FRD-10
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The AN/FRD-10 is a
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
circularly disposed antenna array (CDAA), built at a number of locations during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
for
high frequency High frequency (HF) is the ITU designation for the band of radio waves with frequency between 3 and 30 megahertz (MHz). It is also known as the decameter band or decameter wave as its wavelengths range from one to ten decameters (ten to one ...
radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
direction finding Direction finding (DF), radio direction finding (RDF), or radiogoniometry is the use of radio waves to determine the direction to a radio source. The source may be a cooperating radio transmitter or may be an inadvertent source, a naturall ...
( HF/DF) and
signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...
(SIGINT). 14 sites were originally constructed as a part of the "Classic Bullseye" program. Two AN/FRD-10 systems were later installed in Canada. AN/FRD-10 systems were originally constructed in the early 1960s, but after the
dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
, the systems began to be shut down and demolished. The now-disestablished
Naval Security Group The Naval Security Group (NAVSECGRU) was an organization within the United States Navy, tasked with intelligence gathering and denial of intelligence to adversaries. A large part of this is signals intelligence gathering, cryptology and informatio ...
operated and maintained the U.S. Navy AN/FRD-10 systems. The system had several nicknames including ''Fred-10'' and ''Elephant'' or ''Dinosaur cages''. As of 2015, none of the U.S. Navy AN/FRD-10 sites are extant, but the two Canadian sites remain in service. The
AN/FLR-9 The AN/FLR-9 is a type of very large circularly disposed antenna array, built at eight locations during the Cold War for HF/DF direction finding of high priority targets. The worldwide network, known collectively as "''Iron Horse''", could loc ...
was a system with a similar design and function, but operated by the
U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...
and
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
. In accordance with the
Joint Electronics Type Designation System The Joint Electronics Type Designation System (JETDS), which was previously known as the Joint Army-Navy Nomenclature System (AN System. JAN) and the Joint Communications-Electronics Nomenclature System, is a method developed by the U.S. War Depa ...
(JETDS), the "''AN/FRD-10''" designation represents the 10th design of an Army-Navy electronic device for fixed radio detection finding system. The JETDS system also now is used to name all
Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...
electronic systems.


Bullseye

The program to install and operate the radio direction finding network was known as Bullseye, Clarinet Bullseye and Classic Bullseye at various points over its life cycle. The word Classic was likely added later when permanently assigned "first words" were created for two-word nicknames. Classic was the word used to designate programs related to the
Naval Security Group The Naval Security Group (NAVSECGRU) was an organization within the United States Navy, tasked with intelligence gathering and denial of intelligence to adversaries. A large part of this is signals intelligence gathering, cryptology and informatio ...
and Clarinet was used for programs related to the
Chief of Naval Operations The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the highest-ranking officer of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an Admiral (United States), admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the United States Secretary ...
. Classic Bullseye was also related to the Centerboard and Flaghoist programs. Centerboard was a network for processing HF/DF information. The security classification guide that covered all three programs was cancelled in January 2009. Later, the programs Unitary DF and Crosshair sought to unify the military's HF direction finding information into a single data collection network. Crosshair, an HF/DF geolocation network, is apparently still in use c. 2015, employing small fixed or mobile HF/DF systems instead of large circular arrays.


Development

The
United States Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Located in Washington, DC, it was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, appl ...
(NRL) led development of the technology that was used in the AN/FRD-10. Three developments were critical to the FRD-10, the ability to record portions of the frequency spectrum for future analysis, the Circularly Disposed Antenna Array (CDAA) and the computer control system that allowed rapid triangulation across multiple sites. NRL funded research at a test site built in 1955 by the
University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...
at the Bondville Road Field Station in Scott Township, Champaign County, Illinois, south of Bondville, Illinois. The AN/FRD-10 antenna was a scaled-up version of the NRL prototype antenna array.


