[MilCom] [UDXF] 11175 Japan Navy

[Larry Van Horn]

> Thanks for that tip.  At 0135Z "Japan Navy 825" was L/C on 11175kc with a
> phone patch to Japan.  It's the first time I've heard such activity.  Is
> it common?

Morning Richard and all,

It is not common for the Japanese SDF maritime aircraft to use the system 
Richard, but DoD does allow its allies to use the JCS HFGCS.  The HFGCS is a 
worldwide network of high-power HF stations providing air/ground HF command 
and control radio communications between ground agencies and US military 
aircraft and ships. Allied military and other aircraft are also provided 
support IAW agreements and international protocols as appropriate. The HFGCS 
is not dedicated to any service or command, but supports all DoD authorized 
users on a traffic precedence/priority basis. This is a DoD Joint Chiefs of 
Staff network and is a high priority service within DoD. When it was first 
first formed under a different nomenclature several years ago, it combined 
several other high priority nets such as the US Navy Hicom net into this one 
network.

>From the DoD Flight Information Handbook, general services provided by the 
HFGCS are:

- General Phone Patch and Message Relay Services
- Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) [this is the Scope Command ALE network,
see link below]
- HF Data Support
- Command and Control Mission Following
- Emergency Assistance
- Broadcasts [i.e. EAMs and Foxtrot messages etc]
- HF Direction Finding Assistance
- ATC Support
- E-Mail connectivity to NIPRNeT and SIPRNeT

You can learn more about the HFGCS at 
http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/2006/05/joint-chiefs-of-staff-hf-gcs-network.html 
and a related net HFGCS Scope Command HF ALE net at 
http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/2006/08/hf-gcs-scope-command-hf-ale-network.html

Given the shadowing mission of the North Korean merchant ship off the 
Chinese coast by the USS John S. McCain DDG-56, and other US military preps, 
HFGCS might have some interesting intercepts between now and after the US 
Fourth of July. More on those preps at
http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/2009/06/us-prepares-missile-defense-continues.html 
(U.S. Prepares Missile Defense, Continues Shipping Interdictions)

I do have additional information on other military HF systems in the "Milcom 
Reference Room" section of the Milcom Monitoring Post blog on the right side 
of the blog page. It should help answer some basic questions folks have 
about these systems.

73 de Larry

Larry Van Horn, N5FPW
Brasstown, NC USA
MT Assistant/Review Editor
Milcom/What's New Columnist
Milcom Monitoring Post at http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/