MEDIA RELEASE
THE HON DR BRENDAN NELSON
Minister for Defence
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Thursday, 15 February 2007
007/2007
AUSTRALIA-US JOINT COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY TO BE HOSTED AT
GERALDTON
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.
It will be a joint Australia – US ground station, it will not be a US military
base. The facility will be hosted as all other Australian-US joint facilities on the basis of our full knowledge and concurrence.
Final details are expected to be agreed soon between the US and Australian
Defence Departments.
Other joint facilities already hosted by Australia are the Joint Defence
Facility Pine Gap and the Joint Geological and Geophysical Research Station
and in addition, the US has access to the Naval Communication Station
Harold E Holt.
BACKGROUND:
JOINT DEFENCE FACILITY PINE GAP
The Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap is a satellite ground station whose
function is to collect intelligence data which supports the national security of
both Australia and the United States. Intelligence collected at Pine Gap
contributes importantly to the verification of arms control and disarmament
agreements.
NAVAL COMMUNICATIONS STATION HAROLD E HOLT
Harold E Holt is a radio relay station, passing messages between Australia
and US command centres and their respective ships and submarines in the
Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific. It became a joint facility in 1974 and
since May 1999 it has operated as an Australian facility to which the US has
full access.
JOINT GEOLOGICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH STATION.
The Joint Geological and Geophysical Research Station is a seismic
monitoring station originally established to monitor nuclear explosions
during the Cold War. It still does monitor such explosions as part of the
International Monitoring System (IMS) of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
(CTBT). It also monitors earthquakes. It is jointly operated by Geoscience
Australia and the US Air Force.
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Media contacts
Nigel Blunden
Defence Media Liaison
(Dr Nelson)
02 6277 7800
02 6265 3343
www.defence.gov.au
0407 632 931
0408 498 664