Construction and cost

In 1959, the Navy awarded a contract to
ITT ITT may refer to: Communication *Tank phone, Infantry-Tank Telephone, a device allowing infantrymen to speak to the occupants of armoured vehicles. Mathematics *Intuitionistic type theory, other name of Martin-Löf Type Theory *Intensional typ ...
Federal Systems to construct a network of AN/FRD-10 systems. The first AN/FRD-10 to be constructed was at NSGA Hanza in
Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...
, but future FRD-10 sites had different antenna dimensions. The High band reflector was reduced from 120 ft to 90 ft in later sites. Additionally, the outer high band antenna ring at Hanza was from the center with later sites being around . For the remaining sites, the outer antenna elements were spaced every 3 degrees around the circle and the outer reflector was tall. The inner antenna elements were spaced every 9 degrees and the inner reflector was tall. One site was short lived. NSGA Marietta,
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closed in 1972 and reverted to a
Lummi Lummi most commonly refers to: Lummi people *Lummi people, a Coast Salish people located in western Washington state **Lummi Nation The Lummi Nation ( ; Lummi dialect, Lummi: ' or '';'' officially known as the Lummi Tribe of the Lummi ...
reservation. Marietta was the first FRD-10 site to shut down and operated less than 10 years. The 1970 estimate to construct a CDAA was just under $900,000 ($ today) with electronics at the site estimated at $20 million ($ today). The system had 120 high band antennas and 40 low band antennas which had to be positioned within +/- two minutes of arc and +/- 3 inches of their intended distance from the center of the array. 160 75 ohm coaxial transmission lines were used to carry signals from the antennas had to be electrically matched to within 3/4 of a degree at 10 MHz. This task was estimated at 300 to 400 man hours to complete. There was also an extensive grounding system used at the FRD-10 sites. This included 360 ground radials made of 8 AWG wire, long, extending from the outer antenna ring. It also included a massive ground grid, made of 10 AWG wire bonded together to create a mesh with squares. It was laid underground up to the radials in the area between the high and low antennas. Weather proved to be a challenge for the FRD-10 antennas. For example, the antenna at NSGA Winter Harbor had problems due to
frost heaving Frost heaving (or a frost heave) is an upwards swelling of soil during freezing conditions caused by an increasing presence of ice as it grows towards the surface, upwards from the depth in the soil where freezing temperatures have penetrated int ...
the ground and shifting the reflector screens out of alignment. Digging up the affected poles and replacing them was costly and was estimated at $240,000 in the late 1970s. An alternative method was discovered that modified the poles to allow readjustment of the screen instead of the costly removal and replacement that had been done in the past. The arrays were also vulnerable to high winds. Antenna arrays at
Homestead, Florida Homestead is a city within Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in the United States, U.S. state of Florida, between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and ...
and
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, Puerto Rico were heavily damaged by Hurricanes
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and Georges, respectively.


Capabilities

The AN/FRD-10 had an estimated range of and was used to monitor and triangulate single or double hop high frequency (HF) signals between 2 and 32 MHz. Site locations were likely chosen based on HF hop distances for their intended surveillance targets. The FRD-10 was designed to locate HF transmissions especially from submarines and was managed by the
Naval Security Group The Naval Security Group (NAVSECGRU) was an organization within the United States Navy, tasked with intelligence gathering and denial of intelligence to adversaries. A large part of this is signals intelligence gathering, cryptology and informatio ...
. The Navy also claimed over the years that the direction finding sites were used primarily for air and sea rescue operations and Naval communications in the case of the pair of FRD-10s at
Sugar Grove Station Sugar Grove Station is a National Security Agency (NSA) communications site located near Sugar Grove, West Virginia, Sugar Grove in Pendleton County, West Virginia, Pendleton County, West Virginia. According to a 2005 article in ''The New York Time ...
. The FRD-10 used a goniometer to rapidly scan through all the antennas around the circle. This electronically "rotated" the antenna 360 degrees several times a second allowing fast and accurate direction finding. This was needed because Soviet submarines began to use wide-band burst transmissions in the early 1960s to make themselves more difficult to pinpoint. Initially, these signals were too rapid for Bullseye's predecessor, Boresight, to locate, but the AN/FRD-10 was able to locate even very brief transmissions. Sites in the Classic Bullseye network were connected by communications links to facilitate "near instantaneous"
triangulation In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by forming triangles to the point from known points. Applications In surveying Specifically in surveying, triangulation involves only angle m ...
of received signals if two or more sites received the same signal. Signals could also be recorded for later direction finding. The system was four times more accurate than the prior Navy AN/GRD-6 system with bearing accuracy better than 0.5 degrees. The Navy AN/FRD-10 was slightly smaller and had a narrower frequency range compared to the Air Force
AN/FLR-9 The AN/FLR-9 is a type of very large circularly disposed antenna array, built at eight locations during the Cold War for HF/DF direction finding of high priority targets. The worldwide network, known collectively as "''Iron Horse''", could loc ...
system. The FRD-10 had only 2 antenna rings, and diameters. The Navy system was vertically instead of horizontally polarized. The FRD-10 was also said to be closer to omnidirectional than to the FLR-9 due to complications added by having three sets of reflectors and with FLR-9 array looking inward rather than outward. On the FRD-10 the high band elements were on the outside, vs inside. Smaller AX-16 Pusher antenna arrays were developed with about half the diameter of the AN/FRD-10 and were used at sites that required a smaller footprint, like Diego Garcia and other sites in the United Kingdom. The pusher systems were found to have lower performance, but not primarily due to the reduced antenna size. Most of the excess signal loss and higher noise floor was attributed to problems with the RF distribution network and higher transmission line losses due to the RG-8 coaxial cable that the pusher systems used.


