Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station, Kojarena

Introduction

Note: [Update in progress 23 October 2024]

The Australian Defence Satellite Communications Ground Station is located at Kojarena, 30 km east of Geraldton in Western Australia.

In 2024 the Station hosts three distinct facilities in five separate sectors. One is an Australian intelligence facility intercepting communications downlinked from communications satellites in geostationary orbit above the equator operated by other countries. Two adjacent facilities built in recent years by the United States provide access to satellite communications for US forces worldwide, and to which Australia has been given access by the US. A smaller fourth facility is operated by ADF to provide secure ADF connections to part of the US satellite communications system, and to Australian-owned satellites utilised by the ADF.

The name ‘Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station’ originally applied only to that facility, but now applies to all three facilities.

The US-built MUOS military mobile phone Radio Access Facility and the Wide Band Global SATCOM (WGS) military communications are located adjacent to the north side of the ADSCS central sector, together with a smaller Australian-built ADF Satellite Ground Station.

1. The Australian Defence Satellite Communications Stations monitoring station is operated by the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), and is known by the FVEY codeword of STELLAR. The Kojarena station is part of a worldwide US-auspiced system of satellite communications keyword monitoring known as Echelon operating within the wider UKUSA signals intelligence system.

The Kojarena station is a major Australian Signals Directorate signals interception facility, and is part of a worldwide system of satellite communications keyword monitoring known as Echelon operating within the wider UKUSA signals intelligence system.

In his 1988 study of Australia’s Secret Space Programs, )Canberra: Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, ANU, 1988), Desmond Ball provided an explanation of the primary purpose of the original ADSCS facility, and the rationale for its location on the extreme western edge of the Australian continent, which remain accurate and salient decades later:

‘The general purpose and function of the ADSCS is to monitor communications and other signals transmitted from satellites stationed in geostationary orbits (i.e. approximately 36,000 km altitude) over the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia.

For satellites at this altitude, any site on the Earth’s surface has a line-of-sight extending across some 162.6 degrees of longitude. Hence, a geostationary satellite can be seen from any point on the surface of the Earth which  lies within a circle distance of 81.3 degrees from the sub-satellite point.

‘In practice, however, atmospheric attenuation on the circumference of the circle (or local horizon) limits the effective circle for signal reception to something less than 162.6 degrees. In commercial communications satellite operations, the simple assumption is generally made that the area of attenuation extends across a radius of 10 degrees which gives the circle of effective reception a radius of about 71.45 degrees.

‘In the case of sophisticated intelligence operations, however, employing the most sensitive receiver systems and signal processing techniques, the area of attenuation need not extend across more than 6 degrees at the horizon – giving the circle of effective reception a radius of 75 degrees or a diameter of 150 degrees.

‘A site on the West coast of Australia (i.e. about 115  degrees E longitude) therefore ‘has an effective purview from about 40 degrees E to about 170 degrees W longitude.’ (pp. 41-412)

• The ASD facility is located on the southern and eastern portions of the current site, in three sections, here described as the Eastern, Central, and Southwestern sectors.
• In 2024 the ASD station consisted of fifteen large satellite communications antennas, including eight in radomes (5 m – 38 m. in diameter), and a large number of small uncovered antennas.
• Google Earth images dated September 2022 shows that one 36 m. radome was removed shortly before, revealing a 25 m. antenna.)
• A 10 m. uncovered antenna was installed in the eastern sector in 2018 and a five m. antenna in 2020-21, and three 5 m. antennas were installed in the central sector in 2013-2015.
• The ASD Kojarena station is operated by the ADF’s Australian Signals Directorate.  As of November 2005, the base was staffed by 79 personnel.

See also Echelon and Kojarena below.

ADSCS SATCOM interception station, Kojarena: Eastern, Central, and Southwestern sectors, Google Earth, 11 April 2024

 

 

2. The US Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) Radio Access Facility

The MUOS Kojarena ground station or Radio Access Facility located on the far north of the ADSCS, centres on three 18.4 m. uncovered parabolic antennas connecting to MUOS satellites in geostationary orbit. One of the MUOS satellites is in geostationary orbit at 75 degrees east over the Indian Ocean.

