It was April 2001 when a US Navy EP-3E
made headline news having been forced
to land in China following a mid air collision with a Chinese Navy fighter.
First published in Monitoring Times November 2002.
The EP3 , packed with top secret electronic
monitoring equipment was intercepted by two F8 Finback fighters over the South
China Sea.
As it was being
shadowed one of the Chinese aircraft is thought to have clipped the P-3
causing a major international incident , and thrusting one of the U S Navy’s
most sophisticated aerial platforms
into the spotlight.
You can imagine my disbelief , when just a few months
later I found that I was able to monitor the output from a P-3 turret camera ,
in real time , from the comfort of my own home in north west England
The engine nacelle of a P3 as seen by its own camera.
.
The images were raining down from Telstar 11 , a commercial satellite sitting off the coast of South America.No encryption
method was being used.The pictures were there for all to see revealing the true
potential of the optical systems used on this aircraft as it flew over the
Former Yugoslavia.
From a height of 22,000 feet the camera could
pinpoint a vehicle up to 15 miles down range !
But , there’s more !
Each operational aircraft had its own mission clock
In addition to images from the P-3 , there were also
two other aircraft operating over the
Balkans . A C-12 (Military
derivative of the Beech Huron) based to the north of Sarajevo and
Cessna 337H
“Skymaster” monitoring the Albanian
border further south , the latter being flown by commercial operator “Airscan
Inc” under contract to the Department of Defense.
Read more about the type of aircraft used on the
SpyFlight
website
Star of the show ...a pink pig glove puppet at the contols of the Cessna .Push Pinky's nose to see him in action !
What follows is an account of my efforts to resolve
what appeared to be a major security breach , a journey that would take seven
months to complete.
This amazing discovery came just
two months after the horrific events of September 11 , and whilst troops are
deployed in the Balkans to carry out a peacekeeping role , the world was , and
still is , at war.
This region is known to have been infiltrated by Islamic militants ,
some of which presently languish in the surroundings of Camp Xray.
Terrorists , cross border drug runners , arms smugglers or war criminals
, just what were these surveillance flights monitoring?
Why was this type of
broadcast beaming off a commercial
satellite , in
the clear ? A question I put to
defence analysts.
When I explained what I was seeing , they were stunned!
They talked of “Cluster Ranger” and “Guard Rail” , two types of
classified image/radar mapping systems which the they thought might be in use
here by the C-12 platform.One of the specialists even suggested that the C-12
could be testing a system codename
“Lynx” for later use in UAVs.
Again the question was raised...why in the clear ?
Along side Telstar 11 at 37.5degrees
west sits an old Intelsat bird , now renamed Columbia 515.This satellite
, although quite well inclined , had been assigned to carry military traffic
during the period that the US DoD were having problems with their Tracking and
Data Relay satellite fleet (TDRS) .
It was common knowledge that pressure on the military FleetSatCom
satellites was high due to traffic in and out of Afghanistan.Perhaps this signal was spillage , intended for
Columbia , but put through Telstar in error. The 14 ghz uplink frequencies were
common to both , and at the reception end it would be difficult to distinguish between the two birds as tracking would
no doubt be automatic.
My main concern was that if this was sensitive information , not
only could it be seen here in the UK , but right across Europe , including the
target areas , Kosovo and Macedonia .
.
There was no doubt the signal
carried on the “P-3 Serial Data” channel was the real McCoy .On this aircraft
the camera is situated in a retractable ball turret under the main fuselage,
forward of the nose gear.When target tracking , the images would often show the
tell-tale four engine configuration of the
“Orion”.
P3 Ball turret housing the camera
This was probably a VP-5 aircraft homebased at US Naval Air Station
Sigonella , Sicily , a couple of hundred miles to the south.
My attempts to contact the Naval unit there went unanswered....so too my
correspondence to KFOR HQ Skopje.If anyone knew what was going on , surely they
would !
The weeks passed by , it was December
.The signals continued.
Early one morning I noticed that the P-3 camera was looking at a target
off the port wing tip.There in full
view was what at first looked like a pylon mounted missile.On closer inspection , it had the appearance of an Electronic
Counter Measures pod.
This type of pod would only be carried on special mission aircraft .
Hit the button below to see video from the P3 turret
My concerns were voiced to the UK Ministry of Defence.The information , I was told , had raised a few
eyebrows , enquiries would be made.Military Intelligence had been informed.
No doubt by now , some of you are thinking , why all the fuss , why not
just watch and enjoy ?
Well , if , for some reason this broadcast was mistakenly in the clear ,
then it might put at risk the lives of those US and European forces on the
ground in Macedonia .
My intentions were simple . Make sure the source was aware that the information was unencrypted , and
clarify whether or not the content was of a classified nature.But events would
prove that it wasn’t going to be that easy.
Eventually contact was made with the P-3 unit at Sigonella.By this time
I had identified the missile like object as a Theatre Injection Point , a
device which allowed the Orion to communicate directly with ground stations and
satellites , sending encrypted data and imagery.
In an email reply from the base
tactical unit I was advised... .
"Spoke with my folks who are responsible for
injecting the feed to the satellite.
Unfortunately , due to the hardware purchased for
this use , the system is indeed unencrypted .
It is working as designed , although subject to type
of viewing you are experiencing.
It is a known hardware limitation,and my Chain of
Command is aware of the issue.
Appreciate your interest in persuing this matter.
(Name omitted)
TSC Operations Officer "
So , at last an answer , but it didn't clarify what was going on , nor
did it specify the security level of the signal.
RNZAF P3 on the ground at Fairford 2002.Camera turret can be seen forward of the nose wheel
All this time I had also been trying to follow up another lead.
