11 April 2015

NSA and FVEY SIGINT Partners Have Deployed New Antennas at Satellite Communications Intercept Sites

Peter Koop
April 9, 2015

At three satellite facilities, in Britain, Cyprus and New Zealand, there’s a special antenna that allows NSA’s partner agencies a significant increase in their capability to collect satellite communications. 

This antenna is called Torus, and while conventional parabolic dish antennas can only view one satellite at a time, one single Torus antenna is able to receive the signals from up to 35 communications satellites. 

These rare and expensive Torus antennas are used by some television networks, but a close look at photos of the Five Eyes satellite stations has now revealed the locations where Torus antennas are also used for gathering signals intelligence.

A General Dynamics Satcom Technologies Torus antenna with the array of receiver heads clearly visible.

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