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The Joint Communications Support Element (Airborne) (JCSE) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) standing joint force headquarters expeditionary communications provider that can provide rapid deployable, en-route, early entry, and scalable command, control, communications, and computer (C4) support to the unified combatant commands,
special operations Special operations (S.O.) are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment". Special operations may include ...
commands, and other agencies as directed by the
Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...
.Joint Communications Support Element, Mission Statement
jcse.mil, last accessed 20 February 2021
Joint Communications Support Element, USTRANSCOM JECC, JCSE Trifold-01
Joint Enabling Capabilities Command, dated 2015, last accessed 21 February 2021
On order, the JCSE can provide additional C4 services within 72 hours to support larger combined joint task force headquarters across the full spectrum of operations. JCSE is part of the Joint Enabling Capabilities Command (JECC), a subordinate command of the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM).Joint Communications Support Element, Our Organization
jcse.mil, last accessed 20 February 2021
Joint Enabling Capabilities Command, US Transportation Command
jecc.mil, last accessed 20 February 2021
The JCSE's core competency is communications support to contingency operations.
jcse.mil, last accessed 20 February 2021
The JCSE is equipped with the latest technologies to meet the DoD's operational requirements. The JCSE is a joint tactical airborne unit that has a rare ability to operate at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels. As a part of their contingency mission, the JCSE's en-route, initial entry, or early entry communications capabilities can support up to a 40-personnel joint task force in permissive and non-permissive environments. The JCSE is also equipped and trained to support larger joint task force headquarters as well as two joint special operations task force headquarters for up to 1,500 users. At times, members of the JCSE may be required to rapidly deploy without the rest of their squadron to execute their assigned mission.


History

When JCSE was stood up in 1961, each branch maintained its own communications units. Those resources were typically predesignated for specific mission sets that could not meet the demand for joint operations. JCSE was established to fill this gap as a dedicated communications resource for short-notice contingency operations. The JCSE was established at MacDill Air Force Base as the Communications Support Element (CSE) under the now disestablished U.S. Strike Command—redesignated U.S. Readiness Command (USREDCOM) in 1972. With just over 400 U.S. Air Force and
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
personnel assigned, the CSE was established to serve as a quick response communications unit during crisis and contingency operations. In 1972, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps joined the CSE, and was redesignated as JCSE with operational control transferred to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At the deactivation of USREDCOM in 1987, administrative control of JCSE was reassigned to U.S. Central Command where it remained until 1998 when it transferred to U.S. Atlantic Command—which transitioned to U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) in 1999—along with operational control. In 2008, the JECC was established and JCSE became one of its three subordinate commands. Following the disestablishment of USJFCOM in 2011, both the JECC and its subordinate commands were reassigned to USTRANSCOM. Within the first two decades of its existence, JCSE's two original units—the 1st and 2nd Joint Communications Squadrons—employed their expertise to a variety of military operations including: *Support to the commander of JTF-Leo in the
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in 1964 *The international peacekeeping force organized to counter the rebel invasion of southern
Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...
in 1978 *The evacuation of U.S. citizens from
Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the count ...
under the fall of the
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government in June of 1979 As word of the Element's capabilities spread, the demand for JCSE increased. In the 1980s, JCSE adjusted its mission to provide concurrent joint communications support to more than one commander. This adjustment allowed the JCSE to support two joint task forces and two joint special operations task forces simultaneously. To accomplish this, the JCSE had two
Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...
units aligned to the JCSE mission. In 2005, JCSE was tasked as a global joint force C4 enabler. Reorganizing existing resources to add another active-duty squadron, JCSE was postured to support this new role. In 2006, the 4th Joint Communications Squadron, an Army Reserve unit, was added to bring additional flexibility to JCSE. JCSE teams have deployed all over the world enabling DoD senior leaders to communicate in conflict zones and disaster areas. Two examples of this are JCSE's longest continuous deployment from the start of
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through the end of Operation New Dawn and JCSE's support to Operation Tomodachi.Deployable Joint Command & Control (DJC2) Overview
Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (PEO C4I), by Robert E. Backus (NSWC PCD), dated 11 September 2012, last accessed 28 February 2021
Operation Tomodachi is a good example of JCSE's flexibility when it deployed and made operational the Deployable Joint Command and Control (DJC2) system to Yokota Air Base,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
within 72 hours of notification to support U.S. Pacific Command's orchestration of the operation. According to Colonel James Lowery, commander of JCSE, the Element is modernizing to provide better communications capabilities saying in a 2021 interview with SIGNAL Magazine, “We’ve been focusing a lot over the past eight months on a contested communications environment. We know that’s one of the primary challenges—the multi-domain fight and being able to fight through the noise and operate in those contested spaces—so we’ve adjusted our training to focus on that.”


