RAF Fylingdales

RAF Fylingdales
Near Whitby, North Yorkshire, in England
AN/FPS-132 Solid State Phased Array Radar System at RAF Fylingdales
Vigilamus (Latin for 'We are Watching')
RAF Fylingdales Shown within North Yorkshire
Coordinates	54°21′32″N 000°40′11″W / 54.35889°N 0.66972°W / 54.35889; -0.66972
Type	Ballistic Missile Early Warning station
Height	820 feet (250 m)
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Air Force
Controlled by	UK Space Command
Open to the public	No
Radar type	Raytheon AN/FPS-132 Solid State Phased Array Radar System (SSPARS)
Website	Official website
Site history
Built	1962 (1962)/63
In use	1963–Present
Garrison information
Current commander	Wg Cdr Thomas Colledge

Royal Air Force Fylingdales or more simply RAF Fylingdales is a Royal Air Force station on Snod Hill in the North York Moors, England. Its motto is Vigilamus ("We are watching").^[1] It is a radar base and is also part of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS). As part of intelligence-sharing arrangements between the United States and United Kingdom (see, for example, the UKUSA Agreement), data collected at RAF Fylingdales are shared between the two countries. Its primary purpose is to give the British and US governments warning of an impending ballistic missile attack (part of the so-called four minute warning during the Cold War). A secondary role is the detection and tracking of orbiting objects; Fylingdales is part of the United States Space Surveillance Network.^[2][3][4] As well as its early-warning and space-tracking roles, Fylingdales has a third function – the Satellite Warning Service for the UK. It keeps track of spy satellites used by other countries, so that secret activities in the UK can be carried out when they are not overhead. The armed services, defence manufacturers and research organisations, including universities, take advantage of this facility.^[4][5]