The Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP)

The Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP) is a long standing international organisation concerned with cooperation on defense science and technology matters, including national security and civil defense. Its membership comprises Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

(UK) and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

(US).

Declaration Of Common Purpose

TTCP commenced in 1957 as a bilateral activity between the United Kingdom and the United States when the US President and the UK Prime Minister made the following Declaration of Common Purpose:

"The arrangements which the nations of the free world have made for collective defense and mutual help are based on the recognition that the concept of national self sufficiency is now out of date. The countries of the free world are interdependent and only in genuine partnership, by combining their resources and sharing tasks in many fields, can progress and safety be found. For our part we have agreed that our two countries will henceforth act in accordance with this principle."

Tripartite Technical Cooperation Program

Immediately following the Declaration of Common Purpose the Canadian government subscribed to the principle of interdependence and was admitted by the UK and the US. The resulting arrangement was known as the Tripartite Technical Cooperation Program (or TTCP for short).

Adherence of Australia & New Zealand

Australia joined TTCP in 1965. Since there were now four nations rather than three, the name was changed from Tripartite Technical Cooperation Program to The Technical Cooperation Program, which allowed the abbreviation for the organisation to be kept as TTCP. New Zealand joined TTCP in 1969.

Top Level

The organisation of TTCP is headed up by a senior official from each of the five participating nations, known collectively as the Principals. Supporting the Principals are their TTCP Deputies, based in Washington, and a secretariat.

Technical Organisation

Reporting to the Principals are a number of multilateral “TTCP Groups”, each comprising Technical Panels and time limited Action Groups. As of April 2009 there are 11 TTCP Groups:

Aerospace Systems Group
Chemical, Biological & Radiological Defence Group (CBR)
Conventional Weapons Technology Group
Command, Control, Communications & Information Systems Group (C3I)
Electronic Warfare Systems Group (EW)
Human Resources & Performance Group (HUM)
Joint Systems & Analysis Group (JSA)
Land Systems Group
Maritime Systems Group
Materials & Processing Technology Group
Sensors Group

Each Technical Panel is expected to establish and monitor major collaborative projects in priority areas of defined mutual national interest. An Action Group is more limited in scope than a Technical Panel and has clearly stated objectives and preset milestones. It is formed by a "TTCP Group" to address a specific high priority problem and is terminated on completion of its assignment.

The “Five Eyes” & other International Organisations

Three TTCP nations (Canada, the UK and the US) are also members of the NATO Research and Technology Organisation

NATO Research and Technology Organisation

The NATO Research and Technology Organisation promotes and conducts co-operative scientific research and exchange of technical information amongst 26 NATO nations and 38 NATO partners...

. Four of the nations (Australia, Canada, UK and US) are also members of the twenty seven nation Multilateral Interoperability Programme

Multilateral Interoperability Programme

The Multilateral Interoperability Programme is an effort to deliver an assured capability for interoperability of information to support multinational, combined and joint operations. The MIP goal is to support all levels from corps to battalion. MIP's focus is on command and control systems...

. Of the five TTCP nations, only the UK is a member of the European Defence Agency

European Defence Agency

The European Defence Agency is an agency of the European Union based in Brussels. It is a Common Foreign and Security Policy body set up on 12 July 2004, reporting to the Council of the European Union. All EU member states, except Denmark which has an opt-out of the CFSP, take part in the agency...

.

Collectively the five nations comprising TTCP are often referred to as the "Five Eyes" community and also participate in the following related activities.