The MUOS system is made up of a space segment – four communications satellites in geosynchronous orbit (with one spare in orbit) – and a worldwide ground segment connected by a ground transport system of 18,000 miles of optical fibre the four radio access facilities (including Kojarena), network management nodes, and satellite control centres.

MUOS terminals – ruggedized military smart phones capable of secure worldwide voice and data links, including internet protocol links to military databanks and computing systems – uplink and downlink to the satellites in Ultra High Frequency (UHF). The satellites link to the Radio Access Facilities by Ka-band links.

 

In 2023 the US magazine SatNow described the key functions of MUOS as follows:

‘MUOS provides global connectivity between MUOS users and access to the Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA) terrestrial voice and Internet Protocol (IP) networks.

‘MUOS provides connectivity to the  DoD Information  Network via a Teleport interface for access to Defense Information Systems Network (DISN), services (SIPRNET, NIPRNET) and Defense Switched Network (DSN).

‘MUOS also provides legacy UHF SATCOM capability with bent-pipe communications mimicking the UHF follow-on satellites.

‘The MUOS satellites are more robust and have more individual carriers, which allow the signals to be focused on a smaller geographic footprint. This enables on-the-move access while improving reliability in vegetation, jungle and urban environments and other extreme conditions where legacy SATCOM was challenged.’

Mike Cagney and Jonas Urbonas, ‘Mobile User Objective System (MUOS)‘,
SatNow, 17 August 2023

The MUOS ground system development was led by General Dynamics, while Lockheed Martin is the prime MUOS system contractor and satellite developer.

 

Note the thick orange lines denote high-capacity fiber optic terrestrial links connecting the Radio Access Facilities and enabling routing of data to either the Defense Information Systems Network (DISN) or to the most appropriate of the four Radio Access Facilities to link to one or more satellites.

 

 

 

The Kojarena MUOS facility is one of four MUOS Radio Access Facilities, with the others being located at Niscemi, Sicily (Naval Air Station Sigonella), Virginia (Northwest location) and Wahiawa, Hawaii (Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Pacific [NCTAMSPAC]).

 

 

 

 

The four operational MUOS satellites (MUOS-1, 2, 3, 4) are located in geosynchronous orbit over the equator, with  MUOS-5 as an in-orbit spare. 

Satellite name	COSPAR ID	Longitude
MUOS 1	2012-009A	99.67 W
MUOS-2	2013-036A	176.91 W
MUOS-3	2015-002A	15.53 W
MUOS-4	2015-044A	74.51 E
MUOS-5	2016-041A	106.95 W

 Source: Jonathan S. McDowell, ‘Geostationary Orbit Catalog: Current orbits’, Jonathan’s Space Home Page, updated 2024 Oct 06 01:40:25, [accessed 8 October 2024]

3. The ADF Satellite Ground Station – West is located immediately south of and adjacent to the MUOS facility, and since 2021-022 has been equipped with 2021-2022 two large antennas 12m+ in diameter, with a vacant third pad, in line south of the MUOS 18 m. antennas. Two smaller (6-7 m.) antennas located between the SGS-W facility and the WGS facility, and may be associated with either, or both.

4. The US-built Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) ground station is located south of the MUOS facility.

Under an agreement initiated in 2007, the Kojarena ADSCS facility was to be expanded under the US-Australia partnership in the Wideband Global SATCOM system, which provides Australian access to the principally US-funded constellation of ten (as of 2024) high capacity global war-fighting communications satellites. Under the agreement, Australia funded the sixth satellite, launched in 2012-13. The first three satellites were launched between 207-2010, and Australia gained operational access by June 2010. These Boeing-built satellites, weighing almost 6 tonnes, are currently in geo-stationary orbit above the Pacific, Indian and eastern Atlantic oceans, and operate in the X-band (7.0 to 11.2 GHz) and Ka-band (26.5–40 GHz) frequency spectrum. The government also purchased 15 year access to a payload on a Intelsat commercial satellite (IS 22) to be positioned in 2012 in geo-stationary orbit at longitude 72º East over the Indian Ocean.