Along with the transmissions being used for surveillance downlinks ,
were two channels showing US domestic versions of CNN , one of which was
badged "GBS Norfolk Virginia"
Again , a US Navy link . However all attempts to obtain information
about GBS failed., until that is I checked "FAS" , a website run by
the Federation of American Scientists.
FAS has pages and pages of
data on scientific and military
subject matter.
GBS (Global Broadcast Services) it transpires is a Department of Defense
initiative formed in the late 1990s to oversee satellite transmissions targeted
at world-wide military establishments.Their motto ...”Information For The
Warfighter”
GBS areas of operation include signals intelligence SIGINT,tactical information and also the relay of homebased
services (quality of life programming)such as AFTRS and the distribution of
News material , including CNN.
GBS factsheets show the relative security level of their services . The type of broadcast going
through Telstar was , it seemed , classified "secret" and came under
the broad spectrum of air to ground surveillance/UAV video and EP3 SIGINT.
Christmas 2001 , I finally made phone contact with KFOR HQ Skopje.They
were surprised by the situation , but
the matter was beyond their area of responsibility . It was suggested I give Allied Forces South , Naples , a call .
More calls , more unanswered faxes .
January 22 2002 . I phoned US
Naval Air Station Norfolk Virginia ,
they had never heard of GBS..but the female officer on the duty desk didn’t
want to let this one go....although she admitted it was too hot for her to
handle.
After a few minutes discussion with a colleague , and with an air of
uncertainty in her voice she said “Sir , I think you need to talk to this
person ”
...and she gave me the direct call number of the Commander in Chief US Atlantic Command !
I didn’t bother the CIC , but
did put a call into the Pentagon...."Global Broadcast who ?" came the reply . Very strange !
A chance call to RAF Oakhanger , the UK NATO Satellite ground station
was to give me my first real break .
Oakhanger is not your usual RAF Base.From this top secret ground station
British Forces and NATO communicate with the highly classified Skynet fleet of
military satellites.
They had no access to the signal to check it , but did however have a US
Naval Officer serving with them in the unit.The PRO promised to run the details
by him , and was pretty confident that in a day or two I would hear something.
Sure enough a couple of days later I was left a phone message by Gary
Wagner , US Naval Space Command.
Gary tried to be as helpful as he could . He asked me to email him some background information , plus
a list of questions.I explained that this whole issue seemed to be clouded by
the number of departments involved , each one unaware of the others
activities.Typical military compartmentalisation.
"So how come the Pentagon didn’t know where to find GBS " I
asked . We like to keep a low profile , came the dry reply !
Off went the email , accompanied by yet more copies of correspondence.
At last I thought I should get
some answers.
A few more days passed , Gary acknowledged receipt of the mail and said
he would be back in touch.
Unbeknown to me , he had passed the details back into Europe .This time
to the Public Affairs Office , US European Command (EUCOM) , Germany ,
prompting a call form a Lt Colonel there. The US military , through GBS , he explained , had set up a
contract with the operators of the Telstar fleet to distribute information world-wide . This system made
use of military birds and Ku band
transmissions via domestic satellites.
He was not familiar with the specific broadcast on 37 west , but advised
me that what I was seeing was "information" only.
“We are at war " he
reminded me , and asked if I was aware of the difference between
"information" and "military intelligence".
This of course was the whole point of my quest for answers ! What was
information to the casual viewer could quickly become "intelligence"
with a little bit of background research....especially to someone in the target
area.
Unencrypted satellite signals
shower down on anyone within the footprint regardless of their political
affiliations , and this was my very concern.
Eventually I received written confirmation from EUCOM that the
information being broadcast was deemed
“unclassified” . Hallelujah !
To this point it had taken the best part of three months to track down
someone who was prepared to answer that one question.Three months , dozens of
phone calls , emails and faxes.
All along I had been quite open about my concern , and my reluctance to
publish anything until I was sure this was unclassified material.
But the story didnt end there.
I decided to go ahead and put together an article for a popular European
magazine which eventually went to press
mid April 2002 .
Somewhere along the line my investigations had come to the attention of
a Joint Staff member at the Pentagon., and so concerned was I about the content of the magazine
piece that I forwarded the text to him
, prior to publication , perhaps expecting that some of the details would be
censored. but that wasn’t to be.
In due course copies of the
finished article were sent out to the ministry of Defence here in the UK , and
the Pentagon Joint Staff.
Meanwhile the transmissions continued , and by May , two more aerial
platforms had appeared. A pair of
Hunter unmanned drones (UAVs) extending
the theatre of operations to the Pristina region , and splattering the images
from their highly sensitive cameras all over Europe.
Hunter UAV video downlink
Live mission video often showed
quite specific activity. The aircraft type , location etc was
always displayed on screen , regularly
pinpointing the platform and ground
forces to within a few metres using UTM locator co-ordinates.
During some sorties it was apparent that security alerts were in full
swing , with armed troops on the ground being provided with top cover by
missile equiped helicopter gunships
which swept through the field of view below the Cessna.
How could this simply be regarded as unclassified information I
wondered.
It was at this juncture I enlisted the help of well known investigative
journalist and SIGINT expert Duncan Campbell.
Duncan , a member of the Washington based International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists, made some discreet enquiries.
It seemed that the shadowy world of mlitary intelligence was also showing
concern over these broadcasts.
As no-one in the Department of Defense was taking corrective action
following my article we decided to take things a stage further.
And so it was that on June 12 2002 the story featured on the BBC’s
internationally acclaimed evening programme , “Newsnight” , which was
broadcast live , worldwide to an
audience of millions.
BBC Newsnight coverage of the story
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