• Home
    • Document Archive
    • Case File Database
    • Discussion Forums
  • FOIA Documents
    • Government
      • Congressional & Senatorial Correspondence
      • Controversies
        • Conspiracy Discussion Forum
      • Elections
      • Government Accountability & I.G. Reports
      • Government Employee Manuals / Orientation
      • Politician Public Financial Disclosure Statements
      • TV Show Complaints
      • U.S. Financial Information
      • U.S. Politics Discussion Forum
      • Discussion Forums
    • History
      • Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Collection
      • Department of Defense Collection
      • Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Collection
      • J.F.K. Era
      • National Security Agency (NSA) Collection
      • Office of Technology Assessment Collection
      • Richard Helms Collection
      • Discussion Forums
    • Intelligence
      • Cryptology
      • FBI Files / Domestic & Foreign Intelligence
      • Field Manuals
      • Freedom of Information Act / Research Tools
      • Spy Satellites and the NRO
      • Discussion Forums
    • Military / Defense
      • Advanced “For Its Time” Technology
      • Aircraft / Air Force History
        • Bombers
        • Cargo
        • E”X”perimental
        • Fighters
        • Foreign
        • Reconnaissance
        • Spy Planes
        • Stealth
      • Biological / Chemical Weapons
      • Defense Issues
      • Military and Commercial Accidents
      • Nuclear Weapons
      • Psychological Operations
      • Terrorism
        • Assassination Attempts
        • September 11th, 2001
      • Weapons
      • Discussion Forums
    • Science
      • Disease and Human Health
      • Environmental Issues
      • Space
      • Discussion Forums
    • The Fringe
      • Cloning
      • Mind Control
      • New World Order
      • Parapsychology
      • Remote Viewing
      • UFO Phenomena
        • UFO Discussion Forum
      • Weather / Weather Modification
      • Discussion Forums
    • Wartime
      • World War I
      • World War II
      • Vietnam Era
      • Cold War Era
      • Iraq Wars
      • Afghanistan War
      • War on Terror Discussion Forum
  • Paranormal Case Files
  • Community
    • Facebook Group
    • Chat
      • Discord Server
  • Podcast
  • Contact
    • Update Newsletter
  • Shop
    • Books
    • T-Shirts
    • Account details
  • Donate
Facebook Twitter YouTube
Trending
  • Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby Asked About Unidentified Objects Underwater, May 17, 2022
  • FAA Confirmed UFO Sighting April 22, 2022, by LXJ359 over Kessel, West Virginia
  • Whistleblower Reprisal Investigation: Colonel Yevgeny S. Vindman, U.S. Army (DODIG-2022-097)
  • UAP Hearing Visuals Officially Released by the DoD – Download Them Here
  • Watch LIVE the Open C3 Subcommittee Hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, May 17, 2022, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern / 6:00 a.m. Pacific
  • NASA UAP / UFO Related Internal Communications
  • Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby on the AOIMSG & Upcoming Congressional UFOs Hearing, 5/10/22
  • FBI Files: The Paranormal Collection
Facebook Twitter YouTube
The Black Vault
  • Home
    • Document Archive
    • Case File Database
    • Discussion Forums
  • FOIA Documents
    • Government
      • Congressional & Senatorial Correspondence
      • Controversies
        • Conspiracy Discussion Forum
      • Elections
      • Government Accountability & I.G. Reports
      • Government Employee Manuals / Orientation
      • Politician Public Financial Disclosure Statements
      • TV Show Complaints
      • U.S. Financial Information
      • U.S. Politics Discussion Forum
      • Discussion Forums
    • History
      • Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Collection
      • Department of Defense Collection
      • Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Collection
      • J.F.K. Era
      • National Security Agency (NSA) Collection
      • Office of Technology Assessment Collection
      • Richard Helms Collection
      • Discussion Forums
    • Intelligence
      • Cryptology
      • FBI Files / Domestic & Foreign Intelligence
      • Field Manuals
      • Freedom of Information Act / Research Tools
      • Spy Satellites and the NRO
      • Discussion Forums
    • Military / Defense
      • Advanced “For Its Time” Technology
      • Aircraft / Air Force History
        • Bombers
        • Cargo
        • E”X”perimental
        • Fighters
        • Foreign
        • Reconnaissance
        • Spy Planes
        • Stealth
      • Biological / Chemical Weapons
      • Defense Issues
      • Military and Commercial Accidents
      • Nuclear Weapons
      • Psychological Operations
      • Terrorism
        • Assassination Attempts
        • September 11th, 2001
      • Weapons
      • Discussion Forums
    • Science
      • Disease and Human Health
      • Environmental Issues
      • Space
      • Discussion Forums
    • The Fringe
      • Cloning
      • Mind Control
      • New World Order
      • Parapsychology
      • Remote Viewing
      • UFO Phenomena
        • UFO Discussion Forum
      • Weather / Weather Modification
      • Discussion Forums
    • Wartime
      • World War I
      • World War II
      • Vietnam Era
      • Cold War Era
      • Iraq Wars
      • Afghanistan War
      • War on Terror Discussion Forum
  • Paranormal Case Files
  • Community
    • Facebook Group
    • Chat
      • Discord Server
  • Podcast
  • Contact
    • Update Newsletter
  • Shop
    • Books
    • T-Shirts
    • Account details
  • Donate
0 Shopping Cart
The Black Vault
Home » Intelligence » U.S. Navy/NRO Program C Electronic Intelligence Satellites (1958-1977)
Intelligence

