The SIGINT satellites of Pine Gap

Desmond Ball, Richard Tanter, and I have released another issue of our on-going series on the SIGINT station at Pine Gap, Australia:

"The SIGINT Satellites of Pine Gap: Conception, Development and in Orbit", NAPSNet Special Reports, October 15, 2015. Full text here.

Although we focus on the satellites operated from Pine Gap and cover the Program A SIGINT satellites (Canyon, operated from Bad Aibling, and Chalet/Vortex/Mercury, operated from Menwith Hill) only tangentially, I think this paper will be of interest to anyone looking for information about the history and operations of U.S. geosynchronous signals intelligence satellite programs.

Earlier reports:

- Desmond Ball, Bill Robinson, and Richard Tanter, "The militarisation of Pine Gap: Organisations and Personnel", NAPSNet Special Reports, August 13, 2015;

- Desmond Ball, Bill Robinson, and Richard Tanter, "The Higher Management of Pine Gap", NAPSNet Special Reports, August 17, 2015; and

- Desmond Ball, Bill Robinson, Richard Tanter, and Philip Dorling, "The corporatisation of Pine Gap", NAPSNet Special Reports, June 24, 2015.

More to come!