nro.gov
NRO declassifies JUMPSEAT: Cold War HEO SIGINT satellites revealed
The National Reconnaissance Office has declassified JUMPSEAT, a first‑generation high‑elliptical‑orbit signals‑intelligence program: eight satellites launched between 1971 and 1987 that loitered near the North Pole to collect electronic emissions from the Soviet Union. The disclosure provides new operational and orbital detail on U.S. Cold War SIGINT architecture.
