only way to protect the UK from destruction was to ensure the attack never occurred, and the only way to do that was to offer a significant deterrent. By 1954 there were serious concerns being expressed about the usefulness of air defences. If the goal was to deter an attack, all that was required was enough warning to ensure the V bomber force would successfully launch. Directing fighters to their targets and shooting them down with surface to air missiles seemed like a useless gesture if an attack was underway, given that there was no situation where these weapons would seriously change the outcome of the war. By 1956, all pretext of general defence was dropped and the RAF adopted the policy that the only worthwhile mission was early warning and short-term defence of the V bomber bases while they launched, the "protection of the deterrent" mission. This led to a smaller network of only three stations covering the Midlands area, under the new name "Plan Ahead". Even this mission was ultimately eliminated with the release of the 1957 Defence White Paper. This paper explored the changes to the strategic outlook with the introduction of the ballistic missile. It noted that missiles able to reach the UK from eastern Europe were already available, and by the mid-1960s these would be armed with strategic weapons with enough accuracy to attack the bomber bases. Although a Soviet bomber attack was still possible, especially low-altitude sneak attacks, such attacks would simply portend the arrival of the missiles – there was no credible scenario where the Soviets used an all-bomber attack, if they released their strategic weapons they would use all of them. If this was the case, there was really no purpose to the air defence beyond the most minimal systems needed for identification. By 1957 even the concept of defending the V bombers was abandoned; if there was credible warning of any sort of attack the bombers had to launch immediately because in all scenarios missiles would be landing shortly. The key requirement was not air defence, but rapid warning of a missile attack. In October 1957 the UK approached the US about deploying a station of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) in the UK in a location that would cover attacks on the V bomber bases. New mission With the changes brought about by the White Paper, there appeared