Fortnight Publications Ltd.

How Nuclear War Could Come to County DownAuthor(s): Frank DohertySource: Fortnight, No. 199 (Nov., 1983), pp. 9-10Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25547335 .

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j _Danger sign and demonstrators outside RAF Bishopscourt, Co. Down._ j

HOW NUCLEAR WAR COULD

COME TO COUNTY DOWN

FRANK DOHERTY, a Dublin-based journalist special ising in security and defence technology, explains

why the radar installations at RAF Bishopscourt in Co. Down, which anti-nuclear protesters have been picket ing for the past year, are so important to Britain's

nuclear defences. IF NUCLEAR WAR ever comes to

Northern Ireland - ah event that at times seems a distinct possibility as

the superpowers play out a Cold War

game that is frighteningly close to the real thing

- the first big bang will

happen amid the rolling drumlins of east Down, a few hundred yards from the village of Ballyhornan, near

Ardglass, at the discreetly hidden air defence radar station known as RAF

Bishopscourt. The base there is what NATO

chiefs call a 'time urgent' target in any Soviet air attack on Britain - what is known in popular jargon as a 'first strike' target. It seems odd that such a

little known military site set in the

tranquil surroundings of rural county Down should have such an important part in the nuclear scheme of things, but Bishopscourt is one of Britain's

eyes and ears in the west - the only principal direction from which the Soviet Union can launch an air attack on the United Kingdom.

It was only in the late 1970s that

Bishopscourt assumed its present crucial importance. It was then that

US surveillance discovered that the Soviet naval air force had stationed a number of Tupolev Tu-26 long-range supersonic bombers in the Kola

peninsular near Murmansk in the far north of Russia. Since Tu-26s -

codenamed 'Backfire' bombers by NATO - have not the range to reach the continental United States from northern Russia, it has been assumed that their wartime targets are in

Britain, from where cruise missiles and B-52 bombers threaten the

Russians.

Backfire bombers are very special planes. They fly at more than twice the speed of sound and have a io-lo-lo

profile' which means that they can fly below radar cover. Using these tactics

they are capable of sneaking below the NATO defensive radar chain

covering the UK-Iceland gap and

roaming the unmonitored spaces of the eastern Atlantic to attack Britain from its relatively undefended rear -

over Ireland and the seas to its west. This puts Bishopscourt firmly in the front line of any Atlantic air battle.

Bishopscourt is one of nine IUKADGE (Improved UK Air

Defence Ground Environment) sites around the United Kingdom. Most of these are along Britain's east coast -

looking in the direction from where the traditional threat to Britain has come. It is scheduled to become fully operational from next year. Only Bishopscourt, Portreath and a new station which is almost finished near the Lizard in Cornwall, and Ben becula in the Outer Hebrides are

capable of seeing out into the eastern Atlantic from where Soviet Backfire

jets are expected to launch an air attack on Britain if war comes. All three stations have a maximum range

of 250 miles, which makes Bishops court, because of its westerly position, the one nearest the expected action.

The radar installations at Bishops court were originally built in the late 1950s as part of the iinesman' air"

defence system. At present the station has a Type 84 radar head

which is sited near the centre of the disused airfield at RAF Bishopscourt.

A radar transmitter and receiver are in underground chambers under the radar aerial head, which is visible from the airfield perimeter to the

east, on the Ballyhornan-Kilclief road. Above ground buildings include the microwave relay station and tower

which are sited adjacent to the radar

head, and guardroom and ancillary buildings to the south of the radar station near the airfield perimeter on the Ballyhornan-Downpatrick road.

Bishopscourt has three functions:

Firstly as a civilian air traffic control

along 'Upper Air Route Three' from near Manchester to Bushmills and from there out to a point just off Tory Island in Donegal, where UK air

space ends. This route is used by all civilian air traffic flying the northern route between Europe, or the Middle

East and North America. Military transport aircraft also fly this route under civilian control.

The civilian controllers who oper ate this service work for the National

Air Traffic Service in control rooms at West Drayton, near London watching

radar pictures piped back to them from Bishopscourt. When they speak to aircraft they use 'forward relay' transmitters at Bishopscourt cross

roads, on the Ballyhornan-Down patrick road to the west of the radar station. The radar pictures and voice links travel to and from West Drayton along a microwave link operated by British Telecom from Bishopscourt to

Standing Stones, above Hannahs town on the hills west of Belfast.

This civilian aspect of Bishopscourt is played lip and locals are given the

impression that its main function is civilian air traffic control. But that is a

minor role.

The second function is air defence surveilliance. All air traffic coming into Britain's air defence region

-

which extends to Tory Island - must be identified according to pre

Continued overleaf

Fortnight November 1983 9

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Co. Down Nuclear Base continued from page 9

arranged flight plans filed with the authorities at the airport it took off from. This is telexed to the British authorities who give each individual

flight clearance to enter their air

space.

Any plane which is spotted on radar

coming into this airspace is called on a standard frequency marked on all air

navigation charts. If there is no answer one or two Phantoms from

RAF Leuchars (42 Squadron) in eastern Scotland are scrambled to

intercept the intruding aircraft and

identify it. These Phantoms are part of the 'Instant Alert Force1 main tained by the RAF at several key stations to guard against a sneak attack. They are on 24-hour standby, and are controlled from High Wy combe air defence command HQ, near London.

High Wycombe gets its information about intruders from pictures it received from Bishopscourt. Without that radar picture, High Wycombe is blind to what is happening in the western area of its defence region ie over the north west of Ireland.

Bishopscourfs third function is

'interception control'. Modern "inter

ceptor warplanes -

planes which are

built to attack other planes in the air, as distinct from strike planes which attack surface targets

- are virtually blind, being highly-developed missile

platforms which fly very high and very fast. They must be guided to within a

short distance of their target by a

radar station.

This is Bishopscourt's most im

portant function. In the event of an

attack on Britain by hostile aircraft

coming from the west, which is where the RAF now expect a Soviet attack to come, Bishopscourt would provide the radar cover which would allow controllers in the interception centre at High Wycombe to 'home' defendei

interceptors onto the attacking air

craft. Without radar pictures from

Bishopscourt there would be a size able gap in Britain's western air defences.

To make Bishopscourt less vul nerable to Soviet attack, the existing Type 84 radar is being replaced by a

transportable radar. This can be driven by articulated lorries to a pre designed secret site in time of inter national tension, when a Soviet attack

might be expected - in the same way

as Cruise missiles are protected by

making them mobile and therefore less likely to be hit by enemy missiles.

Work on this new phase in the life of the station started in September. Eventually the new transportable radar will be housed there under a 52 feet 'radome' - a golfball-shaped

weatherproof shelter from which the

collapsible radar can be driven out as

required. Meanwhile, a second site is being

developed at Killard Point over

looking Strangford Lough, about a

mile from the main radar at Bishops court. It will probably be the peace time location for the radome housing the new mobile equipment. In war

time, when the mobile radar moves to its secret location, a 'dummy' radar

will be left in its place under the radome to attract any incoming anti radiation missiles.

Anti-radiation missiles (ARMs) home in on radio signals to blind an

air defence system. Soviet ARMs of the AS-4 (Kitchen type) or AS-6

(Kingfish type) could hit Bishops court after being fired from an aircraft like a Backfire bomber off the west coast of Ireland. These air-to-surface

weapons have a 150 to 300 mile range and can be fitted with conventional or nuclear warheads.

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10 Fortnight November 1983

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