When first constructed in 2009-2010 the WGS Kojarena Ground Station consisted of three uncovered c.19 m. parabolic antennas, and associated facilities, similar to the antenna array at the other ground stations in Italy, Hawaii, and the continental United States,

5. An isolated 10 m. diameter uncovered antenna was installed in 2020-21 outside the ADSCS main compound, 100 m. northwest of the edge of the MUOS sector. In 2024 overhead imagery revealed a considerable expanded perimeter in preparation north and northwest of this antenna.

Note: Material below is derived from a 2014 edition of this page, currently under revision. 

As part of the Australian Defence Satellite Communications Capability (ADSCC) Ground Segment the government announced in 2008 its intention to build a new Satellite Ground Station at the West Australian facility (SGS-W), (to be partnered by an expanded SGS at HMAS Harman, Canberra, as SGS-East) which would have “two X-band Earth Terminals (ETs), a single Ka-band ET and an optional Ku-band”. In August 2011, the government announced “first-pass” approval for the construction both transportable land- and sea-based communciations terminals, a satellite communications management system, and planning for both the upgrading of Kojarena and the establishment of an east coast facility. A 2010 answer to a question in parliament indicated that the government distinguished between a current “interim ground station west capability” and “a long term ground station capability on the Australian west coast.”

Government sources

Australian government

Enhanced Military Satellite Capability (Joint Project 2008 Phase 5B), Minister for Defence and Minister for Defence Materiel – Defence capability projects approved, 30 August 2011.

The Government agreed to first pass approval for Joint Project 2008 Phase 5B – Enhanced Military Satellite Capability. This project will deliver a comprehensive wideband satellite communications capability for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and will take advantage of Australia’s investment in the US Wideband Global Satellite Communications system. Phase 5B will include the delivery of transportable land terminals to equip ADF elements, upgrades for the satellite communications fit on Royal Australian Navy platforms and the establishment of a satellite communications network management system. Funding of $12 million has been approved for first pass to second pass work.  This work includes project development and risk mitigation studies including in relation to the potential upgrade of the Geraldton ground station and a new ground station facility in Eastern Australia. The total cost of Joint Project 2008 Phase 5B is cost capped between $300 million and $500 million in the Public Defence Capability Plan.

Next Generation Satellite Communications System — JP 2008 Phase 4, Electronic Systems, Agency Resources and Planned Performance, Defence Materiel Organisation

Prime Contractor: Boeing via the US Government.

This phase of the project seeks to deliver high-priority components of the next generation satellite communication system supporting the ADF from 2008. The project will address the ADF’s wideband satellite communications requirements by partnering on the US Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) communication system program.

Interim anchoring provides early access to the first block of WGS through a mix of offshore anchoring using US facilities with backhaul to Australia and small capacity in-country anchoring for direct access to WGS satellites viewable from within Australia. The early realisation of space segment capability drives the ability to anchor the satellites and interface into the ADF networks. The FOC of the in-country anchoring capability will occur in late 2010.

The first satellite (WGS1), with a footprint over the Pacific Ocean, has been providing operational capability to Australia since June 2008. The second satellite (WGS2), with a footprint over the Indian Ocean, became operational in August 2009 and is being utilised by the ADF. WGS3, which is not viewable from Australia, was launched in December 2009 and following operational testing was accepted into service in April 2010.

The project is currently participating in the design and delivery of a satellite remote control capability in Australia which is critical to the placement of a satellite. The US remains on track for production of satellites four through six, which will occur in parallel during the coming financial years.

Ultra High Frequency Satellite Communications — JP 2008 Phase 5A, Electronic Systems, Agency Resources and Planned Performance, Defence Materiel Organisation

Prime Contractor: Intelsat LLC.

This phase of the project seeks to deliver an enhanced Ultra High Frequency (UHF) satellite communications capability over the Indian Ocean region. Intelsat LLC has been contracted to include a hosted UHF payload, owned by Defence, on the IS-22 commercial satellite that Intelsat plans to launch to provide commercial pay-TV and data services. IS-22 is scheduled to commence in-orbit operations in mid-2012.

The project will also upgrade the Australian network control system to handle the additional capacity provided by the payload. Intelsat will support the capability for 15 years following in-orbit acceptance by Defence.