U.S. Navy/NRO Program C Electronic Intelligence Satellites (1958-1977)

John GreenewaldBy John GreenewaldNovember 19, 2020No Comments4 Mins Read

Background

According to the Executive Summary of the document:

A U.S. Navy ELINT satellite system became operational in July 1960 and was operated until August 1962. The mission was to obtain information on Soviet air defense radars that could not be observed by Air Force and Navy ferret aircraft flying ELINT missions along accessible borders in Europe and the western Pacific. 

The system was proposed by the Naval Research Laboratory in the spring of 1958. In parallel with exploratory development by the NRL, the Office of Naval Intelligence obtained endorsements of Project Tattletale from elements of the executive and legislative branches. With positive recommendations from State, Defense, and CIA, President Eisenhower approved full development on 24 August 1959. By then, the project had been placed under a limited distribution security control system (Canes) with access limited to fewer than two hundred people in the Washington D.C. area . Development and interagency coordination proceeded as the GRAB (Galactic Radiation and Background) experiment .

After NRL completed development of the GRAB satellite and a network of overseas ground collection sites, a first launch was approved by Eisenhower on 5 May 1960, just four days after a CIA U- 2 aircraft was lost on a reconnaissance mission over Soviet territory . The GRAB satellite got a free ride into space on 22 June 1960 with Navy’s third Transit navigation satellite . GRAB carried two electronic payloads, the classified ELINT package and instrumentation to measure solar radiation. The SolRad experiment was publicly disclosed in DoD press releases on this and subsequent launches . The cost to achieve an initial operating capability was $ 1.1M, about the price of a single U-2 aircraft. Four more launches were attempted , one of them successfully on 29 June 1961. Total cost of the program was $7.6M.

The Director of Naval Intelligence exercised overall control. Field sites were operated by elements of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and CIA. Data recorded on magnetic tape was couriered back to the NRL. Tapes were evaluated , duplicated , and forwarded to the NSA at Army Fort Meade, Maryland, and the Strategic Air Command at Offut Air Force Base Omaha, Nebraska, for analysis and processing. In searching the tapes for new and unusual signals, NSA found that the Soviets were already operating a radar that supported a capability to destroy ballistic missiles. SAC’s processing was aimed at building the SIOP (single integrated operations plan ), a responsibility of the Joint Strategic Targeting Staff at Offutt AFB.

Shortly after the NRO was officially established as an operating agency of the DoD, the Navy ELINT satellite project and its multi-agency infrastructure were assimilated in the NRP as Program C (Navy) in July 1962. The GRAB successor, two-ball POPPY 1 / Mission 7101 , was launched five months later and was followed , in the next nine years, by six more launches of three or four POPPY satellites at a time. Starting as an ELINT general search system, the POPPY mission gradually expanded , as capabilities improved, to encompass: general search, ABM search, technical intelligence, EOB production, and ocean surveillance .

