NATO Communications in Transition

In 1970, the Defense Ministers of the Alliance approved an ambitious program to develop a modern, NATO-wide commonuser communications system called the NATO Integrated Communications System (NICS) and created a NICS Management Agency, NICSMA, with the responsibility of planning, engineering, and implementing the system. The aim of the NICS is to provide rapid, secure, survivable, flexible, and reliable communications to all eligible political and military authorities in the exercise of command and control across the conflict spectrum. This paper traces the evolution of NATO communications from existing multiple, predominantly manual, dedicated networks to modern, common-user, automated, switched voice, and message networks being implemented as part of the NICS Stage I program. Organizational arrangements and operational requirements imposed on the NICS in support of improved NATO command and control systems are briefly reviewed. A broad overview of the programmed enhancements that comprise NICS Stage I and its interfaces with other national strategic and tactical systems is presented. The basic principles underlying the future digital NICS Stage II architecture and a broad concept for an evolutionary transition from the predominantly analog Stage I to the digital architecture are also described. Key issues affecting the transition and interoperability with national tactical and strategic systems are identified.