Global Command and Control System (GCCS) is the United States' armed forces DoD joint command and control (C2) system used to provide accurate, complete, and timely information for the operational

chain of command A command hierarchy is a group of people who carry out orders based on others' authority within the group. Military chain of command In a military context, the chain of command is the line of authority and responsibility along which orders ...

for U.S. armed forces. "GCCS" is most often used to refer to the computer system, but actually consists of hardware, software, common procedures, appropriation, and numerous applications and interfaces that make up an "operational architecture" that provides worldwide connectivity with all levels of command. GCCS incorporates systems that provide

situational awareness Situational awareness or situation awareness, often abbreviated as SA is the understanding of an environment, its elements, and how it changes with respect to time or other factors. It is also defined as the perception of the elements in the envi ...

, support for intelligence, force planning, readiness assessment, and deployment applications that battlefield commanders require to effectively plan and execute joint military operations.

History

GCCS evolved from earlier predecessors such as TBMCS (Theater Battle Management Core Systems), Joint Operations Tactical System (JOTS), and Joint Maritime Command Information System (JMCIS). It fulfilled requirements for technological, procedural and security improvements to the aging Worldwide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS) plus its TEMPEST requirement of Cold War defenses from wiretapping and electromagnetic signal interception that include physical (special wire and cabinet shielding, double locks) and operational (special access passes and passwords) measures. On August 30, 1996, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) officially decommissioned WWMCCS and the Joint Staff declared the Global Command and Control System (GCCS) as the joint command and control system of record.

Applications, Functionality

GCCS systems comprise various data processing and

web services A web service (WS) is either: * a service offered by an electronic device to another electronic device, communicating with each other via the Internet, or * a server running on a computer device, listening for requests at a particular port over a n ...

which are used by many applications supporting combat operations, troop/force movements (JOPES), intelligence analysis and production, targeting, ground weapons and radar analysis, and terrain and weather analysis. Some next-generation applications designed for GCCS may support collaboration using chat systems, newsgroups, and email. (See JOPES, Mob/ODEE, etc.) GCCS supports six mission areas (operations, mobilization, deployment, employment, sustainment, and intelligence) through eight functional areas: threat identification and assessment, strategy planning aids, course of action development, execution planning, implementation, monitoring, risk analysis, and a common tactical picture.

Connectivity

GCCS may use NIPRNet,

SIPRNet The Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) is "a system of interconnected computer networks used by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State to transmit classified information (up to and including information ...

, JWICS, or other IP based networks for connectivity. In some installations, GCCS aggregates over 94 different sources of data.

Components/Variants

* GCCS-A

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

* GCCS-AF

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

* GCCS-I

Intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

* GCCS-J

Marine Corps Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore (often in supp ...

, Joint Forces * GCCS-M (Maritime) (

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

) The Navy's life cycle development of what is currently referred to as the Global Command and Control System, was and continues to be evolutionary in nature and will probably never result in a permanent system. From the early 1980s when SPAWARs PD-40 VADM Jerry O. Tuttle's Joint Operations Tactical System was the premier system, through the tenure of RADM John Gauss's Joint Maritime Command Information System (JMCIS), the final product would be realized as the Global Command and Control System (GCCS), introduced conceptually by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA).

References

External links