Do we need this?

SON Of Star Wars: it sounds like a ripping space adventure. Until you realise this is the nickname for an American defence project that many believe threatens to restart the arms race and put North Yorkshire in the nuclear firing line.

Son Of Star Wars is not in a galaxy far, far, away but potentially on our doorstep. Its real name is the National Missile Defence system (NMD). Like the original Star Wars system envisaged by former US President Ronald Reagan, NMD is designed to detect and destroy ballistic missiles launched against America.

Reagan planned to fire his defensive rockets from space, hence the sci-fi nickname; under NMD they would be fired from ground bases or ships.

Begun by the Clinton administration, Son Of Star Wars is set to be enthusiastically developed by President George W Bush. Although designed to protect the United States alone, it would depend on early-warning radars at the Fylingdales base on the North York Moors.

Since 1963, RAF Fylingdales' role has been to provide early warning of any ballistic missile attack against Britain, western Europe and the United States. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has confirmed that the base would be upgraded for NMD if Britain went along with project.

The US believes Son Of Star Wars is necessary to counteract the threat of nuclear attack from "rogue states" such as Iran, Iraq and North Korea. But the new system could also restart the arms race. Russia has already said NMD would breach the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty which prohibits the US and Russia from deploying nationwide defence systems. And China has threatened to respond by massively increasing its nuclear armoury.

Our Government's official position is that it will only consider whether to allow Fylingdales to be an NMD early warning station when this is formally requested by the US Government. Ministers have discussed the plan informally with President Clinton's administration.

By all accounts the Government is split over what to do, with the Foreign Office expressing grave reservations. Tony Blair will certainly hope to stall a decision until after the General Election.

Seizing on ministerial discomfiture, Tory leader William Hague firmly backed NMD this month. "Current vulnerability to missile attack is an invitation to build offensive weapons. To choose to remain vulnerable in a world of multiple threats would be absurd as well as dangerous," he said.

Vale of York MP Anne McIntosh takes a slightly more cautious line than her leader. "I would like to know what the costs would be and how the Government would propose to make the resources available to the Ministry of Defence," she said.

But she is broadly in favour. "If we could share the cost with our European partners on something like this I think it would give a good message to our Nato allies, the main one being America.

"Clearly it would be of some benefit to Britain if it was to go ahead.

"One of the potential threats could be from an Arab state, for instance. We live much closer to them than the Americans. If we had our own early warning system developed in conjunction with the Americans, that would be helpful."

However, she would want to see NMD expanded so it protected Britain as well as America. "Speaking personally, I couldn't justify it if it was just going to help our American cousins."

If Britain co-operated with NMD it would solidify our "special relationship" with America and endear us to the Bush administration, said Paul Rogers, professor of peace studies at Bradford University. But it would also upset our European neighbours. France and Germany are vehement opponents of NMD.

More alarmingly, he believes it would make North Yorkshire a target for a pre-emptive strike. "Fylingdales and Menwith Hill are the early warning eyes of the system. The first thing an opponent would do is to attack the weak links in the system. Fylingdales is weak for two reasons," said Prof Rogers.

"Firstly, it doesn't get any protection. Secondly, if you knock out this one part of the system, you knock out the whole system."

By assisting NMD, the Government might be putting Britain at risk of nuclear attack for a defence system that offers us no defence. It seems a lot for the US to ask.

What if Britain became a full partner in NMD so that it protected us from missile attacks too? Unlikely, says Prof Rogers. The costs are prohibitive: in America the price tag on the system could reach $60 billion; Britain's entire defence budget is about $35 billion.

Globally, Son Of Star Wars would "upset the balance of terror", Prof Rogers believes. Russia, China and others would have to respond if America regained the lead in the arms race. It is a prospect that fills him with dread. "We don't want a revival of the Cold War," he said. "We were lucky enough to get out of it last time."

Afew days ago, Anni Rainbow and Lindis Percy were arrested outside RAF Fylingdales for trespass. They were quickly released without charge. It is a regular occurrence for the co-ordinators of the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases (CAAB).

They went to Fylingdales to look for signs of building work that might suggest it was secretly preparing for NMD. Nothing like that was spotted.

The campaign, based in Otley, aims to force the Government and the military to be more open about the role of RAF/American bases such as Fylingdales and Menwith Hill. It is affiliated to the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament, whose members demonstrated against NMD at Menwith Hill last weekend.

As you would expect, CAAB is implacably opposed to the "crazy and dangerous" Son Of Star Wars proposal. Anni does not believe for one moment that the system is necessary to protect America from rogue states.

"I can't imagine anybody in their right mind would think that North Korea would fire nuclear warheads at America. No country would put themselves at risk in that way."

She added: "What grieves us a great deal is that our Government has been sitting on the fence over these issues. There's no reason at all not to have a proper, open debate."

An open debate seems unlikely when the Ministry of Defence cannot even guarantee that North Yorkshire residents will be consulted before NMD is brought here.

"I couldn't say yes, there will be consultation. Likewise I couldn't say no there won't be consultation," said an MoD spokesman.

Look out. Son Of Star Wars could be coming to an airbase near you - in a blaze of duplicity.

Updated: 10:53 Thursday, January 25, 2001