Structure

The JCSE is made up of both active and reserve components. Currently, the active component is made up of four district units filled with trained experts from across the armed forces of the DoD while the reserve component is made up of one dedicated Army Reserve unit and two Air National Guard units, specifically: * Headquarters and Support Squadron ("Wolfpack") * 1st Joint Communications Squadron ("Knights")Joint Communications Support Element Facebook post, "Joint Service Members assigned to 1JCS conduct a Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Train the Trainer Advanced Weapons Tactics Course at MacDill AFB, Florida, June 01, 2020. ..."
JCSE's official
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
page, dated 4 June 2020, last accessed 27 February 2021
* 2nd Joint Communications Squadron (“Warriors”) * 4th Joint Communications Squadron ("Mustangs") (Army Reserve)The 4th Joint Communication Squadron: The only Airborne Signal Battalion in the Army Reserve
335th Theater Signal Command official
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...
channel (Ready Lightning), dated 28 February 2020, last accessed 25 February 2021
* 224th Joint Communications Support Squadron (
Georgia Air National Guard The Georgia Air National Guard (GA ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Georgia, United States of America. It is, along with the Georgia Army National Guard, an element of the Georgia National Guard. As state militia units, the units in ...
) * 290th Joint Communications Support Squadron (
Florida Air National Guard The Florida Air National Guard (FL ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Florida. It is, along with the Florida Army National Guard (FL ARNG), an element of the Florida National Guard. It is also an element of the Air National Guard (ANG ...
) * Communications Support Detachment ("Pirates")


Training

All of JCSE's military members receive additional skills training so they can better accomplish their global mission. The tactical skills JCSE members learn or must stay proficient in include airborne infiltration, maritime insertion, basic combat skills,
combatives Combatives is the term for hand-to-hand combat training and techniques within the Army branch of the United States military. History Sometimes called Close-Quarters Combat (CQC or close combat), World War II-era American combatives were larg ...
, combat driving, combat life saving, and weapons qualifications. JCSE also has its own university that is designed to fill the educational void between civilian and military communications capabilities. Every member assigned to a JCSE squadron must go through this university's training for the unit requires that squadron members, regardless of their communications specialty, must be able to do all aspects of communications due to the size and makeup of their teams.