The satellite is planned to be operational in mid-2012 and will work with existing ADF UHF terminals. The contract has been signed with Intelsat and includes the delivery of the payload and 15 years of support. An upgrade is planned to ground infrastructure to support the increased capacity provided by the payload beyond that currently available to the ADF.

The key activity during 2010-11 will be the completion of the design of the satellite and hosted payload culminating in the critical design review. The contractor will then commence production and integration of the satellite.

Ultra High Frequency Satellite Communications – JP 2008 Phase 5A, Projects, Defence Materiel Organisation, May 2011

Prime Contractor: Intelsat LLC.

This phase of the project seeks to deliver an enhanced Ultra High Frequency (UHF) satellite communications capability over the Indian Ocean region. Intelsat LLC has been contracted to include a hosted UHF payload, owned by Defence, on the IS-22 commercial satellite. The IS-22 satellite will be launched in mid-2012, providing commercial pay-TV and UHF data services.

The project will also upgrade the Australian network control system to handle the additional capacity provided by the payload available to the ADF. Intelsat LLC will support the capability for 15 years following in-orbit acceptance by Defence.

The key activity during 2011-12 will be the completion of the satellite and hosted payload, culminating in launch and In Orbit Testing by mid 2012. This outcome will provide the majority of the capability to be delivered by the project.

Next Generation Satellite Communications System – 
JP 2008 Phase 4, Projects, Defence Materiel Organisation, May 2011

Prime Contractor: Boeing through a FMS case with the US Government.

During 2011-12 the Evolution 2 business case will be progressed for consideration by Government planned for the third quarter of 2011. Evolution 2 will add additional capability elements of a HQ Joint Operations Command Preparedness Management Information System, improvements to Situational Awareness, further enhancements to the JPS and provision of a Special Operations Combat Net Radio Interface.

The project is currently participating in the design and delivery of a satellite remote control capability in Australia, which is critical to the placement of a satellite. The US remains on track for production of satellites four through six during the coming financial years and, given the project’s positive track record, the likelihood of successful launches is good.

During 2011-12 the key major activities planned include:

• establishment of the WGS control system in Australia
• completion of the detailed design for the WGS 6 launch rocket
• transition of WGS 4 into operational service
• transition of the Western and Eastern interim anchoring stations into operational service.

SGS RFT Overview, Request for Tender 20070223AGSRFT, JP2008 Phase 3F – ADF Satcom Capability Terrestrial Upgrade, Projects, Defence Materiel Organisation, 5 November 2008

The Department of Defence through the Defence Materiel Organisation is seeking to procure an additional Satellite Ground Station near Geraldton, Western Australia (SGS-W), as part of an overarching contract for the support of the entire Australian Defence Satellite Communications Capability (ADSCC) Ground Segment. This Request for Tender will cover the provision, commission, and support of the expanded ADSCC Ground Segment through its Life of Type, and as a consequence will:

•    deliver a new Satellite Ground Station near Geraldton in Western Australia (SGS-W), fitted with two X-band Earth Terminals (ETs), a single Ka-band ET and an optional Ku-band ET;

•    upgrade elements within the Satellite Ground Station located at HMAS HARMAN (SGS-E) to meet the performance potential of the new SGS-W;

•    upgrade the Ground Segment Operations Centre (GSOC) and Backup GSOC (BGSOC) (formerly DPOCC/BDPOCC) to support the integration of the SGS-W into the ADSCC Ground Segment; and

•    deliver a performance-based, through-life support arrangement for the ADSCC Ground Segment, which includes SGS-W as a fully integrated sub-segment.

Australia and United States Defence Satellite Communications Cooperation at Geraldton, Department of Defence, 2008-07-21

Construction activity is expected to commence on a joint Australian and United States defence satellite communications ground station at the Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station (ADSCS) Geraldton in 2008. The station will support the US Navy’s Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), which is a satellite-based mobile phone network designed to support US, Australian and allied military users.

