In the early 1980s, the ACC (Allied Clandestine Committee), attached to NATO headquarters SHAPE in Mons (Belgium), decided to develop a pan-European communication system for all stay-behind organisations in Europe, including non-NATO countries such as Sweden and Switzerland.



In the early days of the Cold War, it was believed that the governments of most European countries would make their way to England when their countries were invaded by the Soviets. For this reason, some Harpoon FS-5000 sets were installed there. Later, when nuclear weapons became available to the USSR, the general consent was that the European goverments would escape to the US. Arrangments were therefore made, to have some FS-5000 radio sets in the US as well. These sets were delivered to the American National Security Agency (NSA) . The FS-5000 was suitable for this, as it was specified for a range of 6000 km!



As it was impossible for the (secret) stay-behind organisations to deal directly with Telefunken, the German intelligence service ( BND ) acted as a facade and ordered 854 units from Telefunken , for a total amount of 130 million German Marks (equivalent to 65 million Euros) [4]. The first sets were delivered in 1988, and by March 1991 all FS-5000 radio sets had been delivered to the various countries [6]. Stay-behind personnel was trained on the new radio and the first long-range field tests (LOR) were successfully completed in 1990 [6]. Shortly afterwards, after a series of scandals, most European countries decided to dismantle their stay-behind organisation.



By the end of 1992, Gladio had become history. All field agents had been detached and the Harpoon radio sets (FS-5000) were collected and stored. As the cost of development of the FS-5000 was quite substantial, a new destination was sought for some of the equipment.