Marine Tactical Data System, commonly known as MTDS, was a mobile, ground based, aviation command and control system developed by the United States Marine Corps for the execution of anti-air warfare in support of the Fleet Marine Force (FMF). It was the Marine Corps' first semi-automated system capable of collecting, processing, computing and displaying aircraft surveillance data while also sharing that information with other participating units via tactical data link. The system was developed in the late 1950s/early 1960s when it was recognized that due to the speed, range and complexity of fighter aircraft operations effective air control and air defense demanded enhanced situational awareness. MTDS was a spiral development of the United States Navy's Navy Tactical Data System (NTDS). At the time it was developed, it was the largest research and development project ever undertaken by the Marine Corps. Produced by Litton Systems Inc. in Van Nuys, California, MTDS took almost a decade to develop. When fielded in September 1966, it was the premier air defense command and control system in the United States Military. It saw its widest operational use during the Vietnam War, where it was utilized to great effect controlling and deconflicting aircraft in the Northern portion of South Vietnam from July 1967 through to January 1971. MTDS remained the backbone of Marine Corps air defense operations until it was replaced by the AN/TYQ-23 Tactical Air Operations Module in the early 1990s.
Background
Marine Corps Air Warning Program The Marine Corps’ air warning program was developed during World War II to provide early warning and fighter control for Marine Corps forces ashore during amphibious operations. Through the 1950s Marine Corps air defense equipment and tactics continued to rely on manual plotting of air tracks based on voice calls from ground control intercept (GCI) controllers. By the mid-1950s, early warning, fighter control, and ground controlled intercept (GCI) were performed by the Marine Air Control Squadrons as part of Marine Aviation. There were three MACS assigned to each Marine Amphibious Force. These squadrons provided air defense command and control centers known as Counter Air Operations Centers (CAOC) that relied on Marines to manually plot aircraft tracks on a large map based on voice or telephone calls from radar operators. Controllers manually calculated intercepts using vectors, headings, and speed.
Precursor systems and early development In 1944, the British Air Force installed analog computers at Chain Home stations in order to automatically convert radar plots into map locations. After the war, the Royal Navy began to develop a command and control system known as the Comprehensive Display System (CDS) which further allowed operators the ability to assign identifications to objects on their radar screens. This made it easier for operators to vector friendly fighters onto intercept courses during ground controlled intercept. The United States Navy became very interested in the Comprehensive Display System after seeing a demonstration. At the same time that the US Navy was looking to improve the air defense capabilities of the fleet, air defense in the United States also took on a much greater priority after the Soviet Union exploded its first nuclear weapon on 29 August 1949. The United States established a committee chaired by MIT professor George Valley, later to be known as the Valley Committee. The committee determined that the greatest threat to the nation's air defense was low-flying aircraft capable of avoiding widely dispersed GCI radars. To counter this, the committee recommended that a large number of ground based radar systems be installed all over the United States to provide complete coverage. This large number of stations required a command and control center that could aggregate radar track data in real time. The amount of data necessary for this meant that it could not be done manually and would require a computer. Thus was born the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment also known as "SAGE." SAGE was a system of large computers and associated networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image of the airspace over a wide area. In 1953, at the same time that the USAF was developing SAGE, the Naval Research Laboratory showed Marine Corps representatives the findings of its Electronic Tactical Data Systems program to determine the services' interest in any further development. There was no money at the time, however the Marine Corps continued to refine requirements for their future automated tactical data system for air defense operations. When the United States Navy eventually wrote the requirements for NTDS they included specifications for a ground-based unit to be developed by the Marine Corps. The Chief of Naval Operations officially authorized the development of NTDS in April 1956. Concurrently, Headquarters Marine Corps, began to budget the system and further refine requirements. The requirements were developed by the Marine Corps Electronics Branch which was a department underneath the Electronics Development Division within the Navy's Bureau of Ships. When funds became available in 1957, a contract was awarded to Litton Systems Incorporated for the development of the Marine Tactical Data System.
System
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