The White Falcon - 09.04.1993, Blaðsíða 2

A view from the top... looking inside the ‘golf ball’
By LT Bill Conoscenti,
Officer in Charge, NATO SATCOM
I would like to take this opportunity to tell
others about the NATO Satellite Ground Ter-
minal (SGT) F-15 and its role in NATO.
The NATO SGT F-15 is one of 21 SGTsin
a constellation. These SGTs are located
throughout Europe in the 16 nations that
comprisetheNATOorganization. The North
Atlantic Treaty of April, 1949, brought to-
gether in an alliance, those independent
countries with a common interest in main-
taining peace and defending their freedom,
through political and military means.
In the mid and late 1940s, there were many
threats to the Western European countries, as
well as to Norway, Greece and Turkey by the
USSR. In 1948, five Western European
countries, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, and the United Kingdom joined
together in the Brussels Treaty, to resist the
further threat and pressures of the USSR.
Soon after, Canada and the United States
joined the negotiations to form a single North
Atlantic Alliance whose secure basis would
guarantee mutual commitments between
Europe and North America. Denmark, Ice-
land, Italy, Norway and Portugal were also
invited to become participants.
On April 4, 1949, these twelve countries
joined together in the Treaty of Washington,
which again was based on a common partner-
ship of security. In 1952, Greece and Turkey
agreed to join the alliance. In the mid to late
1960s, the concept of secure, high speed
communications common between the
member NATO countries was developed.
Construction of the Satellite Ground Termi-
nals began in the early 1970s.
All the SGTs use one common satellite
which is located in a geostationary position
approximately 22,000 miles above the earth.
SGT F-15 began construction in 1981 and
became active in May, 1983. For the past 10
years, SGT F-15 has provided extremeh|
reliable high speed secure communication
to the Government of Iceland and the NAT^
countries.
Although many dramatic changes have
occurred in the World Order since 1989,
there is still an essential need for all the
NATO allies to continue to be closely linked
in common communications.
The NATO SATCOM antenna under construction in 1983. The fiberglass radome
provides shelter for a 46-foot-diameter antenna dish. (Official U.S. Navy file photo)
Senior enlisted corner...
By RMCS (SW) Joseph M. Terry,
NATO SATCOM
Command Master Chief
Just a friendly “hello” from the folks at
NATO SATCOM, otherwise known as Satel-
lite Ground Terminal (SGT) F-15. We’rethe
“big golf ball” behind the IDF ballfields and
Navy Campus with the pumpkin face at Hal-
loween time. I just wanted to give you a little
bit of background about our command, our
mission and our people. We are manned by
21 enlisted personnel which include radi-
omen, technicians, and enginemen. Our sta-
tion engineer is a NATO civilian employee
who is from Portugal. As the only true
NATO command, we are completely funded,
maintained and operated by NATO.
We provide Satellite Communications
connectivity to 16 user nations in the NATO
Alliance. Our primary mission is to support
the NATO Alliance by providing real-time
communications support for the government
of Iceland. We also carry a number of U.S.
communications circuits, autovon lines, etc.
as part of the agreement with the United
States government.
This is a very important time of the year for
us. We just completed another highly suc-
cessful annual Operational Readiness Evalu-
ation (ORE), which is similar to an IG inspec-
tion. April 4 marked the anniversary of The
North Atlantic Treaty Organization which
was established in 1949. We will be com-
memorating our 10-year anniversary on May
10 with a ceremony at SGT F-15 to mark this
highly significant event. Additionally, we
will be having an open house Saturday, May
15 from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m. If you’ve ever
wanted to see what’s inside the “big golf
ball,” then this is your chance to see it.
Commander, Iceland Defense Force
RADM Michael D. Haskins
Public Affairs Officer
LT Joseph L. Quimby
Deputy Public Affairs Officer
Fridthrir Kr. Eydal
Chief Petty Officer In Charge
JOC Terry J. Bamthouse
Draftsman
DM2 Danielle J. Kim
Editor
J02 Colleen “Ghostwriter" Casper
Journalists
J02 Carlos Bongioanni
J03 (SW) Andreas Walter
77ie W/u'r*Falcon is an authorized, government-
funded weekly publication of the Iceland Defense
Force. Contents of The White Falcon are not nec-
essarily the official views of or endorsed by, the U.
S. Government, the Department of Defense or the
Iceland Defense Force. Everything advertised in
this publication shall be made available without
regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, marital
status, physical handicap, or any other non-merit
The White Falcon is printed by the NAS Keflavik
Print Plant. Photo processing is provided by Fleet Im- factor. The White Falcon is located in Bldg. 93
aging Command Detachment Keflavik. tel. ext. 4612 or 4552.
•merit^
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The White Falcon