Airstrip One

Missile Defence: A Secret Agreement - 15th June 2003, 12.27

Geoff Hoon announced in Parliament that Britain has signed an agreement with the United States to allow the use of an upgraded early warning radar station at Fylingdales and unspecified "technical cooperative programmes" that would allow British companies to participate in US missile defence research and contracts.

Due to government secrecy, it is not possible to tell if the Blair government has extracted a beneficial transfer of missile defence technology for US use of Fylingdales. This deepening of cooperation is not unexpected and indicates that the Blair government is wedded in action to its Atlanticist and European strands.