introduction

Introduction

Fylingdales is one of 5 Ballistic Missile Early Warning Radars around the world, which together scan huge area's. These include Western Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, North America, Northern South America and areas of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans for ballistic missile launches.

The land is owned by the UK Ministry of Defence, but the equipment is owned by the US Defense Department. One US military representative is on the base at all time, along with around 10 US contractors who maintain the SATCOM.

The base performs three main functions:Primary Function
To spot and identify an incoming Inter-continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) - the radar can spot any item from the size of a melon upwards

Secondary Function
Tracking space objects (anything from an apple size upwards).

Tertiary Function
The base's third role is to inform the UK of the whereabouts of any satellite orbiting the earth at any point (which it can do by knowing when they are within Fylingdales' radar and so predicting the trajectory of the object).

The base's role is purely to report (missile and satellite) events. The information gathered by the 120 feet high radar is passed to the US and UK simultaneously and those higher up the hierarchy make decisions with the data. See below for a description of the base's Early Warning procedure. The information is sent to both countries via secure landline connections. The US also maintains a Satcom dish at the base for use in the event of a landline fault. The dish is not available for use by the UK.

The radar's Missile Warning role refers only to Inter-continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). The radar beam is 3° above the horizon and so at the limit of the beam (3000 miles) it is actually 1200 miles above the grounds. As such, the radar is not able to act as an Early Warning system for smaller missiles, such as cruise missiles, which don't travel as high as ICBMs during flight. The diagram below shows this:

bmews-projection-imageThe radar beam constantly sweeps 360°. Each face of the three-faced truncated pyramid has around 2500 aerials on it. Should it ever be necessary, there would be room for around another 1000 aerials on each face. The aerials can change beam direction in a matter of microseconds, independently, allowing the radar to cover the full 360° in a fraction of a second. Although the beam is not designed to deliberately bend over the horizon, in certain atmospheric conditions this does happen.

The radar beam has created serious concern of radiation risks due to leakage from the sides of the beams -"side lobes". Although the radiation levels are within UK limits (NRPB), it would be harder for the base to keep within the tighter EU limits (INIRPB), which the UK may soon adopt. There is also concern that even these limits are insufficient for the type of radiation produced by the beam and that the pulsing of the radar each time it changes direction may also be very harmful.

Missile Sequence Example
  1. A missile is launched
  2. The Defense Support programme satellites pick it up
  3. Fylingdales, along with every other BMEW station is advised about a launch, as is Cheyenne Mountain and Missile Warning cell at RAF High Wycombe.
  4. Independent assessments of this early data are made in the US and UK and this data is sent to the BMEW stations.
  5. If the missile breaks Fylingdales' beam (it will be within 2 - 10 minutes) then Fylingdales has 60 seconds from that point to make an assessment. They work out if this is a "valid event" - they don't make a threat assessment. Fylingdales makes its assessment independently of any other BMEW station whose beam the missile may also have broken.
  6. If it is a valid event, the crew commander sends a message to the UK and US simultaneously that it is a valid event. They also supply information on the launch point, which will have been worked out, and some information on a predicted impact point. This information is refined during the missile's flight.
  7. The information goes to the US (and Canada due to their involvement in NORAD) and the UK simultaneously for a decision.
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