NESTOR (encryption)

NESTOR was a family of compatible, tactical, wideband secure voice systems developed by the U.S. National Security Agency and widely deployed during the Vietnam War (1955–1975) through the late Cold War period (1980s–1990s).

About 30,000 NESTOR equipments were produced prior to their replacement by the VINSON secure voice family.

The loader also had two larger index pins that also cocked a spring that would return each switch to its initial position when the door covering the hole matrix was reopened, zeroizing the equipment.

Equipment was issued to field units in Vietnam beginning in 1965 with the KY-8 for stationary or vehicular use; the KY-8 was fully distributed by the third quarter of the fiscal year 1968.

A variety of problems contributed to this rejection:[1]: Vol II, p.43ff While many in the U.S. military believed that the Viet Cong and NVA would not be able to exploit insecure communications, interrogation of captured communication intelligence units showed they were able to understand the Americans' jargon and informal codes in realtime and were often able to warn their side of impending U.S.