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56-417: The full development of JTIDS commenced in 1981 when a contract was placed with Singer-Kearfott (later GEC-Marconi Electronic Systems, now BAE Systems E&IS ). Fielding proceeded slowly throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s with rapid expansion (following 9/11 ) in preparation for Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Development is now carried out by Data Link Solutions ,

112-664: A combat unit. This capability, however needs to be used sparingly and carefully so that the primary JTIDS objective is not compromised. JTIDS began with an advanced planning study sponsored by the Air Force Electronic Systems Division (ESD) Advanced Plans (XR) at L.G. Hanscom Air Force Base . The study was conducted by the MITRE Corporation in 1967 and the principal investigators were Vic Desmarines who later became MITRE President and Gordon Welchman who had been instrumental in breaking

168-473: A considerable period during JTIDS conception as many as 50 people were employed full-time in its development with as many as 50 more in part-time supporting roles. In the ensuing years the program has transitioned from an intensive development effort to a more classical acquisition effort. Development has continued but efforts have been oriented more toward incorporation of breakthroughs in technology and efforts to improve quality and reduce size, weight and cost. In

224-507: A joint BAE / Rockwell Collins company, ViaSat , and the MIDS International consortium. JTIDS is one of the family of radio equipment implementing what is called Link 16 . Link 16, a highly-survivable radio communications design to meet the most stringent requirements of modern combat, provides reliable Situational Awareness (SA) for fast-moving forces. Link 16 equipment has proven, in detailed field demonstrations as well as in

280-425: A radical architecture where elements that had critical information could broadcast it and units that needed the information could selectively process what was of immediate value. This was a significant departure from the circuit-oriented communications architectures then in use and a way to eliminate overcrowding and confusion in the radio nets used to interconnect aircraft and some ground forces. A second recommendation

336-754: A second wave of defense efforts—the construction of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) and a survivable new command center for the North American Air Defense Command in the underground Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado. New weapons systems and space platforms led to enlarged ESD C3 programs. ESD’s first radar systems were ground-based, but in the 1960s, the organization expanded into airborne radar systems. In overcoming

392-464: A technical team to pursue these ideas. Early on it became apparent that the CASOFF architecture was sufficiently radical that a "proof of concept" activity was needed to better understand and ultimately demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of such an approach. The demonstration system used a synchronized Time Division Multiple Access architecture and incorporated position location as an integral part of

448-641: A unique and precious resource that does a specific and necessary job better than any other system. For emerging communications needs they should be evaluated and if the specific JTIDS benefits are not needed the problem should be solved by a more conventional approach. JTIDS is bound by a set of parameters dictated by its unique properties in a way that makes it extremely difficult to make significant adjustments to its parameters. It has sufficient capacity to accomplish its primary task (situational awareness) and has some modest additional capacity to accommodate communication tasks that would not justify adding more equipment to

504-429: Is going and combat elements can filter the composite data stream to extract exactly what they need (and no more). One could argue that this is inefficient since more information is being conveyed over the network that any single user wants or needs but given the inability to precisely coordinate information sources and information users JTIDS is the only available architecture that meets the information distribution needs of

560-567: The AWACS and JSTARS deployment in Desert Storm , the capability of basic Link 16 to exchange user data at 115 kbit/s, error-correction -coded. (Compare this to typical tactical systems at 16 kbit/s, which also have to accommodate overheads in excess of 50% to supply the same transmission reliability.) While principally a data network, Link 16 radios can provide high quality voice channels and navigation services as accurate as any in

616-627: The Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC) and the Air Armament Center (AAC), will be consolidated into the new Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (LCMC). This, along with other measures, will save up to $ 109 million for the Air Force annually. The new LCMC will be headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB . The highest-ranking officer at Hanscom AFB after the reorganization will be a major general, who will be

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672-800: The Air Force Systems Command and the Air Force Logistics Command were merged to form the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC). ESD was re-designated the Electronic Systems Center (ESC), and the organization was placed under the new AFMC. Two years later, ESC was enlarged to become the AFMC Center of Excellence for Command and Control, with headquarters at Hanscom. Several geographically separated units were added to

