KH-11 KENNAN

The KH-11 KENNEN, renamed CRYSTAL in 1982 and according to leaked NRO budget documentation currently going by the codename of Evolved Enhanced CRYSTAL (EEC) (but also referenced by the codenames 1010, and "Key Hole"), is a type of reconnaissance satellite first launched by the American National Reconnaissance Office in December 1976. Manufactured by Lockheed in Sunnyvale, California, the KH-11 was the first American spy satellite to use electro-optical digital imaging, and create a real-time optical observation capability.

Later KH-11 satellites have been referred to by outside observers as KH-11B or KH-12, and by the names "Advanced KENNEN", "Improved Crystal" and "Ikon". Official budget documents refer to the latest generation of Electro-Optical satellites as Evolved Enhanced CRYSTAL System. The Key Hole series was officially discontinued in favor of a random numbering scheme after repeated public references to KH-7 Gambit, KH-8 Gambit-3, KH-9 Hexagon, and KH-11 satellites. KH-11 satellites are believed to have been the source of some imagery of the Soviet Union and China made public in 1997, as well as images of Sudan and Afghanistan made public in 1998 that were related to the response to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings.

The Film Read-Out GAMBIT (FROG) served as NRO Program A's competitor to NRO Program B's initial electro-optical imagery (EOI) satellite.

Data is transmitted through a network of communications satellites; the Satellite Data System. The initial ground station for the processing of the electro-optical imaging was a secret National Reconnaissance Office facility in Area 58, located in the continental United States according to the NRO, and more precisely in Fort Belvoir according to other sources.

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