Interoperability in Defense Communications

This paper addresses the need for interoperability between communications systems that support the U.S. Defense community (tactical and strategic), U.S. Civil Government community, and Allied National communities. A spectrum of interoperability is presented that permits system objectives to be stated in more precise terms and also provides a basis for cost versus benefit analysis. A set of preliminary secure voice interoperability objectives, in terms of the spectrum of interoperability, is also developed in this paper. The results of the Worldwide Secure Voice Architecture (WWSVA) are also briefly described. The paper includes an Appendix that briefly describes the major systems that were included for study in the WWSVA.