JUMPSEAT, also known as AFP-711 is a code name for a class of highly elliptical orbit SIGINT reconnaissance satellites operated by the National Reconnaissance Office for the United States Air Force in the 1970s and 1980s, and retired from use in 2006. These satellites were developed under Project EARPOP during the 1960s and early 1970s Some program details were declassified in December 2025. Satellites
The JUMPSEAT satellites had the purpose of collecting electronic signals to provide information about adversarial countries weapon systems capabilities. This was a continuation of preexisting satellite constellations such as Grab or Poppy. Gathered data was downlinked to ground stations within the United States.
The Jumpseat satellites were manufactured by Hughes Aircraft and were inserted into highly elliptical Molniya orbits with an inclination of 63 degrees and orbital periods of close to 12 hours. These were in similar orbits to the Satellite Data System relay satellites.
The successors to the Jumpseat series are the Trumpet satellites.
List of satellite launches Eight JUMPSEAT satellites with mission numbers 7701 to 7708 were launched between March 21, 1971, and February 12, 1987, from Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 4 West (SLC-4W) on Titan IIIB launch vehicles with Agena D boosters.
There was one failure (OPS 1844, on February 16, 1972), when the second satellite's Agena malfunctioned and left the satellite in a useless orbit. +List of JUMPSEAT launches Name COSPAR IDSATCAT No. Launch date(UTC) Launch vehicle Result OPS 4788 1971-021A05053 March 21, 197103:45 Titan III(33)B OPS 1844 N/A February 16, 197209:59 Titan III(33)B OPS 7724 1973-056A06791 August 21, 197316:07 Titan III(33)B OPS 2439 1975-017A07687 March 10, 197504:41 Titan III(34)B OPS 6031 1978-021A10688 February 25, 197805:00 Titan III(34)B OPS 7225 1981-038A12418 April 24, 198121:32 Titan III(34)B OPS 7304 1983-078A14237 July 31, 198315:41 Titan III(34)B USA-21 1987-015A 17506 February 12, 198706:40 Titan III(34)B
References
General Richelson, Jeffrey T. ed. U.S. Military Uses of Space, 1945-1991 Vol 1, Guide. National Security Archive. 1991.
External links Entry at astronautix.com Entry at Gunter's space page Log of satellite launches from Jonathan's Space Report JUMPSEAT - SIGINT Spacecraft Series (NRO/USAF/ NSA - Program AFP-711) at GlobalSecurity.org