728-781: The Boeing E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS), developed in the 1970s, and the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS), developed in the 1980s. The Electronic Systems Center served into five decades as the Air Force's organization for developing and acquiring Command and Control (C2) systems. As of December 2004, ESC managed approximately two hundred programs ranging from secure communications systems to mission planning systems. ESC had an annual budget of over $ 3 billion and more than eighty-seven hundred personnel. In addition to

784-563: The MITRE Corporation (1958) had worked to bring the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) air defense system to completion. The pioneering integrated radar and computer technology that was developed for SAGE also contributed significantly to the development of air traffic control systems. ESD had an original portfolio of thirteen Command, Control and Communications (C3) systems. The appearance of ballistic missiles to carry nuclear warheads spurred

840-610: The Program Executive Officer for the C3I and Networks AFPEO. The main purpose of the reorganization is to eliminate excess headquarter and staff type positions throughout AFMC. The ESC deactivation ceremony took place on 16 July 2012 and from that point forward Hanscom AFB was part of the AFLCMC. Fort Franklin ( 42°28′22″N 71°18′12″W  /  42.4729°N 71.3033°W  / 42.4729; -71.3033 )

896-490: The "NI" node-to-node protocols as well as one or more of the ICD-compliant user interfaces. In a typical theater of operations combat forces and elements that are deployed to gather information tend to be scattered, are not always associated with a single unit, may even belong to different services and are not always well coordinated. As a result considerable information may exist about both friendly and enemy forces but

952-670: The Air Force Tactical Fighter Weapons Center. A pair of jet instrument trainers were equipped with F-15 like displays and were used to evaluate display techniques and understand pilot work load and benefits. Ellingson was promoted to Associate Technical Director of the MITRE Command and Control Division in 1979, became Technical Director for the MITRE Communications Division in 1982 and in 1986 Technical Director for

1008-847: The Air Force, ESC works with other branches of the United States Department of Defense , the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and foreign governments. Due to AFMC restructuring ESC was inactivated on 1 October 2012. ESC was originally activated as

1064-669: The British global defence contractor BAE Systems PLC . BAE Systems acquired Lockheed Martin Aerospace Electronic Systems (AES) and Lockheed Martin Control Systems in 2000. BAE Systems Electronic Systems was formed in June 2005 by an internal reorganisation of these businesses. Lockheed had identified AES as a candidate for disposal following a strategic review in 1999. BAE Systems agreed to acquire

1120-520: The ESC. ESC was the home of most of the new command and control technologies being sent to the war, but was getting a bad reputation for the lack of quality in the systems sent to the war. He decided to hold a technical exercise to emulate a deployed headquarters using the equipment ESC was producing, and test the reports. The technical exercise went live in July 1994. The encampment used a patch of grass near

1176-738: The Electronic Systems Division (ESD) on 1 April 1961 at Laurence G. Hanscom Field in Bedford, MA . ESD was placed under the newly established Air Force Systems Command . The Electronic Systems Division had emerged after a decade of efforts to meet a major post-war threat to the North American continent—attack by long-range, nuclear-armed bombers. At Hanscom Field, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ’s new Lincoln Laboratory (1951) and later

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1232-513: The German Enigma machine code as the head of " Hut 6 " at Bletchley Park , England. Gordon wrote a book titled "The Hut 6 Story" which described his activities and contains some additional information about his work at MITRE. The study concluded that on the battlefield valuable information was available that was not getting to the combat forces that needed it because of fundamental deficiencies in communications architecture. Gordon suggested

1288-645: The JTIDS or its follow-on Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) terminals. The TADIL-J message format forms the basis for the mandates in the DoD Tactical Data Link Management Plan. There are benefits to the full-scale implementation of the two key elements of Link-16: (1) the message "catalog" and (2) the specific radio waveform (i.e., frequency hopped, Lx-band CPSM, spread-spectrum and Reed–Solomon coding , omni-directional broadcast). Link 16 terminals implement

1344-469: The JTIDS system has been a long time in development most of the technology is still "state of the art" and the system should be viable for the foreseeable future. JTIDS is also used by other members of NATO . BAE Systems Electronics and Integrated Solutions BAE Systems Electronic Systems (ES) is one of three operating groups of BAE Systems Inc. , the North American subsidiary of

