Allied Command Europe Highband

Allied Command Europe Highband, better known as ACE High, was a fixed service NATO radiocommunication and early warning system dating back to 1956. After extensive testing ACE High was accepted by NATO to become operational in 1964/1965.

Billboard type troposcatter antennas
Dish type microwave antennas

The frequency supportability and frequency assignments were provided in accordance with the NATO Joint Civil/Military Frequency Agreement (NJFA). The system was designed to be a combined UHF troposcatter/microwave radio system, providing long-range communications in the form of telephone, telegraph and data traffic in the NATO chain of command.[1]

Its combined services produced over 200 channels and equipment was in place to multiplex them to contain up to 12 different calls each. There used to be 49 troposcatter links augmented by 40 Line Of Sight Microwave terrestrial stations, located in nine different NATO countries from northern Norway through central Europe to eastern Turkey. The transmitters broadcast at 832.56 - 959.28 MHz producing an average transmitting power of 10 kilowatts.[2]

History

NATO had been established in 1949 with then a supreme command (SHAPE) near Versailles, France, and the regional headquarters (RHQ) Allied Forces Northern Europe (AFNORTH) at Kolsås, Norway (responsible for Denmark, Norway and the UK), Allied Forces Central Europe (AFCENT) at Laffaux, France (responsible for Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands) and Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH) at Naples, Italy (responsible for Italy, Greece and Turkey). Supreme command, the three RHQ's and all subordinated units used various communication systems to establish contact: high frequency radio networks, VHF beaming transmitters and civil or military landlines. All systems had their weakness in equipment reliability; in the maximum amount of data transferred; in encryption possibilities and in unauthorized data interception. So in the early 1950s there existed an urgent need for a reliable, foolproof long distance European communications network.

US developed tropospheric diffusion techniques, integrated in a new military communications network appeared to be the solution and in 1956 STC, a planning, design, engineering and installation company had been ordered to develop a new integrated communications network in Europe. This network consisted of a number of "backbone" stations covering the 6,800 km (4,200 mi) distance from the north of Norway to the south of Turkey and was initially called the "Over the Horizon Troposperic scatter Communications Net" but was renamed "Allied Command Europe - Highband" (ACE-High). The network would be kept operational until the 1990s as all frequencies then had to be released to the civilian authorities.

After all components had been installed on their locations by Marconi Electronic Systems UK, (from 1968 part of General Electric Company), in 1961 the ACE-High system had officially been transferred to NATO.

In 1966 however France, under president Charles de Gaulle, left NATO and systems had to be rerouted from France to Brunssum, Netherlands while the former Primary Control Center at Beauvais, was relocated to Lamersdorf, West-Germany.

In the early 1970s, the first geostationary satellites in the "Satellite Communication" network (SATCOM) had been activated thus expanding the ACE-High system.

The rise of the military SATCOM I-III (1971-1994), SATCOM IV (1995-now) network satellites, Internet routers, and the Central Region Integrated Communication System (CRICS) and the Crisis Response Operations in NATO Operating Systems (CRONOS) made ACE High obsolete. By the end of the 1980s, its replacement was already available but NATO postponed the ACE High phasing-out until 1995.

In 1995, the first British NATO SATCOM IV/B satellites had been activated and because the ACE-High frequencies had to be released for civil TV and mobile phone usage NATO decided to deactivate ACE-High in 1996, and the 800 MHz band frequencies became available for civilian use again.

ACE High sites

The ACE High network included the following major sites and terminals, but also connected Line of Sight (LOS) microwave links to other networks reaching C2 centres not listed here.[3]

AFNORTH-Norway
  • (NC- Senja) > NSEZ

Pos 69°19′44″N 17°29′49″E TX RX Equipment:1 Scatter Line + 2 Radio Line

  • (nca - Höggumpen) > NHGZ

Pos 69°04′41″N 18°00′16″E 502 m TX RX Equipment:1 Radio Line

  • (ND- Bodö) > NKLZ

Pos 67°10′23″N 15°01′24″E 801 m TX RX Equipment:2 Scatter Line + 1 Radio Line

  • (nda - Bodoe Tail - Kletkov) > NVAZ Pos unbekannt

TX RX Equipment:1 Radio Line

  • (NE - Mosjöen) > NMOZ

Pos 65°52′41″N 13°18′11″E 627 m TX RX Equipment:2 Scatter Line

  • (NF - Trondheim) > NSBZ

Pos 63°18′41″N 10°56′17″E 677 m AMSL TX RX Equipment:2 Scatter Line + 1 Radio Line

  • (nfa - Trondheim Tail - Graakallen)

Pos 63°25′15″N 10°15′06″E 543 m AMSL TX RX Equipment:1 Radio Line

  • (NG - Oslo AAA) > NSOZ

Pos 60°03′34″N 11°16′09″E 246 m TX RX Equipment:2 Scatter Line + 1 Radio Line

  • (Oslo YYY - Svartas) > NVAZ

Pos 68°18′3″N 14°14′16″E TX RX Equipment:3 Radio Line

  • (nga - Oslo Tail 01 - Kolsaas) > NKOZ

Pos 59°55′7″N 10°30′58″E TX RX Equipment:1 Radio Line

  • (ngb - Oslo Tail 02 - Maakeroy) > NVEZ

Pos 59°09′22″N 10°26′19″E 14  m TX RX Equipment:1 Radio Line

  • (NH - Grimstad - Stormyrheia/hørte) > NSMZ

Pos 58°27′19″N 08°27′43″E 326 m TX Rx Equipment:3 Scatter Line

  • (NJ - Sola - Lysenut) > NLYZ

Pos 59°31′40″N 05°54′12″E 792 m TX RX Equipment:2 Scatter Line

AFNORTH-Denmark
  • (DA - Karup - Torphøj) > DTOZ

Pos 55°52′28″N 09°21′00″E 135  m TX RX Equipment:2 Scatter Line + 1 Radio Line

  • (daa - Karup Tail - Lundbakke) > DLUZ

Pos 56°13′49″N 09°09′48″E 68  m TX RX Equipment:1 Radio Line

AFNORTH-United Kingdom
AFCENT-France
AFCENT-Netherlands
AFCENT-Belgium
AFCENT-Germany
AFSOUTH-Italy
AFSOUTH-Malta
  • (idb - Malta - Gharghur) IDBZ - Malta - Gharghur
AFSOUTH-Greece
AFSOUTH-Turkey
AFSOUTH-Cyprus
Equipment used[4][5]

Initially 60, 30 or 15 ft dish or billboard type antennas have been used in combination with General Electric or RCA AN/MRC80 TRC24; AN/FRC-75 or 39 radio sets. Later being replaced by newer Siemens & Halske EM 120/400 and 12/800 types. The type and beaming angle of the antennas depended of the local site position and its distance to the next relays.

See also

References
  1. http://archives.nato.int/uploads/r/nato-archives-online/0/7/8/0780e4a143f64cb3103978c2bcabc8cddcc409cce87a25584765d522d816a1c2/MCWM-077-66_ENG_PDP.pdf NATO UNCLAS Memorandum MCWM -77-66
  2. ACE HIGH. SCALE OF THE SYSTEM, Andy Emmerson, 2003 Subterranea Britannica:
  3. "Troposcatter Communication Networks". rammstein.dfmk.hu.
  4. Communications-electronics Reference Data, Volume 24,#19
  5. Operator's, Organizational, Direct Support, General Support, and Depot Maintenance TM's 11-5820-203-15 and 11-5840-401-12
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