Ayios Nikolaos Station
Ayios Nikolaos Station | |
---|---|
Άγιος Νικόλαος | |
Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Cyprus | |
Coordinates | 35°05′35″N 33°53′12″E / 35.09306°N 33.88667°E |
Type | Signals intelligence gathering station |
Site information | |
Owner | Ministry of Defence |
Operator | Strategic Command |
Controlled by | British Forces Cyprus |
Condition | Operational |
Website | Ayios Nikolaos Station at GOV.UK |
Site history | |
Built | c. 1946 |
In use | 1946 | – present
Events | Cyprus Seven Trial (1985) |
Garrison information | |
Garrison | Joint Service Signal Unit, Cyprus |
Ayios Nikolaos Station (also spelled Agios Nikolaos;
The current superior body to JSSU (Cyp) appears to be the Joint Service Signal Organisation.
History
The station was established at Ayios Nikolaos shortly after the Second World War.[4] In 1946 2 Wireless Company and 2 Special Wireless Group merged to become 2 Wireless Regiment RSigs. In 1959 2 Wireless Regiment became 9 Signal Regiment.[5]
In early 1956 No. 751 Signals Unit RAF, a mobile radar convoy, was located at RAF Ayios Nikolaos. The unit radars initially comprised one Type 15, two Type 14s, and two Type 13s, conducting air defence.[6] It moved to Cape Greco after March 1956.[7] It was located there until 1959.[8]
There were a number of court cases involving servicemen from the regiment during the 1980s, including the Cyprus Seven Trial, an alleged spy-ring operating at Ayios Nikolaos Station in 1984.[9]
The Joint Service Signal Unit (Cyprus) (or JSSU (Cyp)) was formed on 1 April 1999, as a result of the amalgamation of the Joint Service Signal Unit (Ayios Nikolaos) and elements of 33 Signals Unit RAF.
For satellite interception, the Ayios Nikolaos station has a number of dish antennas of various sizes. Somewhere between 2008 and 2011, also a
Declassified documents show that the station was run for the
See also
References
- ^ Jeffrey T. Richelson & Desmond Ball, The Ties the Bind: Intelligence Cooperation between the UKUSA Countries, Unwin Hyman, Boston/London and others, 1990, p.194 note 145.
- ^ (JSSU (Cyp)), accessed January 2019.
- ^ "Defence Intelligence: roles". Ministry of Defence. 16 September 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
- ^ a b Georgiou, Giorgos. "British Bases in Cyprus and Signals Intelligence" (PDF). Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ISBN 9781874622925.
- ^ O'Reilly
- ^ Terry O'Reilly (2015). The Dustbin Bandits: A Story of RAF 751 Signals Unit in Cyprus 1956 to 1958. Amazon (Kindle Edition).
- ^ Operational Record Book No 751 Signals Unit (SU), Cape Greco.
- ^ De Young, Karen (16 June 1985). "British Prosecutors Open Case Against 7 Servicemen for Spying". Washington Post. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
- ^ Ayios Nikolaos Station archived on 5 August 2009 from the original Archived 9 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Location of St. Nicholas Church". Agios Nikolaos. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
- ^ Electrospaces.net: Torus: the antenna to significantly increase satellite interception, 8 April 2015
- ^ "GCHQ worked hard to maintain presence on Cyprus after independence". Gloucestershire Echo. 1 December 2013. Archived from the original on 14 April 2015.