The Joint Multichannel Trunking and Switching System (JMTSS): A Survivable and Endurable Theater-Wide Communications System for Use in a Wartime Situation

The Joint Chiefs of Staff tasked the Defense Communications Agency in conjunction with other agencies, the Services, and selected theater Commanders-in-Chief (CINCs) to develop a Joint Multichannel Trunking and Switching System (JMTSS) which fulfills the required operational capability of these CINCs. The result will be a communications architecture/system design, which has been optimized within the theaters and then integrated from a global viewpoint. This paper reflects where this task stands today in work efforts for the Commander-in-Chief Europe, the Commander-in-Chief Pacific, the Commander-in-Chief Readiness Command, and the Commander-in-Chief Central Command. Aspects which are being considered include infrastructure, threats, war plans, switching equipment, transmission equipment, technical control facilities, innovative technology, network management and system control. The fourteen key features and mid-range goals of the Worldwide Digital System Architecture are the primary sources of architectural guidance. The concept of a JMTSS is not a new one, but the role of theater-wide communications systems in the strategic planning of the Department of Defense is emerging in the form of CINC requirements. Hopefully, funding will be identified in the programs of Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence and the architecture will influence a coherent transition to an integrated set of programs. An informative baseline is contained herein, for the role of a JMTSS.