This is RAF Fylingdales up on the moors on Snod Hill and this is a zoom photo from some distance away as entrance is strictly forbidden on to the site.
Its motto is "vigilamus" which means "we are watching."
It is a radar base, built during the Cold War in 1962. It forms part of the Intelligence Services and tracks potential ballistic missile attacks and also space tracking and observation services, which are shared with the USA. It makes use of spy satellites to facilitate secret untrackable conversations where the military and other organisations make use of it.
It used to have three massive radome "golf balls" as part of its system, which were iconic to see on the landscape, but they were removed in 1992 and the present system uses this Solid State Phased Array Radar (SSPAR).
I love seeing it. The sense of mystery and secrecy and wondering what they are hearing and seeing and what is really happening that I know nothing about!
Photographed as we drove back to Scarborough after our day out at Goathland Station.
