The Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) is a wing of the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

that tests and certifies

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

products for military use.

History

The JITC had its roots in the

TRI-TAC Ground Mobile Forces (GMF) is the term given to the tactical SATCOM portion of the Joint Service program called TRI-TAC developed by GTE-Sylvania in the mid-1970s. The Tri-Service Tactical signal system is a tactical command, control, and commu ...

program of the 1970s, which sought to streamline and test the technology behind field and tactical command systems. The program began officially in 1971, and work started in 1976 at

Fort Huachuca Fort Huachuca is a United States Army installation, established on 3 March 1877 as Camp Huachuca. The garrison is now under the command of the United States Army Installation Management Command. It is in Cochise County in southeast Arizona, appr ...

in southern Arizona. The TRI-TAC program tested various field equipment for years, but ran into problems with working with other branches of the Department of Defense's testing programs. With an eye to fix this problem, the TRI-TAC program was rebranded and refocused in 1984 to become the Joint Tactical Command, Control, and Communications Agency (JTC3A). This led to the Fort Huachuca part of the operations to be renamed as the Joint Interoperability Test Force (JITF). Continued problems with cooperation and coordination between different testing agencies in the 80's led to another round of consolidation, which turned the Fort Huachuca operations into the Joint Interoperability Test Center (also abbreviated as JITC somewhat confusingly but not the same as the Joint Interoperability Test Command). Operations were further consolidated in 1988, and then in 1989 the Test Center gained its final name of the Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC). These final rounds of consolidation were concurrent with a Department of Defense push towards "interoperability", which aimed to ensure that military technology could work across branches of the military, between different arms of the same branch of the military, and even between nations as

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

military action became more frequent. The focus of the JITC shifted towards interoperability and information technology testing in the 90's. By 2011 it employed more than 1,300 military personnel and contractors to test and certify military technology.

Locations

JITC facilities are located at Fort Huachuca, Arizona and

Fort George G. Meade Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States military bands#Army Field Band, United States Army Field Band, and the head ...

, Maryland. An additional JITC mission used to exist at

Indian Head, Maryland Indian Head is a town in Charles County, Maryland, United States. The population was 3,894 at the 2020 U.S. Census. It has been the site of a naval base specializing in gun and rocket propellants since 1890. Production of nitrocellulose and smoke ...

, but was closed in December 2016 resulting in testing moving to either Fort Huachuca, Arizona or Fort Meade, Maryland.

External links

Joint Interoperability Test Command

References

Military units and formations in Arizona Military units and formations in Maryland {{US-mil-stub