USASA Field Station Augsburg

File:Abhöranlage Gablingen.JPG

Aerial photograph of USASA Field Station Augsburg

United States Army Security Agency (USASA) Field Station Augsburg was the site of a Wullenweber AN/FLR-9 radio direction finder, established during the Cold War. Field Station Augsburg was located on Gablingen Kaserne, near the village of Gablingen just north of Augsburg in Bavaria, West Germany. It was one of nearly 20 Field Stations positioned strategically around the world by U.S. Armed Forces during the Cold War. Field Station Augsburg opened in 1971 and closed in 1998, at which time it was turned over to the German government. It was owned and managed by the National Security Agency and manned by the U.S. Army Security Agency (USASA), which later became U.S. Army INSCOM (Intelligence and Security Command), in conjunction with other branches of the U.S. Military and various allied forces. Personnel assigned to Field Station Augsburg were composed of individuals who scored high enough on the Army entrance exams to be classified as "ST" or a skilled technician, which is the Army's top-ranked job category. Field Station Augsburg was manned 24 hours a day, by means of rotating shifts, as part of the effort to ensure the safety and security of the U.S., as are any country's intelligence operations. There was a saying in the '70s that if the intelligence units were able to effectively do their job, the combat units wouldn't have to do theirs. The mission of USAFSA was to monitor the communications of Cold War enemy nations, their allies, and client states around the world. The information gathered was time-sensitive and, based on its importance and classification, that information was collected, analyzed and passed through intelligence channels on a "real-time" basis.

Personnel assigned to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Operations Battalions, and their successor Military Intelligence (MI) units (701st MI Brigade - 711th, 712th, 713th, & 714th MI Battalions respectively) at Field Station Augsburg served as Morse and non-Morse Cryptologists, Voice Intercept, and Radio Direction-Finding Operators, as well as Traffic Analysts and Cryptanalysis/Cryptanalytic Technicians.

The 66th Military Intelligence Brigade was relocated to nearby Augsburg and also manned the station from 1986 until U.S. operations at the station ultimately ceased in 1998.

With the end of the Cold War, Field Station Augsburg lost much of its strategic value. It is currently reputedly used by the Bundesnachrichtendienst [1].

External links

• Field Station Augsburg Reunion Site
• Army.Mil Field Station Augsburg Established 1970
• 2ND OPNS BN Yahoo Webgroup
• 3RD OPNS 1974-1977 Yahoo Webgroup
• INSCOM Army Military 66th MI Battalion