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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, called: 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.
More...
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.
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In 2003, the tide turned for Philips Crypto and the company
was closed due to lack of revenue.
Parts of it were sold to other companies such as Fox-IT
and Compumatica.
Philips Crypto devices have had a very long life span. Although most machines
are no longer approved for secure communication,
some units were still in use in 2010.
Philips crypto equipment featured on this website:
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Developed but never released products:
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Over the years, Philips Crypto 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.
The following Philips cipher machines are featured on this website.
Click any of the images for further information:
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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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Ecolex 20 was a data encryption unit, developed by Philips Usfa BV
in Eindhoven (Netherlands) in the mid-1980s.
It was aimed as the successor to the Ecolex-X, but
according to some reports it was never taken into production.
It is also known as the Dacolex 15.
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 Aroflex was intended as the successor to the original
Aroflex (see above). The fully electronic teletype
unit was built by Siemens, whilst Philips developed the crypto units.
Unfortunately, development took too long and the machine hit the market
too late. As a result, only very few of them were actually sold.
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-10 was the first voice encryption unit
developed by Philips Usfa around 1970.
It used Delta Modulation combined with a 60-bit stream cipher
and was intended for use in combination with the RT-3600
radio that was used by the Dutch Armed Forces.
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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Spendex 50 was a wide band digital voice and data terminal
used by the Dutch Armed Forces as part of the ZODIAC communications network.
It uses Delta Modulation for speech and was NATO-approved.
It is also known as DBT.
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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The UA8296 was a small hand-held military-grade message terminal, intended
for sending secure text-based messages over a narrow band radio channel,
using Audio Frequency Shift Keying (AFSK).
It was in fact a rebadged Nokia PARSA, that was mainly sold to the Dutch
Department of Defence (DoD) as a handl-held patrol terminal.
More information
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PX-1000 was a pocket-size hand-held message terminal that could be used for
sending secure message over standard telephone lines, using a built-in acoustic
coupler.
Although the PX-1000 was manufactured by Text Lite in Ireland, it was (partly)
marketed and sold by Philips Netherlands. Philips also helped to improve the
encryption algorithm used by the PX-1000.
More information
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History of cipher machines
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The cryptographic activities of Philips Usfa
started in 1956, when they
built the first electronic One-Time Tape (OTT)
cipher machine, that was
developed by the PTT (Dutch Post Office). The overview below, lists the
most important milestones in the history of Philips Crypto, from the
beginning in 1956 to their most successful period in 1982.
Unfortunately, we have no information about the period 1982-2003
at present.
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Philips' involvement with cryptographic equipment started in 1956
when they were contracted to build the first generation
valve-based OTT
cipher machines, developed by the PTT (Dutch Post Office): the
ECOLEX I.
Only 25 ECOLEX I machines were ever built.
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At the same time (1956), the PTT had developed a Random Number
Generator (RNG) for the production of key tapes for the ECOLEX I.
Like the ECOLEX I, the valve-based EROLET
was produced by Philips.
Only 10 EROLET machines were ever built.
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A few years later, in 1960, finishes development of the first transistor-based
version of the ECOLEX I, called the ECOLEX II.
Between 1960 and 1963,
Philips built approx. 120 of theseECOLEX II units.
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In 1959, development is started of the first all-Philips cipher machine:
the ECOLEX IV.
It is the first OTT machine (mixer) with built-in
synchronization. Over 750 units are sold to the Dutch Army and to NATO.
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TROL was developed between 1962 and 1965.
The intention was to replace
the OTT key tape by a Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG)
TROL stands for Tape Rotorless Off-Line, and was a combination of
ECOLEX IV, TAROLEX and SIMILEX. The ECOLEX IV was modified and lost one
of its tape readers.
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TAROLEX was a key stream generator that used an
Usfa algorithm for the PRNG. SIMILEX was a unit for editing the key settings
in a communication network.
TROL took part in a NATO evaluation, but lost the competition to ALVIS
(BID 610). Parts of TROL would be used later (see below).
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ECOLEX X
(sometime written as ECOLEX 10), was an improved all-in-one
version of TROL, developed under contract with the Dutch Army.
It was developed from 1965 to 1972, after which 388 units were produced.
Some units were delivered to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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Whilst ECOLEX-X was under development,
the Dutch Army wanted a similar solution for the remaining
ECOLEX-IV units. Between 1966 and 1967,
Philips therefore developed TAROLEX,
which was based on the earlier TROL developements.
It was used to replace the key-tape reader of the
ECOLEX IV by a key stream generator (PRNG).
In total, 151 TAROLEX units were built.
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At the same time, a coupling filter (KOPPELFILTER) was developed to
use the TAROLEX with the older ECOLEX II
units and make the combination TEMPEST-proof.
Only 30 of these filters were ever built.
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Between 1960 and 1976, Philips conducted a range of experiments with
voice cryptography for the Dutch Army, under the name:
SPENDEX 10.
It was a wide-band voice crypto system for tactical radio networks,
using Delta-Modulation (CVSD) and a key-generation called:
Crypto Text Auto Key.
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SPENDEX 20
SPENDEX 20 was a first attempt at narrow-band voice cryptography.
