The latest revelation of well known public research facilities with a hidden Cold War mission comes from the merry ol’ – England’s Jodrell Bank telescope, to wit:

London, Nov 23 (ANI): The creator of the giant space telescope at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK has disclosed after 50 years that the telescope was secretly modified to track incoming Soviet nuclear missiles during the Cold War.

According to a report in Telegraph, the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank was set up to provide a “four-minute warning” of missile attacks during the Cold War, its creator, Sir Bernard Lovell, has disclosed.

Sir Bernard Lovell, who founded the renowned Cheshire observatory at the end of the Second World War, has told how the facility was adapted on the orders of military chiefs to provide a “four-minute warning” of an impending attack by Soviet Russia.

Of course there were cost overruns incurred by the facility owing to modifications.  The facility remained a primary warning and tracking sensor until RAF Fylingdales was opened in 1963.  Fylingdales became part of the BMEWS (Ballistic Missile Early Warning System) that included Thule AFB (Greenland) and Clear AB, Alaska.  Unique among the phased array radars that made up the network, Fylingdales has three faces.  With a recent modification, it will join the network of Upgraded Early Warning Radars (UEWR) that form the Global Ballistic Missile Defense System.