Doorstop, Sydney, Brendan Nelson, Minister for Defence, 3 October 2007

Australia will be going into a $927 million satellite wideband global system with the United States. We have made the decision that in terms of capability, coverage, flexibility and value for money, that for the next 16 years or more the Defence Force’s best prospects are to go with the US.

This will give us coverage right throughout the world. It will enable our Australian Defence Force to grow, it will also connect not only our ships, aircraft and land-based forces but give our deployed men and women increased capability to communicate with their loved ones back in Australia.

The first satellite we expect to be launched this month and Australia will be buying into the sixth satellite that will be made by Boeing. Once this has gone through the US Congress I will be signing a memorandum of understanding with the United States and the Government is extremely confident that this will provide Australian defence men and women with the bandwidth that we require. It will also give us the beams and power which is necessary for our deployed platforms and our deployed troops.

This is very important because Australia is going into a constellation of six satellites with the United States and what that means is that if there is a failure of one satellite Australia will then be able to use about 10 per cent of the capacity that we’re buying into across the other five satellites.

If we were, on the other hand, to acquire a single satellite through a commercial operation, well, then we would be facing failure if there was some failure of that single satellite. By going into a constellation of six satellites it means that in the unlikely event that there were satellite failure, Australia would still have more  than the coverage that it needs for its defence forces in wideband global systems.

Essentially we get the security of working with the United States, we get the confidence of the US military experience with satellites and we also know that if we do have failure of one of the six satellites that we will continue to be covered through the other five. This is a win-win for Australia, it’s a win-win for the Australia-US alliance and it also means that our capability, flexibility and security is greatly enhanced for the next decade and beyond.

Very shortly I will be signing the contract for the three air warfare destroyers that we’re building in Adelaide, South Australia. We’ll shortly sign the contracts for two 27,000 ton amphibious ships, larger than the last aircraft carrier that we had.

What it will enable us to do is to connect those ships to our Super Hornets, our Joint Strike Fighters, our Abrams tanks and our military operations in land, across the region and across the world.

What it means is that we’ll have no problems with connectivity, we’ll be able to conduct as many operations as we need to do in different parts of the world simultaneously, and ensure good free secure communications between our military platforms, their commanders and also Aussie diggers back to their families in Australia.

MOU Signed For Australia-US Joint Military Communications Ground Station, Department of Defence, Media Release, 8 November 2007.

The Australian Department of Defence and the US Navy have now signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which sets out the governing arrangements for a joint military communications ground station near Geraldton, Western Australia. The joint ground station will support the US Navy’s Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), which is a satellite-based mobile phone network designed to support US and Australian military users, including deployed forces. Works are expected to commence in early 2008 and the joint ground station is scheduled to become operational in March 2010.

Australia-US Joint Communications Facility To Be Hosted At Geraldton, Brendan Nelson, Minister for Defence, Media Release, 15 February 2007.

“The Government has agreed to host a ground station for a US strategic and military satellite communications system at the Australian Defence Satellite Communication Station (ADSCS) located at Geraldton in Western Australia.  The new ground station will be sited within the grounds of ADSCS but will be unrelated to the existing activities of ADSCS which will remain under separate Australian control.

“The ground station will form part of the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS). MUOS, in simple terms, will be a satellite-based mobile phone network. MUOS will support US and Australian users, including deployed forces. The ground station at Geraldton will comprise three small buildings housing the electronic infrastructure, power and spares, three 18 metre satellite dishes and two smaller antenna covering an area of approximately 12,000 square metres or less than the size of two and a half rugby fields. Once complete, it will be unmanned requiring only call-out contractor maintenance support.”

Parliamentary questions and debates

Question No. 110, Questions on Notice – Defence Capabiity Plan, 22 November 2010

Senator Johnston asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence upon notice, on 28 September 2010:

Given that video communications are integrated into robots, soldiers and unmanned aerial vehicles, network centric warfare is becoming the organising principle of war fighting, and frontline demands for bandwidth are rising at a rapid rate, for the period 1 January to 30 Jun 2010, what did the Australian Defence Force do and how much did it spend on:

(a)   establishing a network centric warfare capability; and

(b)   addressing the issue of increased bandwidth.

