Global Command and Control System
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Global Command and Control System (GCCS, pronounced "GEEKS") is a system of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) systems and applications. Although GCCS is the Department of Defense (DOD) Command and Control (C2) system of record, there are GCCS variants fielded by the US Army (GCCS-A), the US Air Force (GCCS-AF), and the US Navy/Marine Corps (GCCS-M) and Joint Command Centers (GCCS-J) . GCCS was developed to replace the Worldwide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS). GCCS is an automated system designed to support situational awareness, crisis action planning and other mission areas, and is intended to be the C4I system that supports the warfighter from the foxhole to the command post. GCCS provides tools to support the Command Process. In theory, GCCS will be phased out and replaced with the Joint Command and Control (JC2) system in the coming years.
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[edit] Command Process
The joint command and control process is like a wheel that keeps turning. It consists of maintaining situational awareness, planning and execution. Maintaining situational awareness requires a number of steps. A collection plan must be maintained and sensors must be tasked. Data must be collected and processed. The data then needs to be analyzed and interpreted. The situation must be assessed. The information then needs to be tailored and disseminated. Planning takes the information developed by situational awareness and puts it to use. Options are developed. Courses of action are evaluated, selected and recommended. Plans and directives are developed. Re-planning is done as the situation changes. The plan is then executed. Execution is assessed. Re-planning is done as needed. Situational awareness is used to monitor the outcome of the plan, completing a turn of the command process wheel.
[edit] Applications
GCCS includes applications supporting the mission areas of situational awareness, deployment planning, force readiness and intelligence. The Integrated C4I System Framework (ICSF) primarily supports situational awareness and provides reachback capability to other data sources. The Joint Operations Planning and Execution System (JOPES) supports the deployment planning, execution and sustainment mission area. Along with these applications, GCCS supports collaboration using chat systems, newsgroups and email.
[edit] Connectivity
GCCS uses classified portions of the Defense Information Systems Network (DISN) for connectivity. Tactical networks, as well as other types of circuits such as Officer in Tactical Command Information Exchange Subsystem (OTCIXS) and Tactical Data Information Exchange Subsystem (TADIXS) are used to extend the reach of GCCS to the field.
[edit] Variants
The GCCS family of systems has a variant defined for each branch of the United States armed forces.
[edit] GCCS-A
The Global Command and Control System-Army (GCCS-A) is the United States Army's Strategic and Theater Command and Control (C2) System. It provides readiness, planning, mobilization and deployment capability information for the strategic commanders. For Theater commanders, GCCS-A provides Common Operational Picture (COP) and associated friendly and enemy status information, force employment planning and execution tools (receipt of forces, staging, intra-theater planning, readiness, force tracking, onward movement, and execution status), and overall interoperability with Joint, Coalition and the tactical Army Battle Command Systems (ABCS).
GCCS-A's stated mission is to provide automated command and control tools for Army Strategic and Theater Commanders to enhance warfighter capabilities throughout the spectrum of conflict during joint and combined operations in support of the National Command Authority.
An integral part of a coordinated Department of Defense (DoD) and Joint Technical Architecture-Army, GCCS-A provides information support to all levels of military command across a Common Operating Environment (COE).
Primary sites GCCS-A supports or will support include: ARCENT, EUCOM, FORSCOM, HQDA, MTMC, SOUTHCOM, USAREUR, USARPAC, USARSO
[edit] GCCS-M
The Global Command and Control System – Maritime GCCS-M AN/USQ-119E(V) previously the Joint Maritime Command Information System (JMCIS), is the United States Navy's primary fielded Command and Control System. The nomenclature AN/USQ-119(V) and AN/USQ-119A through D refer to older versions of the Navy Tactical Command System Afloat (NTCS-A) and JMCIS.
The objective of the GCCS-M program is to satisfy Fleet Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) requirements through the rapid and efficient development and fielding of C4I capability. GCCS-M enhances the operational commander’s warfighting capability and aids in the decision-making process by receiving, retrieving, and displaying information relative to the current tactical situation. GCCS-M receives, processes, displays, and manages data on the readiness of neutral, friendly, and hostile forces in order to execute the full range of Navy missions (e.g., strategic deterrence, sea control, power projection, etc.) in near-real-time via external communication channels, local area networks (LANs) and direct interfaces with other systems.
