Buccaneers of the high frontier: Program 989 SIGINT satellites from the ABM hunt to the Falklands War to the space shuttle

[Flyaway]

In May 1982, the Royal Air Force developed a rather ballsy plan: launch two Buccaneer strike aircraft from Ascension Island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, fly them 5,000 kilometers in the dark, refueling multiple times, and then approach the Argentine coast. They would launch anti-ship missiles at the aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo in Argentine territorial waters, sinking it or at least damaging it enough to remove it from Argentina’s ongoing effort to defend the Falkland Islands that they had seized from the United Kingdom in April. The Buccaneers would have received intelligence on the location of the Veinticinco de Mayo from a Royal Air Force Nimrod long-range patrol aircraft. The Nimrod crew would obtain an estimated search area from “collateral intelligence,” according to a declassified Royal Air Force document, which also stated that “It cannot be overstressed that location and identification by a third party is essential to the completion of the task successfully."

The proposed RAF mission was secret until it was uncovered by Chris Gibson, who wrote about it in a recent issue of The Aviation Historian. The “third party” source is not identified in the RAF records, but information declassified in the United States in 2022 by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) at the request of this author indicates that the British may have been anticipating receiving targeting information from a top-secret American intelligence satellite named FARRAH.

The Space Review: Buccaneers of the high frontier: Program 989 SIGINT satellites from the ABM hunt to the Falklands War to the space shuttle)

 

[CJGibson]

Interesting.

Pity this forum missed out on the Buccaneer article.

Chris

 

[Hood]

I thought that the "third party" was likely to be ELINT/SIGINT data from patrolling SSNs. I suppose it's not unfeasible for it to have been GCHQ SIGNIT decrypts either (either from UK or NSA sources).
Subs, satellites, spies; take your pick I guess.

 

[Pirate Pete]

Interesting.

Pity this forum missed out on the Buccaneer article.

Chris

I missed that edition of the magazine but have now corrected that omission and downloaded a digital copy from PocketMags.. Excellent article. Well done Chris.

 

[CJGibson]

I thought that the "third party" was likely to be ELINT/SIGINT data from patrolling SSNs. I suppose it's not unfeasible for it to have been GCHQ SIGNIT decrypts either (either from UK or NSA sources).
Subs, satellites, spies; take your pick I guess.

So did I!

Chris

 

[blackstar]

I thought that the "third party" was likely to be ELINT/SIGINT data from patrolling SSNs.

After the Belgrano sinking, Argentine naval forces retreated to territorial waters, close to patrolling aircraft. Also very shallow. Royal Navy subs did not follow. A satellite did not have those limitations.

 

[Flyaway]

Might as well put this here. That’s a genetic satellite by the way in the video.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UNfkaUFb58

 

[Scott Kenny]

After the Belgrano sinking, Argentine naval forces retreated to territorial waters, close to patrolling aircraft. Also very shallow. Royal Navy subs did not follow. A satellite did not have those limitations.

You can detect a radar emission well enough to ID the transmitter type at least 4x farther than the radar can detect anything.