THE NORTH EAST

A pair of Tornado GR4s taking off from Lossiemouth

The North East of Scotland provides a number of important military facilities for 21 st century warfare, including the RAF bases of Kinloss [51] and Lossiemouth [53], but was arguably more vital during the Cold War. The North East region was the hub of US naval and radio telecommunications in Scotland, and whilst there are still a few important communications sites in the area, they represent a small section of the sites that were operational twenty years ago. Nevertheless, the North East remains an important asset to the British government and NATO. Just over a third of major facilities have been closed in the last 15 years.