A brief history of MilNet
MilNet, which is a shortened form of Military Network, was the name given to Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET). It carries only unclassified information and was intended to be used for United States Department of Defense traffic. In 1983, both the ARPANET and MILNET split and split into two networks.
Going forward, it was decided that ARPANET would be fully dedicated to supporting the academic research community and MILNET would be used to transmit US military data, thus serving the needs of the military. And the direct connectivity between the two networks was cut off for some security reasons. These two networks were built and managed by BBN Technologies and therefore used the same technology.
The new rule standard and the division led to the belief that the ARPANET was originally created for military purposes. The development of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP) and their decentralized structure helped the ARPANET to develop considerably in the 1980s. On the other hand, MILNET, which took possession of 65 nodes or 113 connection points to safeguard military data, further expanded that it was contained in the Defense Data Network (DDN). DDN is a worldwide set of military networks that are used at different levels of security.
In 1990, the scene changed. The world realized the potential for massive interconnection and it led to the advent of the Internet. The military agencies that understood this potential were in favor of further expansion of MILNET. It began providing Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity to various United States military bases both at home and abroad.
It then split into various networks such as the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET), the Unclassified Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNET), and the Joint World Intelligence Communications System (JWICS). Today, the United States military uses a section of MILNET that became NIPRNET to exchange confidential and unclassified data between internal users.