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Staff Sgt. Neil Holdren and Capt. Kevin Mahar accomplish a periodic maintenance inspection on an antenna feed. The space technicians are deployed to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Melissa Koskovich)
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Space mission supports Operation Iraqi Freedom
Posted 3/29/2006
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by Tech. Sgt. William Seabrook
U.S. Central Command Air Forces-Forward Public Affairs
3/29/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- An Army ground patrol in Iraq is ambushed. Pinned down by sniper fire, the commander calls for air support with his satellite phone. Within moments an F-16 Fighting Falcon is overhead. The jet drops a 500-pound precision-guided bomb on a two-story building housing the enemy, causing only minimal collateral damage and allowing the patrol to return safely to base.
Scenarios like this are routine in the war on terrorism, but none of it would be possible without the Air Force and Army space team at the Combined Air Operations Center here.
Delivering and integrating space capabilities, the team does everything from ensuring satellites are operational to ensuring Global Positioning Systems are working properly.
The director of space forces, the combat operations division space cell, Air Force space weapons officers and U.S. Army space support teams work together connecting fighting forces to space support.
“Today's space contributions look completely different and better from the way they did when Operation Iraqi Freedom first began three years ago,” said Maj. Jeff Owens, offensive space control officer. “There’s direct space support integrated into the development of the air tasking order, the plans and operations of conventional ground forces and special operations forces missions.”
Some of the division’s most visible contributions involve supporting search and rescue efforts, and ensuring munitions are on target.
There have been more than 4,000 GPS-aided munitions expended in OIF, said Lance Blythe, U.S. Central Command Air Forces historian. Additionally, space assets have supported many of the more than 30 combat search and rescue missions in Iraq.
Beyond this, space plays a key role in daily operations and provides integral support across the modern battlespace.
“From the vantage point of troops on the ground, space assets provide key position, navigation and timing signals critical to synchronized operations,” said Col. Marty Whelan, the director of space forces. “The critical role of UAVs and electronic warfare systems demonstrates the importance of positioning and communications links.”
Space team members also support ground combatants.
“Fusing national space assets with conventional air, ground and space capabilities has given our forces unprecedented leverage in fighting anti-coalition forces and combating improvised explosive devices,” said Maj. Mike Hough from the CAOC Theater Space Integration Cell.
The men and women at the CAOC are not the only space forces supporting the effort.
“The Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., has been pivotal in the global war on terrorism and Operation Iraqi Freedom,” Colonel Whelan said. “They have shown an unprecedented willingness to expand their day-to-day mission and provide additional support to the increasing space protection mission.”
Additionally, daily interactions between the theater space team and the JSPOC has ensured that GPS, communications, missile warning and battlespace characterization is postured to support any contingency.
Even with these advancements, Colonel Whelan said he wants the entire space community to remember that now is not the time to relax.
“I challenge each person to push harder and find solutions to our warfighter’s problems and deliver these results on the battlefield,” he said. “We’re truly a joint team and it will take the maximum effort from each of us to beat our determined enemy.”
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