Equipment

The JCSE has a unique modernization program with special authorities based on a joint staff memorandum and financial investments that allow the Element to rapidly acquire
commercial off-the-shelf Commercial off-the-shelf or commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) products are packaged or canned (ready-made) hardware or software, which are adapted aftermarket to the needs of the purchasing organization, rather than the commissioning of ...
and
government off-the-shelf Government off-the-shelf (GOTS) is a term for software and hardware government products that are ready to use and which were created and are owned by a government agency. Typically GOTS products are developed by the technical staff of the governmen ...
equipment as well as the newest technologies available to accomplish its mission with 24/7 reach-back capability and access to DoD and commercial networks that can be deployed in hours. Some of the unique equipment the JCSE employs and maintains include, but are not limited to the following: * ''Executive Communications Kit:'' Originally developed by the JCSE as the Executive Voice Kit—upgraded to the Executive Communications Kit and transferred to the
Defense Information Systems Agency The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), known as the Defense Communications Agency (DCA) until 1991, is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) combat support agency composed of military, federal civilians, and contractors. DISA pro ...
(DISA)—is a small briefcase-sized self-contained kit designed specifically to provide around-to-clock customer access to secure and nonsecure voice, data, and Internet via the "everything over Internet Protocol" (IP) architecture.JCSE's J5 Acquisition and Engineering team receives Innovation Showcase Award (Image 1 of 3)
Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, Joint Enabling Capabilities Command, by Whitney Katz, dated 12 June 2013, last accessed 21 February 2021
* ''Standard/Lite Communications Node:'' A modular IP based package capable of providing secure and non-secure voice, data and video for a myriad of operations ranging from small initial or early entry communications systems up to the establishment of a task force. * ''Joint Building Blocks (JBLOX):'' The JCSE created JBLOX communications system is a modular IP based package capable of providing secure and non-secure voice, data, and video services.
jcse.mil, last accessed 25 February 2021
The system can be modularized to support a myriad of operations scaling from a very small initial or early entry communications system up to establishment of a joint or special operations task force. * ''Initial Entry Package (IEP):'' The IEP is used to support combatant commanders or other high-profile users during the initial entry period of an operation until mission complete or prior to installation of more robust modular internet protocol packages. The IEP supports up to four
Secure Terminal Equipment Secure Terminal Equipment (STE) is the U.S. government's current (), encrypted telephone communications system for wired or "landline" communications. STE is designed to use ISDN telephone lines which offer higher speeds of up to 128 kbit/s ...
(STE) telephones. * ''Early Entry Package (EEP):'' The EEP augments the modular scalability of the IEP or operates as a stand-alone package. Clients connect to the EEP’s ethernet ports and use soft phones or VoIP compliant telephones. The EEP supports up to eight STE telephones. * ''Super High Frequency Carry-on Shipboard System Joint:'' A mobile system designed by the JCSE to provide on-the-move shipboard connectivity with the DoD
Wideband Global SATCOM The Wideband Global SATCOM system (WGS) is a high capacity United States Space Force satellite communications system planned for use in partnership by the United States Department of Defense (DoD), Canadian Department of National Defence (DND ...
systems and commercial satellite communications systems. * ''Integrated Communications Vehicle (ICV):'' The ICV is a customized mobile communications system of JCSE that provides on-the-move and at-halt command and control capabilities to various task force commanders and combatant commanders. * ''Joint Airborne Communications System (JACS):'' The JACS provides an airborne radio relay connection for VHF and UHF communications range extension and relay. JACS Version 3 can be operated from a manned or unmanned aircraft and is designed to minimize the time required to transfer the JACS between platforms. JACS also provides reach-back capability to a tactical operations center through an embedded
Ku band The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18  gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally german: Kurz-unten), because it is the lower part of the or ...
radio. * ''Joint Airborne Communications Center/Command Post (JACC/CP):'' Provides an en-route command center aboard a
C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally design ...
or C-17 aircraft that supports up to 16 users on two platforms with classified and unclassified network access to include commercial Internet and phone capabilities.Joint Communications Support Element, The Voice Heard ’Round the World, Issue 69
National Defense University Press, by COL Kirby E. Watson (U.S. Army), dated 2nd quarter 2013, last accessed 28 February 2021
* ''DJC2:'' Maintained by the JCSE, the DJC2 is a scalable command post that can support a full joint task force. Requires two C-17 aircraft to transport a DJC2 that can support up to 1500 users with classified and unclassified network access to include secure and non-secure voice and video teleconferencing capabilities. * ''
Defense Information Systems Network The Defense Information System Network (DISN) has been 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 coordinati ...
-Tactical Edge (DISN-TE):'' In partnership with DISA, JCSE maintains and operates three DISN-TE sites around the world capable of supporting all combatant commands. This network was established to integrate, manage, and control a wide variety of communications interfaces between DISN and deployed tactical satellite assets. DISN-TE is an "everything over IP" enhancement of the Standard Tactical Entry Point/Teleport reach-back service of the Global Information Grid. DISN-TE is made up of telecommunications collection and distribution points that provide warfighters with multiband, multimedia, and worldwide access in a deployed environment.


See also

*
Military communications Military communications or military signals involve all aspects of communications, or conveyance of information, by armed forces. Military communications span from pre-history to the present. The earliest military communications were delivered b ...
*
Signal Corps (United States Army) The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of Ma ...
* Information systems technician (United States Navy) * List of United States Marine Corps MOS–06 Communications * List of United States Air Force communications squadrons * Joint Communications Unit * 112th Special Operations Signal Battalion *
United States military beret flash } In the United States (US) Department of Defense, a beret flash is a shield-shaped embroidered cloth that is tall and wide with a semi–circular base that is attached to a stiffener backing of a military beret.Transportation Command Transportation Command