The systems used by the US SIGINT agencies are myriad and include the following:
- more than a hundred SIGINT ground stations, ranging from small unmanned sites which relay the intercepted SIGINT to “parent” processing stations, to large stations involving more than 1000 personnel, and operating systems such as the AN/FLR-9 CDAAs at Misawa and Hanza in Japan, Augsburg in Germany and Chicksands in the United Kingdom.
- Special Collection Elements (SCEs) operating in some forty-five US embassies and consulates around the world, including those in Moscow and most of the East European capitals.
- SIGINT satellites, such as those generally known as Vortex and Magnum and ELINT Ocean Surveillance Satellites known as White Cloud.
- airborne SIGINT systems, such as those installed on U-2 and RC-135 Rivetjoint aircraft for strategic SIGINT collection; and the EC-130H Compass Call, C-130 Senior Warrior, RC-12D Guardrail, and OU-1D and RU-1D Mohawk aircraft for tactical SIGINT operations.
- ship-borne SIGINT systems, such as the Classic Outboard (AN/SSQ-72) HF-DF system, which consists of hull- and mast-mounted antenna arrays, the AN/SRD-19 Diamond HF and VHF DF system, and the AN/SLR-16 COMINT system, and which is deployed on some 24 US guided missile frigates, destroyers and cruisers.
- submarine-borne systems, such as those used in the Barnacle and Prairie Schooner programmes.
- US Army ground-mobile AN/MSQ-103 Teampack, AN/TSQ-109 AGTELIS, AN/TSQ-109 TACELIS and AN/TSQ-114 Trailblazer tactical or battlefield support SIGINT systems.
A US Navy CDAA site in Guam.
another shot of Sabana Seca.
A circularly disposed antenna array (CDAA) in Sabana Seca Station, a US Naval Security Group Activity site.
A Marine direction-finding equipment operator in Vietnam.
“Area 3D, Kazakhstan. Built in in 1956 as a ground station to track Sputnik, the first manned satellite, it became one of the most sophisticated Soviet bases for space observation, providing satellite control and space surveillance facilities.
From left to right are station ‘Kube-Kontur’, other destroyed radars, and station MA-9MKTM-1 ‘Romashka’.”
KW-7 Orestes Crypto (via brewbooks)
Letter and number groups from the decoded British Merchant Marine Code.
On May 24, 1844, the message “What hath God wrought” was sent by telegraph from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad “outer depot” in Baltimore, Maryland, a new era in long-distance communications had begun. By the 1860’s the telegraph revolution was in full swing and telegraph operators were a valuable resource. With experience, each operator developed their unique “signature” and was able to be identified simply by their tapping rhythm. As late as World War II the military transmitted messages through Morse Code. Using a methodology called “The Fist of the Sender,” Military Intelligence identified that an individual had a unique way of keying in a message’s “dots” and “dashes,” creating a rhythm that could help distinguish ally from enemy.
“Out of the 20 Atlantics, five were converted during 1969 and 1970 into SIGINT (SIGnals INTelligence) aircraft, speciallized in electronic reconnaissance of hostile radar systems and communications of what used to be the Eastern Bloc. Under the code name of Peace Peek, the conversions were done by E-systems in the United States. Today, three of these machines survive, among them 61+06 depicted left. One of these has already been scrapped, the other has been broken up for spares. They can easily be distinguished by their differing radome under the fuselage. The SIGINT machines proved especially useful during the NATO operations around Kosovo during 1999. It may be that the SIGINT Atlantics will be replaced with a variant of the Northrop-Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV, if funds can be found.”
