Wednesday, August 4, 2010

ASCENSION ISLAND

Strategically located in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, Ascension Island is a British dependent territory, governed from St. Helena, which accommodates Wideawake, a large U.S. Air Force base. During the Cold War, it was the location of a GCHQ signals intelligence intercept station at Two Boats, which operated under Cable & Wireless cover. During the 1982 Falklands Conflict, Ascension was the assembly point for the British task force preparing to enforce the exclusion zone and liberate the islands, and it thereafter remained a vital part of the air bridge  between Port Stanley and RAF Brize Norton.