Central Technical Support Facility (CTSF) -- Meeting Warfighters' System Integration and Interoperability Needs

摘要

Today's warfighters trust that when they start their vehicles or set up tactical operations centers that the command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) systems inside will interoperate with each other. Full interoperability of military systems is critical to America's success in the global war on terrorism (GWOT) and future wars, and the Central Technical Support Facility's (CTSF) job is ensuring net-centric system interoperability. CTSF is the Army's strategic facility responsible for interoperability engineering, executing Army Interoperability Certification (AIC) testing, maintaining configuration control for all operational- through tactical-level information technology/national security systems, and supporting deployed warfighters' digital needs. Located at Fort Hood, TX, CTSF was organized in 1996 by Program Executive Office (PEO) Command, Control, and Computer Systems (now PEO Command, Control, and Communications Tactical). CTSF was originally designed to provide a location for rapid integration, testing, and deployment of the Army Battle Command System (ABCS), which digitizes the Army's battle command and control capability. As the Army's warfighting capability digitization evolves, CTSF's mission has expanded to integrate and test more than 200 net-centric systems. This number is expected to grow as more and more Army systems become network enabled. On July 9, 2007, CTSF was reorganized under the U.S. Army Materiel Command's Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command, and employs approximately 200 government, military, and civilian workers. It provides facilities for more than 400 additional government and civilian workers from several PEOs in a teaming environment, accomplishing Army interoperability integration and certification.