the new radar was provided from the NATO funding pool. This led to one of the six IUKADGE AMES Type 93s being earmarked for Saxa. Downgrading to Remote Radar Head While the upgrades were taking place, the Warsaw Pact was dissolving and the Soviet Union ceased to exist. The number of intruder flights collapsed and there was no sign they would be returning. From around 2000 until 2 April 2004, the station operated as Remote Radar Head (RRH) Saxa Vord, operated from parent station RAF Buchan. On 2 April 2004, RAF Saxa Vord was upgraded from a Remote Radar Head to a full manned station, taking over control of the radar defences in the area. Closure In 2005, the RAF announced that RRH Saxa Vord would close. The Type 93 radar was approaching obsolescence and was increasingly difficult to maintain. It was considered that with a reduced threat, funding would be diverted to other defence priorities. RRH Saxa Vord closed in April 2006 with the site being placed on programme of care and maintenance and the radar being dismantled and used for spares in other Type 93 radars. In April 2007, Saxa Vord's Domestic Site and the road up to the Mid Site were bought by Military Asset Management (MAM). Reactivation as RRH In September 2017, the Ministry of Defence confirmed that £10 million would be invested in Saxa Vord to reactivate the site as a Remote Radar Head. The move will provide better coverage of the airspace to the north of the UK, in response to increased Russian military activity. Work began in October 2017 to move a Lockheed Martin AN/TPS-77 L-band radar from RRH Staxton Wold in North Yorkshire to Saxa Vord. During January 2018, Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier visited the site to inspect progress and the new radar reached initial operational capability. It was expected to reach full operational capability by the end of 2018. As part of a major upgrade of RRH sites around the U.K. the MOD began a programme titled HYDRA in 2020 to install new state of the art communications buildings, radar towers and bespoke perimeter security. Nobody will be permanently based at Saxa Vord, but regular visits will take place for maintenance purposes. Some of the former base facilities are now in use as the Saxa Vord distillery and the proposed SaxaVord Spaceport. See also