UKADGE

UKADGE was developed in response to concerns about its predecessor, Linesman/Mediator. Linesman started in the 1950s, when it was assumed that any air attack on the UK would be by hydrogen bomb so no effort was made to "harden" the radars or its main control centre as such effort would be futile. By the mid-1960s, with the Soviet Union reaching strategic parity with NATO, such an attack no longer seemed likely; it was assumed a war would have a protracted conventional stage, perhaps never going nuclear. In this environment, the highly exposed Linesman system was a target for attack by conventional weapons.