The U.S. Air Force presence at Royal Air Force Fylingdales, U.K., is a liaison officer who reports through the 21st Operations Group. The USAFLO is a bridge to U.S. operations, maintaining mission ready status and advising the RAF station commander on U.S. Air Force operational issues. The USAFLO also serves as the quality assurance evaluator for the U.S. communications contractors.
RAF Fylingdales is Site III, of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System. The unit is a vital portion of BMEWS operations, which include the 7th Space Warning Squadron, Beale Air Force Base, 12th Space Warning Squadron, Pituffik Space Base, Greenland, and 13th Space Warning Squadron, Clear Air Force Station, Alaska.
MISSIONS
Missile Warning
Missile Defense
Space Surveillance
Satellite Warning Service for the United Kingdom
Missile Warning
RAF Fylingdales has a primary mission of maintaining continuous missile warning capability for the United States and United Kingdom, demonstrating that a surprise missile attack could not succeed. Missile warning data is provided to the Missile Warning Center in Cheyenne Mountain, USSTRATCOM, and U.K. MWC.
Missile Defense
RAF Fylingdales supports the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System to counter the threat of a ballistic missile attack against the US Homeland. The site was operationally accepted on 9 Aug 2007.
Space Surveillance
The site detects identifies and tracks man-made objects in earth orbit, contributing to the U.S. Space Surveillance Network. The SSN consists of radar, optical, and passive sensors located throughout the world. The site tracks objects in near earth orbit out to a range of 3,000 nautical miles. When an object penetrates the radar's coverage, the radar tracks the object to identify it as a missile or space object. Over the course of one day, a space object can penetrate the radar's coverage multiple times. By day's end, Fylingdales can rack up 55,000 tracks. As part of the identification aspect of space surveillance, the site routinely collects Space Object Identification information on numerous objects. SOI can be used to discriminate between a rocket body or satellite payload.
Satellite Warning Service for the U.K.
In addition to missile warning, missile defense, and space surveillance, the site performs a U.K. specific mission - Satellite Warning Service. As the name implies, SWSUK gives U.K. forces warning of surveillance by satellites of potentially hostile or other nations. Until recently, SWSUK's primary concern was military satellites gathering intelligence. With the increasing availability of imagery from commercial sources, SWSUK now focuses on any satellite that an adversary could use to gather information on U.K. forces and operations