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Four Minute WarningThe four minute warning was conceived by the British Government during the Cold War. It was the approximate time in which an air attack against the United Kingdom could be confirmed and the population notified by means of air raid sirens, television and radio. In practice the warning was more likely to be under three minutes. The warning would be initiated by the detection of inbound missiles targeted at the United Kingdom. In the early 1960s this would be provided primarily by the RAF BMEWS station at Fylingdales in North Yorkshire. There powerful radars would track the inbound missiles and warheads and allow confirmation of targets. In later years the first indication of any imminent attack would like come from infra red detectors aboard the United States Defense Support Program (DSP's) satellites. Though BMEWS would still play an important role in tracking and confirming the destination of any launches. It was the responsibility of the United Kingdom Regional Air Operations Centre (UK RAOC) to alert the nation to a imminent air attack. Once an alert was initiated the national and local television and radio networks would break into transmissions and broadcast a government warning message (parodied by the band Franky Goes to Hollywood with "Two Tribes" and contained in the films, Threads and When the Wind Blows). Simultaneously the national air raid siren system would be brought into service. A clever system was employed for this whereby a key switch activation alerted 250 national Carrier Control Points or CCP's present in police stations across the country. In turn the CCP's would, via a signal carried along ordinary phone lines, cause 7000 powered sirens to start their well known howl. In rural areas around 11000 hand powered sirens would be operated. The national warning system saw many changes over the years. During the 1960s and 1970s it like most civil defence planning in the United Kingdom fell into diservice. In the late 1970s and early 1980s heightened fears and tensions led to a resumption of contingency planning and the upgrading of many systems. However with the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s and early 1990s the national siren system was largely dismantled. The British Government cited the increasing use of double glazing and the reduced likelihood of air attack as reason. The national siren system had always retained a secondary role of "general warning", particularly for imminent flooding. However a phone based system was found to be generally more appropriate in this scenario and of course cheaper. Additionally the Government retains an ability to break into local and national television and radio for purposes of alerting the general public.
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