1400-821: The MITRE CASOFF demonstration system could do the job. Ellingson responded in the affirmative and immediately set about to implement the needed interfaces with the various NATO systems and equipping a KC135 aircraft that was to be used as a relay. In 1973 the AWACS demonstration took place with interfaces to the British Linesman system, the French Strida II system, the NATO Ground Environment System in Germany and an element of

1456-724: The MITRE Command and Control Division. During this period he did not have day-to-day management responsibility for the program but did have oversight responsibility. Ellingson retired from MITRE in 1989. JTIDS was not created by a single individual. Rather it was the culmination of a group of individuals each having expertise in specific disciplines including but not limited to system engineering, operational analysis, cost benefit analysis, message standards, software development, communications, signal processing, vulnerability analysis, error detection and correction, antenna design, multipath analysis, electromagnetic compatibility mechanical engineering, navigation, specification generation and others. For

1512-538: The U.S. 407L Tactical Command and Control System in Belgium and 407L systems at Sembach and Neu Ulm in Germany. An Army NIKE site at the Fliegerhorst Caserne near Hanau Germany was also equipped. The demonstration was very successful and generated great NATO interest in both AWACS and JTIDS. During this period the name of the program underwent several iterations. John Klotz didn't like acronyms and dubbed

1568-539: The center. At one time, the 66th Air Base Wing , 350th Electronic Systems Wing , 551st Electronic Systems Wing , 554th Electronic Systems Wing , and 653d Electronic Systems Wing all reported to the ESC Commander. Since the later years of the Cold War , ESC worked to upgrade its key radar , command center, and communications systems. The decade of the 1990s presented new challenges for the expanded Center in

1624-970: The communications process. Because funds were extremely limited every effort was made to use already available equipment. Transmitters were surplus AN/APX-25 IFF transponders and data processing was accomplished using surplus IBM 4piTC-2 computers that were obtained from the F-111 terrain avoidance program. The unique components called the Control and Display Units (CDU) were built in the MITRE laboratory. By 1970 an operating TDMA system had been constructed and ground stations were installed at Boston Hill in Andover MA, Millstone Hill in Groton MA, MITRE in Bedford, MA and Prospect Hill in Waltham, MA . An airborne terminal

1680-619: The company to manage efficiently." BAE Systems Electronic Systems reports its sales under the following headings, 86% of which were to military customers in 2020: ES produces electronic warfare (EW) systems for combat aircraft, for example for the F-35 Lightning II . Military communications. This includes the Airborne Tactical Radio business acquired from Raytheon . GPS products and weapon parts, for example seekers for THAAD missiles. The GPS business

1736-438: The design. At the time this was done, there was concern that operators who were used to dealing with conventional communications would gravitate toward replicating the circuits they were used to over JTIDS at the expense of the new and more responsive architecture. To some degree this seems to have happened. I don't know how to fix it but the capacity concerns and overloading are a symptom of this problem. JTIDS needs to be viewed as

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1792-503: The development of network-centric warfare and provide an asymmetric force advantage. The ESC pursued a major initiative to standardize and upgrade C2ISR capabilities at Air Operations Centers , with the goal of realizing the Aerospace Operations Center of the future. Due to a major AFMC restructuring announced on 2 November 2011, ESC was to be inactivated no later than 1 October 2012. The role of ESC, along with

1848-480: The early 1990s the Navy took over the executive management of the program. As the program has expanded throughout the U.S services and NATO a great deal on operational innovation has occurred driven by the basic flexibility of the architecture and the imagination of the operational user. As a result, the operational utility of the system has been enhanced over what was originally envisioned by the early developers. Although

1904-506: The elements that possess that information often are not aware of the combat units who need it. Conversely, combat elements need information about both friendly and enemy forces but have no knowledge about who has it. Classically these "disconnects" have often made the difference between success and failure of a particular military mission. Conventional circuit oriented communications cannot solve this problem. With JTIDS people who have information can broadcast it without explicitly knowing where it

