It was a Second World War and later Cold War Ground Controlled Interception (GCI) station built to complement the nearby Chain Home station at RAF Pevensey.

With the threat of attack using nuclear weapons the station was used as part of the ROTOR air defence radar system and a protected underground operations rooms was built at Wartling.

In 1956 a new Decca AMES Type 80 search radar was installed to replace the earlier equipment.

In 1959 it supplied the last known radar trace to accident investigators following the fatal crash of the prototype Handley Page Victor B.2 serial number XH668.

When other Master Radar Stations were modernised in the 1960s Wartling went out of use and finally closed on 3 December 1964.