Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station

Coordinates: 28°41′42″S 114°50′32″E / 28.69500°S 114.84222°E / -28.69500; 114.84222 The Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station (ADSCS) is located at Kojarena, 30 km (19 mi) east of Geraldton, Western Australia. The ADSCS is part of the US signals intelligence and analysis network ECHELON.[1][2]

The station has four satellite tracking dishes which intercept communications from Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Pakistani regional satellites[3] and international communications satellites (INTELSATs and COMSATs), throughout the Indian Ocean and South-East Asian regions. Staff are drawn from the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), and the site is operated under the UKUSA Agreement.[4]

In 2007, it was announced that an additional but separate US military communications facility would be built within the grounds of the ADSCGS. It will consist of three 19 m (62 ft) antennas and two smaller antennas making up a joint US-Australian ground station for the US Department of Defense Mobile User Objective System, a narrow-band networked satellite constellation for Ultra-High-Frequency satellite communications enabling secure all-weather and all-terrain 3-G mobile telecommunications.[5][6][7]

References

  1. ↑ "Tracking down the masters of terror". The Age. 17 March 2003. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  2. ↑ Adshead, Gary (10 June 2001). "Secret WA spy base". The Sunday Times (Perth). p. 20.
  3. ↑ Interception of satellite communications Ing Manuel Cereijo, 29 May 2006 The Cuban American National Federation archived version
  4. ↑ "ECHELON Main Stations". World-Information.Org. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
  5. ↑ "Australia-US Joint Communications Facility To Be Hosted At Geraldton" (Press release). Brendan Nelson, Minister for Defence. 2007-02-15. Retrieved 2011-08-11.
  6. ↑ "MOU Signed For Australia-US Joint Military Communications Ground Station" (Press release). Department of Defence. 2007-11-08. Retrieved 2011-08-11.
  7. ↑ "Australian and United States Defence Satellite Cooperation at Geraldton" (Press release). Department of Defence. 2008-07-21. Archived from the original on 2013-07-28. Retrieved 2011-08-11.

External links

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