1960-465: The end of the runway . Using tents, trailers, and communication vans inside a guarded perimeter, the area was quickly dubbed “Fort Franklin.” It was staffed by engineers from every program office and a few junior military. Major Steve Zenishek, with recent Gulf War experience, became the installation “commander” and was able to show off that the great capability indeed worked fine alone, but unfortunately didn't work well with others. Rather than take

2016-646: The expertise that had created this success, LtGen Franklin established an ongoing experimentation facility at Hanscom known as the Command & Control (C2) Unified Development Environment (CUBE). CUBE was later renamed the C2 Engineering and Integration Facility (CEIF). The experience of Fort Franklin was instrumental in development in 1997 of the Air Force's major experiment, the Expeditionary Force Experiment (EFX 98), which became

2072-442: The failure as a defeat, General Franklin used it to encourage the staff to rebuild the systems under development to interoperate . Subsequently, by the time the second Fort Franklin occurred on 1–16 May 1995, the systems were beginning to communicate. For the first time, the results of calculations performed by one system were transferred automatically to another system for further interpretation or processing. Not wanting to lose

2128-493: The form of regional conflicts, joint and coalition engagements, terrorism, and asymmetric warfare . In response, ESC developed programs to work towards integration and interoperability in C2 systems. By presenting systems in action via several interactive C2 demonstrations, ESC engaged in ongoing dialogue with its customers. The Center then undertook a major restructure of its acquisition processes starting in 1996. “ Spiral development ”

2184-515: The group in July and completed its acquisition of AES on 27 November 2000. The group encompassed Sanders Associates , Fairchild Systems and Lockheed Martin Space Electronics & Communications. The purchase of this group by BAE has been described as "precedent setting" given the advanced and classified nature of many of that company's products. In August 2004 BAE acquired Boeing Commercial Electronics for $ 66 million (£36m). This

2240-497: The insertion of new C2 and information technology. At the same time, its work on standardizing C2 infrastructure and creating architectures laid the groundwork for further system integration. In 2001, the Air Force gave ESC the lead responsibility to integrate its command and control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems—the C2 Enterprise Integration. Integrated C2ISR capabilities will enable

2296-446: The inventory. Every Link 16 user can identify itself to other similarly equipped platforms at ranges well beyond what Mark XII Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) systems can provide. Additionally, Link 16-equipped platforms capable of identification through other means (such as radar and TENCAP Blue Force Tracking ) can pass that "indirect" identification data as part of its SA exchange. The capabilities of Link 16 are best represented by

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2352-403: The modern battlefield. There are situations where specific circuit oriented communications are necessary. For instance the transmission of a command to a combat unit to attack a specific target. It is also reasonable to attempt to exploit the security and jam resistance of JTIDS to accommodate some present communications such as voice. As a result these circuit oriented capabilities were included in

2408-466: The program Tactical Position Location/Common Grid Capability which immediately became Tipplekeg. Next the program was called Position Location Reporting and Control of Tactical Aircraft (PLRACTA). At the time of the first European demonstration the program was known as Seek Bus. Finally in 1973 DOD created a joint program office with the Air Force as Executive agent and Col. Breeden Brentnall was appointed as System Program Office Chief. The Joint Service SPO

2464-559: The support of John Klotz of DOD/DDR&E. In 1972 General Ken Russell, the AWACS System Program Office chief asked Ellingson if MITRE could support a 1973 demonstration of AWACS to key NATO personnel in Europe. The idea was to bring the AWACS data to the ground command and control centers in selected locations throughout Europe to show how AWACS could augment their existing air defense capability. Russell thought that

2520-677: The “ground clutter” problem, the 1970s Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) represented a technological achievement for airspace surveillance. It was joined in the later 1980s by the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS). While still under development, Joint STARS was pressed into service for the Gulf War to monitor movement on the battlefield. Other ESD programs focused on creating secure communications systems, air defense systems for allied nations, command centers, intelligence data transmission, air traffic control systems, and computer-based training systems. In 1992,

