Bruce Gagnon has already presented an excellent
report from the Scandinavian tour.
I would like though to add some background notes about the central role the
Swedish Peace Committee played in preparing, arranging and sponsoring the
Nordic trip. I think it is a model for cooperation between countries and
regions. I will also say a few words about installations and bases in
connection with Space in Scandinavia .
In 2007, the Swedish Peace Committee, funded by Folke Bernadotteīs Foundation,
started planning a speech tour for BG in Scandinavia. Barbara Bradefors, SPC,
made a strong effort to contact peace groups within Sweden as well as in
Denmark and Norway. The organisations involved in the tour were: Swedish
Peace Committee and Women for Peace, Kiruna, in Sweden. WILPF, Denmark's Peace
Council and the Communist party, in Denmark, WILPF in Norway.
What is Scandinavia?
Scandinavia consists of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Some writers include the
Faeroe Islands, Finland and Aland as well (Wikipedia). An entity called The
North includes Iceland, Faeroe Islands, Svalbard, Jan Mayen and Greenland.
A piece of History.
For 600 years Finland was part of Sweden. Norway and Sweden were in a
union to 1905. Southern part of Sweden belonged to Denmark until the end of
17th
Century. The big arctic island Greenland was a long time a colony of Denmark.
Until today Greenlandīs foreign policy is under Danish (US) rule. Norway,
Denmark and Iceland are all in NATO. Finland and Sweden are in the NATO
antechamber Partnership for Peace.
SWEDEN
Sweden is big in Space technology and industry and far ahead many other
nations in international space activities. Sweden plays an important role in
European Space Agency - ESA- and in an ever increasing development of military
space technology. In Jan. 2005, a report from the Swedish Department of
Industry, argues for increasing space technology in aviation and space
industry both for military and civil use. The report states: "The expanding of
Space and aviation industry shall be one of the driving forces for Sweden's
growth and position as a high technologic nation" The plan stresses the
importance of cooperation with both the US and European Union, "Cooperation in
Research and Technology should be developed to secure access to US research
and technology development and secure Swedish corporations the possibilities
to be suppliers for future high tech systems."
The biggest space corporations in Sweden are : Ericsson, Saab Space, Space
Corporation, VolvoAero and Angstrom Laboratories. All these corporations are
present in the US market.
Angstrom Laboratories are world-wide-known for its mini-satellites and
Global Positioning System. SAAB Space is an important supplier for Lockheed
Martins rockets and satellite systems. Lockheed Martin is the biggest arms
producer in the world and one of the biggest in developing the missile defence
systems. SAAB SPACE is equipping most of the worlds launch vehicles with
satellite separation systems. SAAB Space is the leading manufacturer of
computers on board satellites on Space Rockets (Ariane systems) steering
systems for soundrockets exported to NASA. SAAB SPACE is the dominant
supplier for Galileo satellites. PRISMA- a flying high-tech space laboratory
will be launched this year at Esrange.
WHAT IS ESRANGE?
Esrange, some miles outside Kiruna,in northernmost Sweden, is the most active
ground-station for satellites in the world. The Space Corporation controls or
monitors 24 satellites from the satellite station in and around Esrange. That
means 92 satellite passages every 24 hour. The Space Corporation is in
alliance with US Corporation Universal Space Net - the Priora net. They
cooperate with Taiwan and the US to develop advanced techniques for real time
surveillance. Esrange cooperates with Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
Esrange has, together with NASA, conducted successful balloon flights from
Esrange to Alaska. They make big scientific
experiments called Anti Electron-Suborbital Payload and Transition Radiation
Array for Cosmic Energetic radiation. This is financed by NASA. Olle Norberg,
director for Esrange Space Center says: "We have a magnificent cooperation
with our American
partners. We can offer the researchers long distance balloon flights with
heavy instruments on board".
North European Aerospace Test Range - NEAT.
This is taken from the advertising folder for NEAT:
Located in the North of Sweden, NEAT, is the largest overland test range in
Western Europe. We offer our services and experience in consulting, trials
support and operations to the aerospace community. At NEAT, tests of different
aerospace vehicles have been performed since the mid-1950s. Missile tests can
be conducted by using a restricted ground space of 1650 km2, different
targets and drones, and a complete set of test instrumentation. Similarly,
sounding rocket and stratospheric balloon flights can be performed using
rocket launchers, ground facilities and a dedicated unpopulated ground area
covering 5200 km2. Two airfields that can be used by costumers are present in
the area with runway lengths of up to 2500 metres. 12000 km2 restricted
airspace is available for testing purposes over the range, with a possibility
to temporarily extend it to some 20.000 km2.
