The Mobile Subscriber Equipment (MSE) system was a tactical communication system created by GTEGovernmentSystems (later acquired by

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

) for the

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. Acquisition began in 1985 for echelons below Corps and down to the battalion level. The system was first fielded in February 1988 to the 13th Signal Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division at

Fort Hood Fort Cavazos is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. The post is currently named after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, a native Texan and the US Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. The post is located halfway between Austi ...

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. The first version included phones for both stationary and portable use, plus

fax Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other out ...

service. When a user placed a call, the MSE software automatically found the destination telephone and connected the call. Tactical Packet Network services were provided by

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as a packet-switching overlay to the MSE circuit-switched network; these services added

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switching and routing to support end-to-end data communications. MSE was intended to provide communications support from the Corps' rear boundary to the division's maneuver battalion rear boundary, covering an area of approximately . It consisted of the following major subsystems. The Node Center Switch (NCS) made up the backbone of the MSE system and provided connectivity through the use of extension switches, Large Extension Nodes (LENs), Small Extension Nodes (SENs), and Radio Access Units (RAUs). To communicate with other mobile and wire telephone users throughout the theater, the Radio Access Units allow the Mobile Subscriber Radio Telephone (MSRT) to interface into the MSE system through the NCS, LEN or SEN.

See also

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Further reading