Senator Chris Evans (Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations) The Minister for Defence has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:

b)   The requirement to meet frontline demands for increased bandwidth is being addressed through various projects to acquire satellite capabilities and enhanced tactical networks, including data link communications for Australian Defence Force elements and weapon systems. On the specific matter of increasing satellite bandwidth, Defence was engaged in the following activities from 1 January to 30 June 2010:

(i)   Defence successfully certified the interim ground station west capability on the Australian west coast to provide access to the Wideband Global SATCOM system.

(ii)   Defence continued milestone payments for the sixth Wideband Global SATCOM satellite.

(iii)   Defence continues the development of a long term ground station capability on the Australian west coast.

(iv)   Defence completed the wideband SATCOM terminals in Major Fleet Units in 2009 and has continued to develop the ashore support infrastructure and land based variants.

(v)   Defence continued the acquisition of an Ultra High Frequency payload on an IS-22 commercial satellite over the Indian Ocean Region, which will become operational in 2012.

(vi)   Defence has signed a Memorandum of Understanding which allows for the sharing of Ultra High Frequency SATCOM capacity with the United States.

(vii)   Defence updated its leasing costs with INMARSAT in Feb 2010 with an annual increase in costs of $0.14 million.

(viii)   The total cost of increasing satellite bandwidth within the period was $107.5 million.

(ix)   Consumer Price Index increases in ongoing Defence spectrum license costs plus new apparatus spectrum licenses amount to an increase of $0.22 million.

Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station, (Question No. 2326), Questions in Writing, House of Representatives, Parliament of Australia, 5 November 2005.

Mr Melham (Banks) asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, in writing, on 7 September 2005:

(1) How many personnel currently work at the Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station (ADSCS) in Geraldton, Western Australia.

(2) How many ADSCS personnel are (a) Australian Department of Defence personnel, (b) Australian Defence Force personnel, (c) employees of Australian contractors, and (d) any other personnel.

(3) Which private contractors provide personnel or deliver services at the ADSCS.

(4) What was the cost to the Government of running the ADSCS for each financial year since 1996-1997.

(5) Since March 1996, have any Federal and State Members of Parliament (a) visited the ADSCS and (b) received classified briefings on the functions of the station; if so, which Members and when did the visits and briefings take place.

(6) How many radomes and satellite antenna are located at the ADSCS.

(7) What functions are performed by the ADSCS.

Answer: Mrs De-Anne Kelly (Dawson—Minister for Veterans’ Affairs)—The Minister for Defence has provided the following answer to the honourable member’s question:

(1) 79.

(2) Detailed staffing information regarding the operation of ADSCS is classified. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on ASIO, ASIS, and DSD conducts a review of the annual financial and administrative aspects of DSD’s operations. This review includes details of the staff and budget for ADSCS.

(3) L3comm (ESSCO) is contracted to provide antenna radome maintenance. Boeing Australia is also contracted to provide services at ADSCS, some of which are fulfilled by the following private sub-contractors:

Raytheon Australia Pty Ltd; Barclay’s Pest Control; Delron Cleaning; Geraldton Electrical Company; Lincolne Scott Australia Pty Ltd; National Oils; Collex Waste Removals; Midwest Business Services; Geraldton Extinguisher Services; Drager Australia; Western Power Fleet Services; and Testing and Commissioning Services.

(4) Detailed financial information regarding the operation of ADSCS is classified.

(5) The following Federal and State Members of Parliament visited ADSCS since 1996 and received briefings as indicated:

(a) 26 March 1996: The Hon Ian McLachlan AO MP, Minister for Defence, received a classified briefing.

(b) 18 November 1998: The Hon John Moore MP, Minister for Defence, received a classified briefing.

(c) 10 September 2002: Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade: The Hon David Jull MP, the Hon Kim Beazley MP, the Hon Leo McLeay MP, Senator Sandy McDonald, received a classified briefing.

(d) 5 October 2002: Senator the Hon Robert Hill, Minister for Defence, received a classified briefing.

(e) 13 July 2003: The Hon Danna Vale MP, Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence, the Hon Wilson Tuckey MP, Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government, received a classified briefing.

(f) 11 June 2004: Senator the Hon Chris Ellison, Minister for Justice, received a classified briefing.

