ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:97071003.GWE
DATE:07/10/97
TITLE:10-07-97  TEXT: DOD RELEASE ON NEW GLOBAL COMMAND AND CONTROL SYSTEM

TEXT:
(Replaces command and control system built in the '70s) (430)

Washington -- The U.S. Defense Department has shut down its Worldwide
Military Command and Control System, a computer system dating back to
the 1970s, and replaced it with the Global Command and Control
System-T (GCCS-T).

The new system "allows greater software flexibility and reliability
... (and) provides combatant commanders one predominant source for
generating, receiving, sharing and using information securely," the
department stated in a July 9 release.

In addition to pinpointing where friendly forces are, the system will
help commanders in "crisis planning, intelligence analysis and
support, tactical planning and tactical execution and collaborative
planning," according to the release.

The announcement said the new system is "the next logical step in the
evolution of systems providing full spectrum dominance for warfighters
on tomorrow's battlefield."

Following is the text of the Defense Department release:

(Begin text)

GLOBAL COMMAND AND CONTROL SYSTEM FULLY IN PLACE

The Department of Defense has now closed the final chapter on its
venerable Worldwide Military Command and Control System. On June 30,
1997, the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Joint Staff shut
down the WWMCCS Top Secret Support System (TS3). Concurrently, the
Joint Staff declared the Global Command and Control System-T (GCCS-T)
as the joint command and control (C2) system of record for top secret
operations.

An element of the Joint Vision 2010, the Global Command and Control
System represents a significant improvement over the old WWMCCS
capabilities in both secret and higher secure C2 capabilities. GCCS
and GCCS-T are neither a traditional acquisition program nor a grand
design effort that is difficult and cumbersome to operate and procure.
Instead, GCCS replaces the older WWMCCS network of mainframe computers
in use since the l970s with a client server computer system built on
modern information technology. The new technology allows greater
software flexibility and reliability.

The GCCS system provides combatant commanders one predominant source
for generating, receiving, sharing and using information securely. It
provides surveillance and reconnaissance information and access to
global intelligence sources as well as data on the precise location of
friendly forces. GCCS and GCCS-T provide crisis planning, intelligence
analysis and support, tactical planning and tactical execution and
collaborative planning.

The Global Command and Control System was declared the single system
of record for military planning operations at the end of August 1996.
The GCCS-T marks the next logical step in the evolution of systems
providing full spectrum dominance for warfighters on tomorrow's
battlefield.

(End text)
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