NEAT resources,( just a few examples):
RADAR systems, -stationary tracking radar, C-band. Mobile tracking radar,
X-band and C-band. Mobile impact position radar X-band. Mobile Doppler radar,
stationary atmospheric and meteor impact scientific radar. Optical tracking
systems: - Cinetheodolite systems - optical tracking platforms, - high speed
cameras. GPS systems-mobile differential GPS systems, GPS transponders. Target
systems: Remote controlled target drones, towed targets, ground targets remote
controlled, fixed ground targets, sea targets remote controlled. For more
information: www.neat.se
UAV and UCAV are tested at NEAT. UAV = Unmanned Aerial Vehicles UCAV =
Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles.
Onsala SIGINT- base
Some 40 kilometres, south of Gothenburg, Sweden, between an idyllic cliff
beach and a camping place, in Onsala, Rorvik, you can see 20 huge radar
dishes deployed on a meadow. It is the biggest signal-intelligence station in
Sweden. "These installations are for catching the terrorists and listening in
on satellites in the northern hemisphere. We have the authority to send
information to other counter intelligence services," says the director Jan-Olof
Grahn. He is waiting for the law to be passed this year which will admit to
listen on cables at the Swedish borders. These radars are for listening in
on
third world countries. The government, the military and the police are their
employer. Source Gothenburg's Independent Newspaper, July 7th 2007
NORWAY
Norway, bordering Russia, is one of the best equipped aircraft carriers for
the US with co-located operation bases from Sola in the South to Andoya in
the North, airfields where US stores fuel, spare parts and ammunition. In the
book, Oncel Sam's rabbits, 1981, Owen Wilkes and Nils Peter Gleditsch, gave a
horrifying picture of
all kinds of installations in Norway which served patrolling US nuclear
submarines and a magnitude of radar installations for control of Soviet Union
during the Cold War. We were made to believe that the SIGINT, SONAR, SOSUS-
installations were taken away when the cold war was over. They were not.
Instead, in the year 2000, a big radar was installed in Vardo, a few miles
outside the Russian border. It was presented by the authorities as a radar for
tracking space junk. The Norwegian journalist Inge Sellevag, found out that
the radar, originally installed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California,
US, and dismantled, had been used in test programmes for National Missile
Defence. The authorities in Norway denied that the radar had any connection or
purpose for missile defence.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists March/April 2000.
For Theodor Postol, a professor of science, technology and national security
policy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, there was no doubt what
purpose this radar should have. " The location of this radar is ideal for
collecting very precise data on Russian missile tests. The Vardo radar can
provide critical information for a national missile defence system aimed
specifically at Russia. The Vardo radar and the planned radar for Shemya
Island at the Aleutians, north of Japan, could, operating together, collect
precision radar signature data on virtually every phase of Russian tests of
missiles and decoys, within minutes of launch from Plesetsk test range, 150
miles south of the White Sea." In June,2000, Norwegian intelligence agency
admitted at last, that moving the radar to Vardo, US intended to use it as a
basis for the missile defence radar technology. The Target is Russia,
Professor Theodor Postol, Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists March/April 2000.
Fauske radar.
Not far from Bodo, in northern Norway, the US has a ground base for satellites
- Fauske radar station. Similar radar bases were set up in Turkey, Pakistan,
Japan in 1962-65.The constructions were sent from California, where Norwegian
technicians were educated in how to manage the radar station. The information
obtained by the radar should be directly transmitted to the US. The base's
main task was to listen in on all Soviet satellites and to get information
about Space Program and their missile defence. The Fauske station was
modernised by National Security Agency (NSA) in 1999-2000. No one was told why
and for what purpose. It is top-secret. It is difficult to know weather Fauske
is a part of National Missile Defence. But as Bruce Gagnon claims, all space
programs, inclusive navigation and intelligence installations, are parts of
warfare in space. Many, if not all, can be used for military purposes via
dual use.
Svalbard Ground Station.
From their own website:
The ground station at Svalbard is unique because it covers all 14 daily
passes of polar orbiting satellites, allowing for a more continuous download
of information. At this latitude one station provides complete coverage and
two stations are no longer required.
This is the main reason why the Norwegian Space Center (NSC) has
established SvalSat at Plataberget, near the town of Longyearbyen. SvalSat is
a general purpose station; operating, receiving data and disseminating
information from polar orbiting satellites, and will also be capable of
tracking sounding rockets and Early Orbit Support for orbital launches. The
Svalbard CDA site accommodation and station installation was completed in June
2003. The biggest costumer is NASA. SvalSat has close cooperation with the
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Andoya Rocket Range.
An Arctic Cape Canaveral. From their own website:
The Andoya Rocket Range is the worlds northernmost rocket launch facility.