(6) 5 radomes and 8 satellite antennas.

(7) The station is managed by the DSD and is operated in cooperation with other parts of the Department of Defence. The operational details of the facility are classified.

Kojarena Satellite Ground Station – Expanded Function: Motion, Hon. Giz Watson, (North Metropolitan), Hansard, Parliament of Western Australia, 19 September 2007.

Wideband Global SATCOM system

Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) Satellite, USA, Aerospace Technology.com

The WGS system enhances the DoD’s communication services currently provided by the defence satellite communications system (DSCS) satellites and the global broadcast system (GBS) operating at ultra high frequency (UHF). The system provides two-way X-band and Ka-band communications, as well as Ka-band broadcast services 24 hours to US armed forces and other allied forces worldwide. The X-band satellites transfer data, photos and videos to troops on the battlefield.

The WGS satellite communication system has six satellites divided into two blocks. Block I contains WGS-1, WGS-2 and WGS-3 satellites, while block II satellites include WGS-4, WGS-5 and WGS-6. The block II satellites WGS-4, WGS-5 and WGS-6 are expected to be launched in 2011, 2012 and 2013. They are being developed to meet the bandwidth requirements of warfighters thereby providing information exchange; enabling execution of tactical command and control, communications, and computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR); battle management and combat support information.The terminal segment refers to the users of the communication services provided by the WGS system. The users of the WGS system include the Australian Defence Force and the US Army ground mobile terminals, US Navy ships and submarines, national command authorities for the nuclear forces, and various national security / allied national forces.

The satellite operators come under the control segment. The 3rd Space Operations Squadron (SOPS) located at Schriever AFB, Colorado, manages bus commanding of the DSCS constellation. Payload commanding and network control are managed by the army’s 53rd Signal Battalion at Peterson AFB, Colorado, with subordinate elements at seven locations. WGS-2 is operated by 3rd SOPS at 50th Space Wing, Schriever AFB, under the operational command of JFCC SPACE at Vandenberg.

Capacity

WGS system provides 4.875GHz instantaneous switchable bandwidth. Around 500MHz of X-band and 1GHz Ka-band spectrum is allocated to WGS. Based on the mix of ground terminals, data rates and modulation schemes employed, each satellite of WGS system provides 2.1Gbps to 3.6Gbps of data transmission rates. Each WGS system has the capacity to supply ten times faster data transmission rates compared to DSCS service life enhancement programme (SLEP) satellite.

Connectivity

The breakage of uplink bandwidth into approximately 1,900 independently routable 2.6MHz subchannels by digital channeliser has increased the connectivity between uplink and downlink coverage area. The X and Ka bands are interconnected through digital channeliser and provide better connectivity in WGS. The digital channeliser also offers multicast and broadcast services to support the network protocol.

Australian Defence Force to get dedicated UHF payload on Intelsat 22 satellite, Stuart Corner,iTWire, 27 April 2009

Intelsat will arrange for the construction and integration of the UHF payload with its Intelsat 22 satellite, due for launch in 2012 and is expected to operate the ADF payload and provide related services for 15 years following the launch. Intelsat 22 will be built by Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems and will have 48 C-band and 24 Ku-band 36 MHz equivalent transponders, plus a UHF payload with eighteen 25-kHz channels. According to Intelsat The UHF band is widely deployed for military satellite communications because of its adaptability to small, mobile terminals used by ground, sea and air forces. The ADF is purchasing part of the UHF payload and has an option to purchase the remainder. It will be compliant with US Department of Defense Mil-Std-188-181 and Volna Treaty (Russian) requirements for interoperability. Intelsat 22 will be positioned at 72º East longitude, over the Indian Ocean region, providing a footprint that Intelsat say is well suited to the communications needs of the Australian military.

Echelon and Kojarena

Nicky Hager, Secret Power:  New Zealand’s Role in the International Spy Network, Craig Potton, Nelson, New Zealand, 1996, chapter 2.

Careful, they might hear you, Duncan Campbell, The Age, 23 May 23 1999.

