The Joint Technical Architecture

The Joint Technical Architecture (JTA) was developed by the Department of Defense (DoD). It serves as an essential supporting document to the Technical Architecture View for various other architecture frameworks. The purpose of the JTA is to improve system interoperability, facilitate information transfer and processing, and support cost effective commercial standards and products. Implementation of the JTA is mandatory for the management, development, and acquisition of all new and upgraded systems throughout the DoD.

The JTA is a “living” document. This means that it is designed to be updated as needed to accommodate new technology, standards, and optimizations. The newly developed systems must also be flexible and adaptable to incorporate the evolving technology and changing interfaces of commercial components into the current system architectures. The JTA is primarily interested in open systems and other products and implementation with well defined standards. Most of the standards provided in the JTA, do come from the commercial sector. All standards and guidelines must be stable, technically mature, and publicly available.

The JTA provides a minimum set of standards and guidelines for systems of tomorrow, not systems of today. The JTA does not support the implementation of standards and guidelines for legacy systems. However, it is a mandatory implementation for all newly