2576-507: Was a product center of Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) headquartered at Hanscom Air Force Base , Massachusetts. Its mission was to develop and acquire command and control , communications, computer, and intelligence systems. ESC consisted of professional teams specializing in engineering , computer science , and business management . The teams supervised the design, development, testing, production, and deployment of command and control systems. Two of ESC's most well-known developments were

2632-404: Was also installed in an ESD T-29 Navigation Trainer. Tests of both the communications architecture and position location capability were conducted and the overall system design was shown to be practical. Note that this demonstration preceded GPS, Ethernet and the internet each of which incorporated similar principles. It is also worth noting that these experiments would not have been possible without

2688-452: Was an Irving, Texas -based division of Boeing responsible for the manufacture of electronic components for the company's aircraft. Boeing announced the sale of the division in 2003 as part of a move to outsource component manufacture and "concentrate on the integration and final assembly of commercial aircraft." The Fort Worth Star Telegram said "Boeing has sought to sell several operations that it said are too narrowly focused and costly for

2744-461: Was an on-base encampment in the 1990s used for the purpose of testing new technology. The ESC had developed many of the radars and sensors used by military aircraft , and had created many of the command and control systems. However, when these systems were deployed for Operation Desert Storm , many did not work as advertised or communicate information to one another. In October 1993, Lieutenant General Charles E. Franklin took over as Commander of

2800-621: Was co-located with Ellingson's development group at MITRE. From then on, the program was officially known as Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS). However, since NATO didn't use the term "joint" in their system descriptions, the Class 1 Hughes Improved Terminal (HIT) installed on the NATO E-3A was referred to in Boeing documentation as the "ECM Resistant Communications System (ERCS)." A second European demonstration of AWACS and JTIDS

2856-531: Was conducted in 1975 under the direction of AWACS SPO Director Gen. (Larry) Lawrence A. Skantze . An interface with the Navy NTDS system was added and demonstrated aboard a Guided Missile Cruiser in the Mediterranean. Dignitaries were able to view AWACS data at various NTDS locations including a Nuclear Aircraft Carrier. As a result of these demonstrations, and resulting NATO interest, a NATO JTIDS program

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2912-730: Was expanded in 2020 by the $ 1.9 billion purchase of the Collins Aerospace military GPS division of United Technologies Corporation . Missile warning systems and offensive electronic warfare systems on aircraft including the Lockheed EC-130H Compass Call . Full Authority Digital Engine Controls and Fly by wire controls. General Electric and Boeing are major customers for this unit. Hybrid and full electric drive systems for public transit, commercial truck, and military applications. Electronic Systems Division The Electronic Systems Center

2968-399: Was instituted called Multifunction Information Distribution System (MIDS). During this period contracts were awarded to Hughes Aircraft (Ground Systems Group) to develop a terminal suitable for operational use in AWACS and ground command and control systems and to Singer Kearfott Corporation, now BAE Systems, to develop a terminal suitable for fighter aircraft installation. The Hughes effort

3024-482: Was introduced to achieve state-of-the-art systems in a timely, flexible, and cost-effective approach. The pace of these initiatives had gained momentum by the start of the 21st century. The ESC developed automated systems for Air Tasking Orders , weather, mission planning, and management information, together with enhanced force protection for Air Force personnel on the ground. For the series of Joint Expeditionary Force Experiments (JEFX) starting in 1998, ESC managed

3080-606: Was led by Bob Kramp and the Singer effort by John Sputz. In concert with contractor efforts a MITRE team led by Myron Leiter and consisting of communications and digital signal processing engineers refined the JTIDS design to optimize interference rejection and link performance. The results of these efforts were incorporated into performance specifications and provided guidance to the contractors. Operational considerations were provided by experienced Air Force combat pilots Col. Ken Kronlund and Col. Cliff Miller as well as valuable inputs from

3136-526: Was the need for a consistent and reliable basis for position which was available to all combat elements dubbed a "Common Position Grid". The overall study was called "Control and Surveillance of Friendly Forces" CASOFF. The advanced planning study was well received both at MITRE and ESD and it was decided to pursue a practical design to see if these ideas could be translated into a usable system. In 1968 MITRE Technical Director John H. Monahan appointed C. Eric Ellingson to head this effort and Ellingson put together

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