“Australia has become the first country openly to admit that it takes part in a global electronic surveillance system that intercepts the private and commercial international communications of citizens and companies from its own and other countries. The disclosure is made today in Channel 9’s Sunday program by Martin Brady, director of the Defence Signals Directorate in Canberra. Mr Brady’s decision to break ranks and officially admit the existence of a hitherto unacknowledged spying organisation called UKUSA is likely to irritate his British and American counterparts, who have spent the past 50 years trying to prevent their own citizens from learning anything about them or their business of ‘signals intelligence’ – ‘sigint’ for short.

In his letter to Channel 9 published today, Mr Brady states that the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) ‘does cooperate with counterpart signals intelligence organisations overseas under the UKUSA relationship’. Together with the giant American National Security Agency (NSA) and its Canadian, British, and New Zealand counterparts, DSD operates a network of giant, highly automated tracking stations that illicitly pick up commercial satellite communications and examine every fax, telex, e-mail, phone call, or computer data message that the satellites carry.

The five signals intelligence agencies form the UKUSA pact. They are bound together by a secret agreement signed in 1947 or 1948. Although its precise terms have never been revealed, the UKUSA agreement provides for sharing facilities, staff, methods, tasks and product between the participating governments.

Now, due to a fast-growing UKUSA system called Echelon, millions of messages are automatically intercepted every hour, and checked according to criteria supplied by intelligence agencies and governments in all five UKUSA countries. The intercepted signals are passed through a computer system called the Dictionary, which checks each new message or call against thousands of ‘collection’ requirements. The Dictionaries then send the messages into the spy agencies’ equivalent of the Internet, making them accessible all over the world.

Australia’s main contribution to this system is an ultra-modern intelligence base at Kojarena, near Geraldton in Western Australia. The station was built in the early 1990s. At Kojarena, four satellite tracking dishes intercept Indian and Pacific Ocean communications satellites. The exact target of each dish is concealed by placing them inside golfball like ‘radomes’.”

“About 80 per cent of the messages intercepted at Kojarena are sent automatically from its Dictionary computer to the CIA or the NSA, without ever being seen or read in Australia. Although it is under Australian command, the station – like its controversial counterpart at Pine Gap – employs American and British staff in key posts.”

“Among the ‘collection requirements’ that the Kojarena Dictionary is told to look for are North Korean economic, diplomatic and military messages and data, Japanese trade ministry plans, and Pakistani developments in nuclear weapons technology and testing. In return, Australia can ask for information collected at other Echelon stations to be sent to Canberra.”

Inside Echelon, Duncan Campbell, Telepolis, 25 July 2000.

Interception Capabilities 2000, Duncan Campbell, Report to the Director General for Research of the European Parliament (Scientific and Technical Options Assessment programme office) on the development of surveillance technology and risk of abuse of economic information, April 1999.

Desperately Seeking Signals, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March-April 2000.

“The Echelon system that [Nicky] Hager describes links together computers, known as ‘dictionaries’ at UKUSA ground stations. hose computers contain, for each of the cooperating agencies, a list of keywords whose appearance in any intercepted message makes the message an item of interest to the agency.”

“Before Echelon appeared in the 1970s, the agencies shared intelligence, but they usually processed and analyzed the intercepted communications. As a result, most exchanges involved finished reports rather than raw intercepts. Echelon on the other hand is an integrated network that allows the agencies to specify which intercepts are of interest and to receive them automatically via computer.”

“Australia operates a more extensive intercept facility at Geraldton in Western Australia. When Geraldton opened in 1993 it had four intercept dishes targeted on INTELSATs orbiting above the Indian Ocean and [the] Pacific. Among the keywords in the Geraldton dictionary are ones relating to North Korea’s economic, diplomatic and military situation, Japanese trade ministry plans, and developments in Pakistani nuclear weapons technology.”

See also

• Joint Australian-US Defence Facility – Pine Gap, Australian Forces Abroad
• Bibliography – Joint Defence Facility, Pine Gap, Australian Defence Facilities.
• Australian-US intelligence – Afghanistan and Iraq, Australia in Afghanistan
• Canadian SIGINT and Afghanistan, Australia in Afghanistan
• Australian intelligence organisations, Australian Forces Abroad