It was developed between 1969 and 1971 and used an Ericsson vocoder with
an Usfa-developed crypto unit. When Philips lost NATO evaluation NABSVOS
to ELCROVOX (AEG and Siemens), SPENDEX 20 was withdrawn in return
for co-production of ELCROVOX.
It marked the start of further co-operation with AEG and Siemens.
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MUCOLEX was a 1Mb multi-channel cipher unit, developed between 1970
and 1977 under contract with the Dutch Army. By 1982, approx 550 units
were sold to the Dutch Army, the Dutch Air Force and to the Army of Greece.
MUCOLEX would later also be part of ZODIAC.
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SATCOLEX
SATCOLEX was an 8Mb multi-channel cipher unit, developed between 1975 and 1977,
for NATO evaluation HISPEED. Shortly before the actual evaluation,
SATCOLEX was withdrawn in return for co-production of the winning American
WALBURN system (KG-81 with peripherals). It marked the start of a relationship
with the American NSA.
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SPENDEX 30 was a low-cost narrow-band voice cipher
system, based on a Format Vocoder developed by Philips Research (Nat Lab).
A civil version (SPENDEX 35) was developed for the Belgian Police.
It was produced by Belgian Philips daughter MBLE (except for the crypto module).
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AROFLEX
was an off-line teletype-based cipher machine, developed between 1974 and
1982 for NATO evaluation CEROFF,
as a possible replacement
for the American KL-7 (Adonis, Pollux).
At the end of 1982, over 2500 units had already been produced.
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PICOFLEX
was a fully-electronic minature cipher machine, developed between
1976 and 1982. Using the CEROFF standard, it was compatible with
AROFLEX
and RACE.
A civil variant was called MINIFLEX.
By the end of 1982, over 300 units had already been produced.
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Between 1979 and 1982, Philips Usfa worked on the so-called
HISPEED project,
under NATO contract. It was a co-production order of the
American WALBURN system (KG-81) that Philips had won when giving up the
SATCOLEX project in 1977.
By the end of 1982, 95 complete systems had already been delivered.
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ZODIAC
was the codename of a new integrated communication network of the Dutch Army.
Philips Usfa was contracted to develop and build parts of this new network.
Development was started in 1980 and the system became operational in 1987.
The last units were delivered in 1991.
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BVO-M was a 1 Mb/s rack-mount multi-channel cipher system, designed as part of
the ZODIAC project. It was compatible with the
earlier MUCOLEX.
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BVO-T was a 2 Mb/s rack-mount multi-channel cipher system, designed as part of
the ZODIAC project. It was compatible with the
standard TED (KG-81).
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SPENDEX 50 was a 16kb wide-band voice entryption device
and data terminal, housed inside a military-grade phone terminal.
In 1980, Usfa started development of the crypto heart of this device.
The Dutch Army called the DBT (Digitaal Beveiligd Telefoontoestel,
Digital Secure Telephone).
It is also known as UA-8328 and DWBST 55.
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SPENDEX 40 was a narrow-band voice encryption device
for use on standard telephone networks. It used an LPC vocoder and looked
like a rather bulky telephone set. Development started in 1980 and was
supported by the Dutch Government.
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The early 1980s were arguably the most successful years of Philips Usfa.
Many new machines were introduced and development of the highly-acclaimed
ZODIAC project had just started.
In the period after 1982, many more cyrotopgrahic products were developed
and introduced, but unfortunately, we have no detailed information about
that period. Below is a non-exhausive list of cipher systems from the
post-1982 era.
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| Designator |
Description |
Dutch Army |
NSN |
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| Us 8011 |
Ecolex II, mixer machine |
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| Us 8015 |
Ecolex IV, mixer cipher machine |
Vh 40.1612.11 |
5810-17-704-3910 |
| UA 8021 |
Ecolex 20 (Dacolex 15) |
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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 8040 |
Ecolex X, cipher machine |
KL/TGA-3572 |
? |
| UA 8041 |
Remote control unit of Ecolex X |
KL/TGA-3572 |
5810-17-036-7029 |
| UA 8116 |
Aroflex, off-line cipher machine |
BID 1100 |
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| UA 8301 |
Spendex 10, military voice crypto |
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| UA 8084 |
Tarolex, key generator |
KL/TGA-3128 |
5810-17-027-8947 |
| UA-8257 |
Dacolex (same as BVO-M, see below) |
KY 4753 |
? |
| ? |
BVO-M, part of ZODIAC |
KY 6127M |
? |
| UA 8246 |
Spendex 50, DBT crypto phone |
? |
5805-17-055-9132 |
| UA 8251 |
Spendex 40, secure crypto phone (Mil) |
? |
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| UA 8295 |
Short Burst Terminal (Nokia SANLA) |
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| UA 8296 |
Hand-held Patrol Terminal (Nokia PARSA) |
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? |
| UA 8451 |
Mucolex, multiplex encryptor |
KY 4651 |
5810-17-044-3508 |
| UP 2017 |
PNVX 2017 secure crypto phone |
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| UP 2093 |
PFX-PM half-duplex crypto module |
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| UP 2101 |
DS-201 compatible key fill device |
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© Copyright 2009-2011, Paul Reuvers & Marc Simons. Last changed: Tue,27 Dec 2011.17:44:49
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