Above photo: BBC/Getty Images.
More than 15,000 people have signed an online petition opposing Ministry of Defence plans to build 27 radar dishes at Cawdor Barracks.
NOTE: This article was written in March 2025. It was forwarded to us recently by one of the organizers of PARC Against DARC, Roy Jones. He wrote: “I’m reaching out to make international connections which may be helpful in our new campaign to stop a new US radar installation known as DARC (Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability) from being constructed as part of 3 planned for AUKUS sites globally to get global satellite tracking capability for the US military. Our campaign has already achieved widespread media coverage and political support in the Welsh and UK Parliaments with around 40 politicians officially endorsing our campaign via Parliamentary mechanisms.
The proposed radar installations would comprise 27 radar dishes each 21 metres tall and 15 metres wide. The one planned for Wales would be only a few hundred metres outside a National Park and an area of sensitive ecology with protected sea birds and historic landscapes from the neolithic through to the medieval era when it was an important area for Christian pilgrimage and on to the present day when its history and breathtaking scenery attract thousands of international visitors each year. Our website parcagainstdarc.com
covers the many aspects of why this site is inappropriate as well as the reasons an array designed to target satellites so as to be able to destroy or disable them is in contravention of the Outer Space Treaty (1967). Trump’s latest Golden Dome project which would cost at least $550 Billion and perhaps over a trillion dollars could well be integrated with this ground based surveillance system which threatens to cause an unprecedented space arms race as well as endangering the civilian satellite network by producing space debris of a volatile and unpredictable nature.
Plans to build a space radar station could allow US President Donald Trump to dominate space from Wales, campaigners have said.
More than 15,000 people have signed an online petition opposing Ministry of Defence (MoD) plans to build 27 radar dishes at Cawdor Barracks in Brawdy, Pembrokeshire.
Jim Scott, a spokesman for the People Against Radar Campaign (PARC), said “provoking China” by supporting US military aims “where there is no rational imperative to do so” would be a bad idea.
The UK government said Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) was vital to track objects in deep space and protect satellite and communication and navigation networks.
It added that DARC would meet or exceed international environmental and health standards.
Mr Scott said: “Would you trust Donald Trump, who in recent weeks has switched sides in a global proxy war, to militarily dominate all of space using Pembrokeshire as a foothold to do so?
“If not, we very strongly urge you to consider ways you can help to stop DARC.”
Cefin Campbell, Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd (MS) for Mid and West Wales, has tabled a statement in the Senedd opposing DARC, supported by 11 other politicians.
PARC, along with groups including CND Cymru, Stop the War and Peace Action Wales (Heddwch ar Waith), will take the campaign to Senedd politicians on Wednesday, with an event planned at the Pierhead building in Cardiff Bay.
Their concerns also include possible effects on tourism, residents’ health, pressures on infrastructure and the geopolitical implications.
“There is a mainstream consensus emerging that where once the UK could go on under the assumption that if there was a major war, that the US could be relied upon to be fighting on the same side as the UK, this is no longer the case,” PARC said in a statement.
The DARC dishes would be 66ft (20m) high and 49ft (15m) wide and built very close to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.
The programme is part of the trilateral AUKUS security partnership with the US and Australian governments.
Those countries are also building similar sites to DARC, in response to possible threats from countries such as Russia and China.
When it was announced in December 2023, then-defence secretary Grant Shapps said tracking activity in “deep space” would help the UK protect itself from “space warfare”.
The MoD said radars would enable nations to identify objects in deep space, up to 22,000 miles (36,000 km) from Earth.
Cawdor Barracks was set to close by 2028, but the redevelopment of the site for DARC will keep it open with 100 jobs expected to be created.
Secretary of State for Wales, Jo Stevens, said the development would “secure jobs in the area” and was an “important project for Pembrokeshire”.
A planning application is likely to be submitted this year and building work could start late in 2026 if permission is granted by Pembrokeshire council.
Previous plans to build a radar installation at St Davids Airfield were thrown out in 1991 following a campaign.
