Menwith Hill spy base, North Yorkshire
To make Star Wars (National Missile Defence) work, President Bush needs to use two key US military installations in Britain. These are the Fylingdales early warning station in Yorkshire, and the nearby Menwith Hill spy base.
Consequently, Tony Blair has a real opportunity to stop Star Wars in its tracks, and do the global community a huge favour.
Fylingdales is one of five similar bases around the globe which will act as the 'eyes and ears' of Star Wars. It will likely be upgraded to use a powerful 40 metre high 'X Band' radar to monitor hostile missile launches. Menwith Hill, which has already been fitted with two 'new golf ball' radomes, will act as a ground relay station transferring information back to the US.
These two bases cover the Middle East, where many of the so called 'rogue states' America fears are located. Without these bases Star Wars will be blind in a key area, but Bush needs the British government's consent before he can use them as part of NMD.
All the signs point to Blair giving Bush his consent, despite widespread opposition at Westminster and amongst foreign affairs analysts and commentatots. Last year the Foreign Affairs Select Committee concluded that Star Wars was not "an appropriate response to the proliferation problems faced by the international community." During this session of parliament 280 MP
