In the 1960s satellites became an increasingly important component of signals intelligence (SIGINT). Only two countries utilized satellites for signals and military intelligence, the United States and the Soviet Union, and as a consequence the United Kingdom created Skynet as its own military communications satellite. The Skynet satellite also provided secure and encrypted facilities for the British armed forces. The largest user of the Skynet satellites was the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), who were responsible for more than 80% of the communications traffic that was subsequently returned to the United Kingdom. Despite the enormous communications capability of Skynet, GCHQ still found the capacity provided by Skynet to be inadequate. In 1972 GCHQ was still the satellites