The nearest competitor include Sweden's Esrange and Alaska Poker Flat. For
studying physical phenomena in the polar atmosphere, the Aurora Borealis, or
northern lights, Andoya is second to none. In August 2006, Andoya Rocket
Range opened its laboratories and research facilities to young people in an
European Space Camp. During one week champ 17-24 years old, from throughout
Europe, experienced Norway's sole operative space centre, guided by
professors, engineers and scientists. "The camp emphasized educational
excellence, but it also included unique entertainment, such as a whale safari
and seaside bathing under the midnight sun." ARR is a commercial operation
that derives its income from national and international tasks.
Galileo station in Antarctica.
In January 2008, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg inaugurated the
Galileo station in Antarctica.
In 2013 Europe introduces its own satellite based navigation system,
Galileo. The station will monitor the quality of Galileo's signals. It will be
the southernmost of 30 stations in the new navigation system. In his speech at
the opening ceremony, the prime minister emphasized that Galileo is Europe's
most important project in space, representing considerable business and
industry opportunity for the participating countries, both as suppliers for
Galileo and for other space projects. "It will ensure the leading position for
Norway in the years ahead", Mr. Stoltenberg said at the ceremony at the
Norwegian Troll station in the Antarctic. The Galileo station at Troll will,
together with a similar station at Svalbard, ensure that the navigation
signals are accurate and of premium quality."
Tromso
You find here Tromso Geophysical Observatory - the Auroral Observatory and the
Roald Amundsen Center for Arctic Research. Tromso is also the centre for polar
research. The University of Tromso in cooperation the Norwegian Research
Council, is responsible for the Norwegian involvement in EISCAT (European
Incoherent Scatter), an organisation for studies of the upper polar
atmosphere. The EISCAT-radar facility at Ramfjordmoen and the rocket -
launching station on Andoya represent the worlds most important concentration
of modern facilities for studies of the polar atmosphere and the Northern
Lights. A similar radar station is built in Longyearbyen on Svalbard.Tromso
satellite Station (TSS) is a Department of the Norwegian Space Center and a
national receiving station for the earth observation satellites NPAA, ERS-1
and JERS-1. Data from these satellites is used for surveillance and monitoring
of the Earth's environment and resources.
In Tromso there is also a ultra secret research programme initiated by US
Air Force & Navy to develop e new geo-physical weapon named HAARP. It
consists of extreme strong transmitters - ionospheric heaters to project
microwaves in the ionosphere. This beam will heat parts of the ionosphere and
lift it up.
(Source: Angels Donīt Play this HAARP, Jeane Manning & Nick Begic,1995.
Planet Earth, The Latest Weapon of War. Rosalie Bertell,2000.)
The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), is an
investigation project to "understand, simulate and control ionospheric
processes that might alter the performance of communication and surveillance
systems."
Norway part of National Missile Defence.
In secrecy, Norway has contributed to the development of the most
controversial weapon system in the world since launching of the Manhattan
Project (Tron Strand, Bergenīs Tidende May,2007). A Norwegian oil-rig is
used as a platform for the worlds most powerful radar which is essential for
the US Missile Defence. Moss Maritime Company- built the radar platform in
Viborg and cashed in millions of dollar - six billion Norwegian kronor- paid
by the US. The Norwegian government has declared that they will work for that
the missile defence will not be realised. Today the radar oil-rig platform is
deployed in Bering Sea.
(Source: Bergens Tidende, paper issue, May 13th 2007)
DENMARK
Greenland
The Thule Ballistic Missile early Warning Radar System (Thule BMEWS) is
located at the Thule Air Base in north-western Greenland. This base was US ear
and eyes during the cold war. The US had also nuclear weapons deployed at
Thule Air Force Base. The radar is today a key element of the U.S. defence
strategy and an essential part of the U.S. missile defence architecture. The
larger BMWS radar network includes radars located in Fylingdales, UK and
Clear, Alaska. In May 2004, the US and Denmark negotiated a deal to allow
Pentagon to upgrade the Thule BMEWS and use it in a chain of similar
installations stretching from Alaska to Australia. The Inuits (indigenous
people) fought fiercely against the upgrading of the radar and Russia raised
concerns, claiming that it threatened Russian security.
Radars upgraded in Denmark
According to Bo Elkjaer and Keenan Seabergh in an interview, 2000, the
Danish Armed Forces are expanding its secret surveillance facilities at
Skibsbylejren and Aflandshage - two radar bases in Denmark. Duncan Campbell,
journalist, UK, sees this as parts of a chain in illegal surveillance together
with other participants in the Echelon system. Everything indicates that the
large parabolic antennas and accompanying buildings are used in the same way
as the facilities in other countries: to intercept communication from
commercial satellites that transmit phone, emails and conversations of
ordinary people and forward the intercepted information.