World Wide Military Command and Control System
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The World Wide Military Command and Control System (or WWMCCS) was a military command and control system implemented for the command and control of the United States military. It was created in the days following the Cuban Missile Crisis. WWMCCS (pronounced "wimex") was a system of systems that encompassed the elements of warning, communications, data collection and processing, executive decision making tools and supporting facilities. It was decommissioned in 1996.
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[edit] History
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[edit] Computer Hardware
[edit] Honeywell 6000 Series
The Air Force Systems Command’s Electronic Systems Division awarded a fixed-price, fixed-quantity contract to Honeywell Information Systems, Inc. for 46 million dollars on 15 October 1971. The contract included 35 Honeywell 6000 series systems, some having multiple processors. System models from the H-6060 through the H-6080 were acquired. They ran a specially secured variant of Honeywell’s General Comprehensive Operating Supervisor (GCOS), and for years the vendor maintained and enhanced both the commercial GCOS and the "WWMCCS" GCOS in parallel.
[edit] Network
[edit] Prototype WWMCCS Network
The Joint Chiefs of Staff issued JCS Memorandum 593-71, "Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Program in Support of the Worldwide Military Command and Control Standard System." in September of 1971. The joint chief memorandum proposed what they called a Prototype WWMCCS Intercomputer Network (PWIN) pronounced as pee-win. The PWIN was created to test the operational benefits of networking WWMCCS. If the prototype proved successful, it would provide a baseline for an operational network.
PWIN included three sites at the Pentagon, Reston, Virginia and Norfolk, Virginia. The sites included Honeywell H6000 computers, Datanet 355 front end processors and local computer terminals for system users. Connections were provided for remote terminals using microwave, cable, satellite, or landline connections. Honeywell H716 computers, used as an interface message processors (IMP) provided packet switching to network the PWIN sites together. The TELNET protocol was made available to the WWMCCS community for the first time to access remote sites. The PWIN network was based on experience gained from ARPANET.
The first comprehensive test plan for PWIN was approved on 29 October 1973. On 4 September 1974, the Joint Chiefs recommended that the prototype network be expanded from three sites to six. The recommendation was approved on 4 December 1974. The new sites included the Alternate National Military Command Center; the Military Airlift Command at Scott AFB; and the US Readiness Command headquarters at MacDill AFB.
Testing was conducted in 1976, called Experiment 1 and Experiment 2. Experiment 1, held in September took a crisis scenario borrowed from a previous exercise. Experiment 1 provided a controlled environment to test PWIN. Experiment 2 was held in October, during an exercise called Elegant Eagle 76'. Experiment two was less controlled, so as to provide information about PWIN being able to handle user demands during a crisis. The results of the experiments were mixed.
Another test called Prime Target 77 was conducted during the spring of 1977. It added two new sites and had even more problems than Experiment 1 and Experiment 2. Ultimately, operational requirements trumped the problems and development of an operational network was recommended during 1977. The Joint Chiefs of Staff approved PWIN’s operational requirements on 18 July 1977. PWIN expanded to include a number of other WWMCCS sites and become an operational WWMCCS Intercomputer Network (WIN).
[edit] References
- Pearson, David E., The World Wide Military Command and Control System, Maxwell Airforce Base, Alabama: Air University Press., 2000.
