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In the second half of the 20th century, Dutch electronics giant Philips had
a special branch that manufactured equipment for the Dutch Department of
Defence: Philips Usfa.
Among other things, Usfa developed a wide range of cipher machines
that were used in The Netherlands and other NATO countries.
In the late 1980s Philips Usfa was merged with Philips subsidary Holland Signaal
and went on as Signaal USFA.
When Signaal was acquired by Thomson-CSF (now Thales) in 1990, the cryptography
department went back to Philips and continued as Philips Crypto as the Dutch
government wanted to have its own crypto-industry.
Finally, in 2003, Philips Crypto was closed due to lack of revenue and parts of
it were sold to other companies such as Fox-IT
and Compumatica.
 More about Philips Usfa/Crypto
Index of Philips crypto products
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Over the years, Philips developed a wide range of cipher machines, some of which
are listed below. Unfortunately, information about the machines is limited, as
the company no longer exists.
You can help us by providing additional information.
Philips cipher machines featured on this website:
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In 1959, Philips started development of the Ecolex-IV as the successor
of the Ecolex-I and II models.
Like the previous models, it is based on
the Vernam cipher, whereby the 5-bit data from the plain text tape
is mixed with a random cipher tape.
More information
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The Aroflex is one of the most successful crypto machines
ever built by Philips Usfa. It was developed
between 1976 and 1982 and over 4500 units were produced.
It uses a built-in crypto algorithm with a rather long key.
The machines were used by the Dutch government, the Dutch
Department of Defence, and the governments of some friendly
nations, such as Norway and Canada.
More information
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The Miniflex was developed by Philips between 1976 and 1982.
It was one of the first fully electronic cipher machines
built by Philips that was based on a microprocessor.
The version shown here was developed for civil applications
(hence the grey colour).
A military version, with a more advanced cryptographic algorithm
was sold as Picoflex UA-8035 (see below).
More information
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Picoflex was a fully electronic military-grade portable cipher
machine, developed by Philips Usfa between 1976 and 1982.
It was fully microprocessor-controlled and had a built-in sealed
NATO-approved hardware crypto module.
It was often contained in a green aluminium suitcase, together with
a matching thermal printer, an acoustic telephone coupler and a
radio interface.
More information
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Spendex-40 was the last of a series of crypto-based phones,
developed by Philips Usfa around 1980.
It was a high-grade cipher system that allowed the secure transmission of
voice, fax and computer messages over standard telephone lines.
It was used, for example, by the Dutch Army, the Dutch Government
and the major Dutch telecom operator PTT.
Spendex-40 was declassified in 2009.
More information
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PNVX Secure Crypto Phones
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PNVX was a series of secure crypto telephones and other
communication products, developed by Philips for secure voice, fax and data
communication over standard (analog) telephone lines. It was mainly intended
for use by the Dutch Government.
The PNVX has now largely been replaced by modern alternatives.
More information
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PFX Portable Radio with Crypto
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The Philips PFX-PM was a portable half-duplex radio with digital
encryption. It was based on a PFX radio, built by Philips
Radio Communication Systems (Philips RCS, formerly: Pye) in Cambridge (UK).
In 1990, Philips Usfa
developed the UP 2093 half-duplex crypto module
that fitted the extended version of the PFX radio.
More information
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Other Philips cipher machines
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Below is a list of crypto machines (both for text and voice) developed
and built by Philips. At present we don't have detailed information
about these machines.
You can help us by providing additional information.
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- Ecolex-I
- Ecolex-II
- Ecolex-X
- Tarolex
- Spendex-10
- Spendex-20
- Spendex-30/35
- Spendex-40
- BVO (ZODIAC)
- DBT (ZODIAC)
- Satcolex
- Mucolex
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| Designator |
Description |
Dutch Army |
NSN |
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| US 8015 |
Ecolex IV, mixer cipher machine |
Vh 40.1612.11 |
5810-17-704-3910 |
| UA 8021 |
Ecolex 20 (never issued) |
- |
- |
| UA 8084 |
Tarolex, key generator |
KL/TGA-3128 |
5810-17-027-8947 |
| UA 8040 |
Ecolex X, cipher machine |
KL/TGA-3572 |
? |
| UA 8041 |
Remote control unit of Ecolex X |
KL/TGA-3572 |
5810-17-036-7029 |
| UA 8451 |
Mucolex, multiplex encryptor |
KY 4651 |
5810-17-044-3508 |
| ? |
Dacolex (same as BVO-M, see below) |
KY 4753 |
? |
| ? |
BVO-M, part of ZODIAC |
KY 6127M |
? |
| UA 8246 |
Digital Secure Phone (Mil) |
? |
5805-17-056-9132 |
| UA 8251 |
Spendex 40, secure crypto phone (Mil) |
? |
? |
| UP 2017 |
PNVX 2017 secure crypto phone |
- |
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| UP 2093 |
PFX-PM half-duplex crypto module |
- |
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| UA 8035 |
Picoflex, portable cipher unit (Mil) |
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| UA 8036 |
Miniflex, portable cipher unit (civil) |
- |
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| UA 8116 |
Aroflex, off-line cipher machine |
BID 1100 |
- |
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