22.12.02

AN INTRODUCTION TO FYLINGDALES AND STAR WARS

The pyramid is situated at RAF Fylingdales on the North York Moors in northern England.It contains a sophisticated radar system which is an integral part of the Bush governments BMD (Ballistic Missile Defense) program.

BMD, or Star Wars as it is known after Reagans abortive missile defence ideas, is a system designed to protect the US from enemy missiles. When an enemy misssile is

launched the launch is detected and the missile is tracked. An interceptor is launched to

seek out and destroy the incoming missile.

The radars at Fylingdales are used to track the missile in it's mid-flight stage. There are two other similar stations in Northwest Greenland and in Alaska. Between them they can detect missiles coming in over the pole or from the east or west.

The BMD system is designed by the US to protect the mainland USA. RAF Fylingdales is built on MOD land by british contractors. However the important part, that is the radar and communications systems, are designed and built in the US. They are operated by US personel. The information is passed to US space command.

It is difficult to see the point of Star Wars.If it is defensive it certainly does not protect Great Britain. The American people believe they will be safe behind this high-tech wall. They are not generally told that it is beset by technological difficulties. When missile defense was first proposed it was likened to "trying to hit a bullet with a bullet". It has already cost the US taxpayer more than $100bn. By the time it becomes operational, in 2005 at the earliest, it will have cost at least $200bn.

It is also difficult to see what BMD is supposed to defend against. Only countries possesing IBCMs (Intercontinental Ballistc Missiles} could possibly launch a missile attack against the USA. These long range missiles are only owned by the UK, France, Russia and China. None of these countries is at all likely to attack the USA.

In BMD terms so called "rogue states" can also be discounted. Though they may posses ballistic missiles they have nothing that could reach the US mainland. An important point is that no-one would attack the US in such a way for fear of massive retaliation.

So if BMD is difficult and expensive to develop why do the US government want it?. As there is no apparent threat it cannot be considered to be defensive. Maybe the real reason is that when complete the shield will allow the Us to attack without fear of retaliation. Having gained military supremacy of the planet they now want to domimate space.

Just as the US won the race to the moon (?) they wan to win the arms race in space. Star Wars may be painted as a defensive system it is in fact a precursor to an offensive system. The technology being developed for Star Wars can be easily adapted to make sattelites carrying lasers that could attack anywhere on earth at a moments notice.

Star Wars is the military side of US attempts to take over the world in economic and cultural terms. Fylingdales is just one of it's tools

If we do allow the use of Fylingdales as a part of BMD it will mean that Britain will become, as the first line of defence, a first strike target for enemies of the US. It could cost us 10bn, that is 40% of the defence budget.We cannot let Fylingdales become part of th US BMD system. Britain must say no to Star Wars.

Yderligere oplysninger hos Neil Bye neil_bye@hotmail.com