Station HYPO

Kami Seya from the 1960s to 1995

The NSG station at Kami Seya was organized as NSG Activity, Kami Seya, on January 15, 1960.
At that date it had approximately 1,500 people assigned. It underwent numerous changes over the next 30 years, with respect its organization, roles, and equipment.  In September 1965, Kami Seya was the largest NSG station in the world, with more than 1,000 officers and enlisted personnel. However, its status wavered and was redesignated as a detachment  of NSGA Misawa from 1971 to 1984, when Misawa was recommissioned as an Activity.

DF Antennas Systems Upgraded

The interception and DF antenna systems were substantially upgraded in the early 1960s. In 1963, the old AN/FLR-7 CDAA was upgraded to a state of the art AN/FLR-11 CDAA, which utilized elements developed for the first AN/FRD-10(V) CDAA system, and the AN/FRA-44 recorder/analyses sub-system was replaced with an AN/FRA-54 subsystem. The high-band elements of the AN/GRD-6 were also upgraded with some of the prototype elements from the first AN/FRD-10(V) system in the early 1960s. This enabled Kami Seya to participate in the world-wide Classic Bullseye HFDF network, which was otherwise limited to stations with AN/FRD-10 systems. A Bullseye Data Transfer Sub-System (BDTSS) was installed in the Tunnel. It used AN/FRR-60 dual diversity radio receivers and AN/FGC-60 teletype multiplexers to receive Bullseye data from other stations in the Western Pacific HFDF Net.

COMSEC is the New Mission

In August 1964, NSGA Kami Seya was assigned major new communications security (COMSEC) missions. As its unit history for 1964 noted, COMSEC 702 Unit at Kami Seya has been assigned responsibility for coordinating the transmission monitoring, cryptomonitoring, traffic analysis, frequency measurement and communications security training programs conducted by all WESTPAC communications security components. In addition to these roles, it became the second-echelon COMSEC Processing and Reporting Center for the Western Pacific. The unit initially comprised four officers and 40 enlisted men.

Kami Seya Maintained Several detachments in Japan

NSGA Kami Seya maintained several detachments elsewhere in Japan through the 1960s. A detachment was maintained at Hakata from May 1959 until Hakata was elevated to an NSG Activity itself in July 1967. Another was located at Sasebo from December 1957 to July 1968. A detachment was established for DF purposes at Misawa on 5 January 1962. It was inactivated on February 20, 1963, but was reactivated soon after the fire in September 1965. One was located at the USASA’s 12th Field Station at Chitose, Hokkaido, around 1962-63; it reciprocated with an ASA detachment at Kami Seya, which became operational in January 1960.

Another detachment was established at Yokosuka on August 1, 1969, where it remained until Yokosuka became an NSG Activity in June 1995. Personnel from Kami Seya visited the Yokosuka detachment frequently, to borrow equipment, to get equipment repaired, or for social reasons. NSGA Kami Seya also provided the Navy Element at the PACOM ELINT Center at nearby Fuchu Air Base.  Detachment 2 of the U.S. Air Force Security Service’s (USAFSS’s) 6988th Radio Squadron Mobile (RSM) based at Fuchu was stationed at Kami Seya from 1 July 1955 to 16 January 1962.

Source:
Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability, 23 December 2015