Growing concern in the U.S. defense establishment about demonstrated abilities of Soviet fleets to project military power across seas and oceans, was registered in 1970 by the USIB’s designation of ocean surveillance as a national intelligence objective. Pursuant to a study conducted by the Defense Science Board, POPPY was upgraded by NRO and Navy to become an interim ocean surveillance system . Meanwhile, NRO, Navy, and NSA conducted broader studies to determine an optimum system and concluded in 1972 that the POPPY technology infrastructure, and operational concept should evolve…

Document Archive

U.S. Navy/NRO Program C Electronic Intelligence Satellites (1958-1977) [255 Pages, 100MB]

 

 

 

 


 

facebookShare on Facebook
TwitterTweet
FollowFollow us
NRO POPPY spy satellites

Related Posts

FBI Files: The Paranormal Collection

May 10, 2022

FBI Files: Scientists and Medical Professionals

May 10, 2022

Final Report: National Reconnaissance Program Task Force for the Director of Central Intelligence, September 1992

April 30, 2022

Comments are closed.

Shop
  • Alien Design #1 Short-Sleeve Unisex T-Shirt $17.99 – $20.99
Search The Black Vault
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Subscribe to the Mailing List
  
Help Make This Site Possible

Can you help support The Black Vault?

For as little as $1 a month, you not only help this site IMMENSELY, but you get some exclusive stuff in the process!

Become a Patron!


Or, a One Time Donation option is also available:
FOIA Document Categories
  • Government
    • Congressional & Senatorial Correspondence
    • Controversies
    • Elections
    • Government Accountability & I.G. Reports
    • Government Employee Manuals / Orientation
    • Politician Public Financial Disclosure Statements
    • TV Show Complaints
    • U.S. Financial Information
  • History
    • Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Collection
    • Department of Defense Collection
    • Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Collection
    • J.F.K. Era
    • National Security Agency (NSA) Collection
    • Office of Technology Assessment Collection
    • Richard Helms Collection
  • Intelligence
    • Cryptology
    • FBI Files / Domestic & Foreign Intelligence
    • Field Manuals
    • Freedom of Information Act / Research Tools
    • Spy Satellites and the NRO
  • Military / Defense
    • Advanced "For Its Time" Technology
    • Aircraft / Air Force History
      • Bombers
      • Cargo
      • E"X"perimental
      • Fighters
      • Foreign
      • Reconnaissance
      • Spy Planes
      • Stealth
      • Unconfirmed
    • Biological / Chemical Weapons
    • Defense Issues
    • Military and Commercial Accidents
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Psychological Operations
    • Terrorism
      • Assassination Attempts
      • September 11th, 2001
    • Weapons
  • Science
    • Disease and Human Health
    • Environmental Issues
    • Space
  • The Fringe
    • Cloning
    • Mind Control
    • New World Order
    • Parapsychology
    • Remote Viewing
    • UFO Phenomena
    • Weather / Weather Modification
  • Uncategorized
  • Wartime
    • Afghanistan War
    • Cold War Era
    • Iraq Wars
    • Vietnam Era
    • World War I
    • World War II
The Black Vault Radio
bvr

  • Ep. #102 – Congressional Hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) – May 17, 2022 (5/18/22)
  • Ep. #101 – Congressional Hearing on UFOs - Some Thoughts Before It All Goes Down (5/16/22)
  • Ep. #100 – Steven Greenstreet on The Basement Office (5/13/22)
  • Ep. #99 – AAWSAP Documents – A Deep Dive (4/19/22)
  • Ep. #98 – New Documents Reveal Details on UAP/UFO Briefing Possibly By The WSO Who Encountered The “Gimbal” (4/6/22)
  • Ep. #97 – U.S. Government JUST Partially Released Their Classified UAP Report from 2021 (3/28/22)
  • #96 – UFO Files at the Barack Obama Presidential Library (AND AN UPDATE!) (3/21/22)
  • #95 – Dr. Lynne Kitei on The Phoenix Lights (3/15/22)
  • #94 – Daniel Otis on Canada’s UFO Connection (3/5/22)
  • #93 – Retired CIA Officer John Ramirez on the Agency, Orbs, Intelligence Gathering, And Much More (2/4/22)
  • #92 – FOIA Appeal Win May Help UFO Transparency – Here’s the story… (And Open Phone Lines) (1/1/22)
  • #91 – History Channel’s “Unidentified” and a Secret Meeting Between Intelligence Officials Running AATIP. Or… was it? (12/22/21)
  • #90 – The UAP/UFO E-Mails of NASA’s Associate Administrator of Communications, Marc Etkind (12/09/21)
  • #89 – The CIA Keeps Losing UFO Files (11/30/21)
  • #88 – The UAP Task Force Successor Has Been Announced by the Department of Defense (DoD) (11/27/21)
  • MORE EPISODES

Facebook Twitter YouTube
© 2022 The Black Vault, Inc.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.