The GCCS-M system is comprised of four main variants, Ashore, Afloat, Tactical/Mobile and Multi-Level Security (MLS) that together provide command and control information to warfighters in all naval environments. GCCS-M provides centrally-managed C4I services to the Fleet allowing both United States and allied maritime forces the ability to operate in network-centric warfare operations. GCCS-M is organized to support three different force environments: Afloat, Ashore and Tactical/Mobile. Afloat configurations can be categorized as force-level and unit-level configurations. Ashore configurations of GCCS-M are located in fixed site Fleet and Tactical command centers as well as mobile rapid deploy command centers such as MICFACs, mobile command facilities designed to provide the CJTF commander with similar C4I capabilities when forward-deployed ashore. In order to allow for maximum interoperability among GCCS systems at all sites and activities (Afloat, Ashore and Tactical/Mobile), GCCS-M utilizes common communications media to the maximum extent possible. The Secure Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET), Non-Secure Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNET) and the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communication System (JWICS) provide the necessary Wide Area Network (WAN) connectivity. JMCOMS will provide the WAN connectivity for the Afloat and Tactical/Mobile GCCS-M systems. Operating "system–high" at the Secret and SCI security levels, both networks use the same protocols as the Internet. In addition to the SIPRNET operating at Secret/SCI security levels, GCCS-T supports collaborative planning at the National Command Authority (NCA) level by providing Top Secret connectivity to a limited number of sites. OPLANS developed at NCA level can then be downgraded to secret for dissemination using SIPRNET.
GCCS-M has been implemented traditionally on high-performance UNIX workstations because, until recently, only these platforms were powerful enough to run GCCS-M software. However, with the exponential increase in processing capability of the Intel PC processor family and the maturity of the Windows NT and JAVA / Web multi-user operating systems, migrating GCCS-M to the PC environment is a very practical and logical decision. Once designed for the PC environment, GCCS-M becomes largely hardware independent, meaning that it uses almost all existing hardware platforms: UNIX, Wintel, Macintosh, etc. GCCS-M intends to incrementally migrate GCCS-M segments to both the Windows NT and JAVA / Web environments.
GCCS has already replaced the Honeywell computers and associated peripheral equipment used by the Worldwide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS) in those major command centers that had WWMCCS installations. The full implementation of GCCS and GCCS-M will include more sites than the former WWMCCS sites, and in general these installations will include installation of new hardware to existing C4I systems or upgrading the hardware of existing systems to meet IT-21 and Defense Information Infrastructure Common Operating Environment (DII COE) requirements. The key to understanding GCCS and GCCS-M is that they are principally sets of integrated software applications which will operate on DII COE hardware. During the transition from UNIX servers to Windows NT servers these software applications replace older versions and continue to run using most of the same hardware and network infrastructure already in place, allowing for phased introduction of new hardware.
[edit] GCCS-AF
From The JC2 project justification (PDF):
GCCS-AF FoS consists of the following programs (each with their own program elements): TBMCS Force Level (TBMCS-FL), Joint Defensive Planner (JDP), Time Critical Targeting Functionality (TCT-F), Joint Targeting Toolkit (JTT), GCCS-AF Infrastructure (GCCS-AF I), Deliberate Crisis Action Planning and Execution Segment (DCAPES) and the C2 portion of the Joint Environmental Toolkit (JET).
[edit] GCCS-J
From DISA's description of GCCS-J:
GCCS-J is primarily an integration program and the GCCS-J PMO develops limited mission capabilities in-house. GCCS-J integrates Service and Agency developed mission applications/functional capabilities that are delivered to the joint community. It is the mission applications/functional capabilities, integrated together with the core infrastructure that provide a joint C2 capability supporting the following mission areas: Force Employment, Force Readiness, Force Sustainment, Force Projection (Planning and Deployment/ Redeployment), Force Protection, Situational Awareness, Intelligence, and Cross-Functional/Infrastructure.
