RAF Menwith Hill

Royal Air Force Menwith Hill or more simply RAF Menwith Hill is a Royal Air Force station near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England which provides communications and intelligence support services to the United Kingdom and the United States. The site contains an extensive satellite ground station and is a communications intercept and missile warning site and has been described as the largest electronic monitoring station in the world.RAF Menwith Hill is commanded by an RAF officer, with support services provided by Government Communications Headquarters, United States Air Force, 421st Air Base Group, and US National Security Agency personnel. In 2014, the number of American personnel stationed at Menwith Hill was reduced as part of a streamlining of operations due to improvements in computer and information technology.The site acts as a ground station for a number of satellites operated by the US National Reconnaissance Office, on behalf of the US National Security Agency, with antennae contained in a large number of highly distinctive white radomes, locally referred to as "the massive golf balls", and is alleged to be an element of the ECHELON system.