Plaid Cymru backs Pembrokeshire PARC Against DARC campaign

The possibility of the county housing DARC – Deep Space Advanced Radar Concept – has already attracted more than 16,000 signatures of opposition and led to a two-day protest last month.

The Ministry of Defence, in conjunction with the United States Space Force, has identified an area of brownfield land at Cawdor Barracks, Brawdy – the current home of the 14th Signals Regiment – as the potential location for the radar array.

The two-day protest was held at Brawdy in September. (Image: Penny Dafforn) The purpose of the radars would be to track foreign countries’ communications and military satellites in space, so that British, UK and Australian aircraft could destroy them at will with anti-satellite missiles.

The recent Plaid Cymru conference in Cardiff has now voted unanimously to to approve a motion committing to action against the proposal.

The fast-growing PARC (Pembrokeshire Against the Radar Campaign) Against DARC group is calling the vote a ‘hugely significant moment', suggesting it follows months of silence from Welsh Labour and refusals to engage with or meet local residents over the issue.

If the radar plan came to fruition, it would result in “huge damage to our local area, as well as making Wales a high-priority military target in a way our local infrastructure is ill-prepared for,” a spokesperson for the group said.

Second crusade

This is the second crusade for PARC, which was originally founded in 1990 to campaign successfully to scrap a similar large-scale MoD radar station close to Cawdor Barracks.

Following the conference, the spokesperson said: “Today sends the first clear message that if Labour keeps remaining silent to the calls of over 16,000 people who have signed our local petition, political pressure can and will be escalating this issue into something that is going to have significance county-wide in Pembrokeshire.”

With the campaign having the support of Plaid Cymru and the Wales Green Party – and the Lib Dems under pressure to join them on board – the group is expecting the issue to be a ‘pivotal’ one in the 2026 Senedd elections.

Pressure

“Today marks a step-up in that pressure and something we intend to bring further into the Senedd," added the spokesperson.

“The pressure is firmly on the MoD to answer the countless urgent questions it’s been refusing and failing to.

"Labour also needs to very seriously heed the public’s calls to reconsider Brawdy as a proposed DARC site, and it needs to show vastly better stewardship of our local area and our wishes.

Support invited

PARC emphasised: "We’re serious about being a campaign that invites support from everyone who is concerned about the impacts of DARC on our landscape, tourism economy, health and our global security.

"We intend to fight tooth and nail - for the long haul and in every conceivable way -  to ensure that our local community’s voice is rightfully heard.

"We invite people to sign our petition, email elected representatives and learn more on our website, www.parcagainstdarc.com."