CP Tango / Command Post Tango
3731N 12659E
Command Post (CP) TANGO is the primary warfighting headquarters for the Korean theater. The Joint Staff, DISA, and DA directed PM DCATS Product Manager DSCS Terminals to replace the four existing AN/TSC-86 terminals located at Landstuhl GE, Ft Detrick MD, Torii Station Okinawa, and CP Tango Korea. The new terminal will use existing HT/MT equipment and components, which eliminates costs for establishing a logistics system to support the terminal. The system was built and has successfully completed acceptance, and DISA Certification testing at TYAD. The AN/TSC-86B terminal is a fixed configuration and installed at CP Tango Korea. For the Eighth US Army command staff, being able to communicate using Video Teleconferencing [VTC] in a timely manner from separate strategic locations is critical to the prompt execution of EUSA operations as well as the operation of military units scattered throughout US Forces Korea. The northern hub, based at CP Tango controls and distributes VTC slides and briefings and then forwards them down to the southern hub, based out of Camp Walker, which provides CP Oscar with the VTC. With up to 15 VTC sites on the Korean peninsula, it is vital that the operators have the VTC equipment operational for every scheduled and unscheduled brief that might arise.



The FASTBACK system that was replaced in Korea is reflective of the typical legacy mw systems used by the US Army to support worldwide long haul communication requirements. The FASTBACK system (seven individual links) provided a secure reliable means of transmitting bulk data collected along the Demilitarized Zone to command groups located in the southern part of the country. The equipment (i.e., radios and multiplexers) supporting the FASTBACK system had been in operation for over fifteen years, utilizing technology that was over twenty years old. The FASTBACK system consisted of an AN/FRC-162 radio and AN/FCC-97 multiplexer. In the late 1990s it was replaced by a high speed (155 Mbps) SONET digital microwave radio that utilize the digital data multiplexer (DDM)-2000 OC3 multiplexer. The Digital Microwave Upgrade DMU Phase I is a good example of what occurs when the link bandwidth is increased (8 DS1s to 84 DS1s (three 45 Mbps DS3)) with high speed SONET digital microwave and interface requirements to existing older, low speed mw technology. The Yongsan to Madison, Osan to Madison, and Camp Humphreys to Madison FASTBACK links were replaced during Phase I with the Harris MegaStar 2000 SONET radio. The remaining FASTBACK mw links between Madison and Kamaksan, Kangwhado, and Songnam, and Kamaksan and Yawolsan, were replaced during DMU Phase III. In conjunction with the DMU, the digital patch and access systems (DPAS) at Yongsan, Osan, and Camp Humphreys were upgraded to support up to three DS3s each.