extended, but the US has been laying the groundwork for the best part of a decade.

It was Bill Clinton's administration, and not Bush's, which saw the importance of Fylingdales to a national missile defence system.

It was Bush, though, who took it one stage further. There was little fuss, earlier this year, when America pulled out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

That historic treaty, signed by America and Russia, had stood for 30 years. But upgrading Fylingdales would have broken virtually every key clause in it. So America pulled out.

If the British Government plays to recent form and behaves like the United States' lap-dog, as some say it is doing, we can expect a piecemeal Son of Star Wars system sometime in 2004.

Then everything will be all right and we can all sleep safe and sound knowing that nasty dictators can harm us no more.

Or can we? Son of Star Wars makes a rather dangerous assumption that any attack would be carried out on the United States.

But what if it isn't? What if terrorists decide it is Europe's turn?

Opponents point out that, if you look at it carefully, Son of Star Wars will provide precious little protection for Europe.

It depends on early warning to work - to knock the missile out while it is still in space - and that means you need a launcher that can deploy a counter-missile in double quick time.

Except there will be no launchers in Europe. They will all be in, or near, America.

The irony of Fylingdales will remain. We'll know the missile is coming, but we won't be able to do a thing about it.

Son of Star Wars protects America, not Europe, protesters say. And when politicians lead people into believing something else, then there are legitimate questions to be asked.

UK defence secretary Geoff Hoon, who wandered onto the scene on Tuesday with his Son of Star Wars statement, said: "The US is looking to work closely with friends and allies in developing defences which enhance global security."

But that same statement conceded: "The US proposes no change to existing arrangements for data-sharing and operational command at Fylingdales". Which, translated, means "we still won't tell you what we are doing".

It's hard to fathom how a system will "enhance global security" when the world's most developed continent, outside America, will remain unprotected.

Fylingdales, its opponents point out, will be a target. In any major conflict, they say, it will be one of the first places hit - despite US assurances - because it makes sense, if you are attacking someone, to knock out their communication and radar defences pretty quickly.

So far from enhancing world peace, the use of Fylingdales could make it all just a little more dangerous for those of us on this side of the Atlantic.

Updated: 11:08 Thursday, December 19, 2002