Former locations of FRD-10 sites


Atlantic


Pacific


Other

* NAVRADSTA
Sugar Grove Station Sugar Grove Station is a National Security Agency (NSA) communications site located near Sugar Grove, West Virginia, Sugar Grove in Pendleton County, West Virginia, Pendleton County, West Virginia. According to a 2005 article in ''The New York Time ...
,
Sugar Grove, West Virginia Sugar Grove is a community located in Pendleton County, West Virginia, United States. Its ZIP Code is 26815. It is located within the United States National Radio Quiet Zone. The community was named for a sugar orchard at the original town site. ...
() (two adjacent variants of the AN/FRD-10), not operated by the NSG. Demolished prior to December 31, 2002, aerial imagery.Google earth imagery dated 31 Dec 2002


Gallery

File:Detail of the underground wire net mat and cable at the base of a 94' low-band reflector screen pole, view facing north - U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Naval Radio Station, AF-FRD-10 HABS HI-522-B-15.tif, A close up of the 2 ft square grounding grid File:Detail of dipole antenna element (right) and 94' low-band reflector screen poles (left), note the guy wires from the antenna element, view facing north northeast - U.S. Naval Base, HABS HI-522-B-9.tif, Detail of the low band reflector (left) and low band antenna (right) File:Sobe Communications Site.jpg, Sobe Communications Site, NSGA Hanza, Okinawa. NSGA Galeta Island Site.jpg, NSGA Galeta Island, Panama site.


See also

*
High-frequency direction finding High-frequency direction finding, usually known by its abbreviation HF/DF or nickname huff-duff, is a type of radio direction finder (RDF) introduced in World War II. High frequency (HF) refers to a radio band that can effectively communicate ove ...
*
Radio direction finder Direction finding (DF), radio direction finding (RDF), or radiogoniometry is the use of radio waves to determine the direction to a radio source. The source may be a cooperating radio transmitter or may be an inadvertent source, a natural ...
*
Radio direction finding Direction finding (DF), radio direction finding (RDF), or radiogoniometry is the use of radio waves to determine the direction to a radio source. The source may be a cooperating radio transmitter or may be an inadvertent source, a natural ...
*
Direction finding Direction finding (DF), radio direction finding (RDF), or radiogoniometry is the use of radio waves to determine the direction to a radio source. The source may be a cooperating radio transmitter or may be an inadvertent source, a naturall ...
*
Signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...
(SIGINT) *
List of military electronics of the United States This article lists American military electronic instruments/systems along with brief descriptions. This list specifically identifies electronic devices which are assigned designations according to the Joint Electronics Type Designation System ...


References


External links

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:AN/FRD-10 Automatic identification and data capture Military radio systems of the United States Radio frequency antenna types Radio-frequency identification Surveillance Military electronics of the United States Antennas (radio) Telecommunications equipment of the Cold War Military equipment introduced in the 1960s