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RAF Fylingdales sits on the moors near Whitby.

The agreement has seen RAF Fylingdales gain the ability to track any incoming threat with pinpoint accuracy, so that US missiles can shoot it out of the sky.

The hope is that the system would keep the US and Europe safe from nuclear attack; but the technology is as yet unproven and the plan as a whole remains the subject of heated debate.

The plans ran into opposition from some peace campaigners early on. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) claims the siting of similar stations in the former Soviet states of Poland and the Czech Republic, and the power imbalance that would be caused if the West became impervious to nuclear attack, could provoke a new Cold War.

"What this system does is bring war into Europe and I think everyone feels that Europe has had more than its fill of wars in the 20th Century."

CND chair, Kate Hudson

Kate Hudson, CND Chair, added that the plans do not enjoy popular support in the UK or Europe: "They do not support US Missile Defence bases in Britain or elsewhere in Europe - bases which are destabilising US and European relations with Russia and make us the front line in any future conflict.

"Gordon Brown would benefit from showing some real leadership by announcing plans to close the missile defence bases in Yorkshire and by urging Barack Obama to abandon US Missile Defence altogether."

Some experts have questioned the cost-effectiveness of the system.

The government says there is no evidence that any state with ballistic missiles currently has the intention specifically to target them at the UK, but points out that the situation can change far more quickly than the UK could put any alternative defence system in place.

Base Commander Wg Cdr Greg Hammond said: "If the European leg of the system, which was planned under the Bush administration comes to fruition, that plan involved a target tracking radar in the Czech Republic and ten missile interceptors based in Poland.

"So that's the idea; a system controlled by the United States, which we would contribute our part to it."

The system would only be capable of eliminating a small part of Russia's nuclear arsenal. The MoD says it has been designed to deal with the threat from rogue states with just a small number of missiles, such as North Korea and Iran.

"We spend 99.99% of our time doing space surveillance and it's an increasing task... there's about three thousand... satellites up there."

Wg Cdr Greg Hammond

Too hawkish for Obama?

The Missile Defence Shield was developed under the Bush administration in the US, and while the new US administration has sought to improve relations with Russia, it said it will pursue the plans as long as the Iranian threat persists, though more dialogue is expected both with NATO and Russia on the issue.

The shield would include ten interceptors in Poland, a fixed radar in the Czech Republic, and a transportable radar closer to the Middle East.

The project lacks public support in Poland and the Czech Republic and ratification of the Treaties in both Parliaments is uncertain.

Meanwhile Russia considers the system a threat to its national security.

Will it fry the sheep?

The Radar array at RAF Fylingdales emits radio waves which, at high levels, can be highly dangerous.

In 2003 the MoD commissioned an environmental report to look at the impact of the base on the local environment and how that might be affected should the radar be upgraded to form part of the US Missile Defence Shield.

It found that the radio frequency environment remains safe and many times lower than the relevant safety guidelines and that when operated in a missile defence mode, the upgraded radar would not produce increased levels of radio frequency exposure to humans, animals or plants.

2009: CND protest at Fylingdales

A further examination in 2007 found the same.

The History of RAF Fylingdales

• The base began operation in 1963 at the height of the Cold War and less than a year after the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was designed to provide early warning of ballistic missile launches against the UK, Western Europe and the US. The base was known as 'The Golf Balls', because of the three large spherical radar housings that stood on the horizon.
• The RAF Fylingdales radar is part of a network of bases that form the Integrated Tactical Warning and Attack Assessment for the UK and the US. Others include Clear in Alaska, Thule in Greenland, Beale in California and Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
• The Fylingdales 'Golf Balls' were removed during the late 1980s and replaced by the current phased array radar.
• On December 17 2002, the Secretary of State for Defence informed the House of Commons that a request had been received from the US Government to upgrade the existing Early Warning Radar as part of its missile defence programme. The request was granted early the next year.
• In August 2007, the upgrade was completed, but is awaiting certification and the capability is only theoretical. The capability to shoot down ballistic missiles would only become possible if plans for radar and missile bases in Eastern Europe become a reality.