Command, control relationships critical to close-air-support mission

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Zachary Wilson
  • U.S. Air Forces Central combat camera team
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) --  Air Force offensive aerial units operating within the Central Command area of responsibility are focused on one primary task: close-air support.

"It is my opinion that close-air support is the most effective fire support asset in Afghanistan right now, and I haven't heard any different from the ground commanders we support," said Tech. Sgt. Damian Hampton, a joint terminal air controller assigned with Joint-Task Force 82 at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. 

"It may not be as responsive as mortar and artillery fire, but its precision is what keeps JTAC's in high demand on today's battlefield here in Afghanistan," he said. "We take our jobs very seriously and want to make sure we support the Army, coalition forces and the Air Force to the best of our ability."

Aircraft do not just go off roaring into the sky, loaded with munitions, ready to drop ordnance at the first target that presents itself. In fact, each mission is coordinated, planned and staffed by an entire division within the 609th Air and Space Operations Center that coordinates command and control of airpower assets in the theater.

The Combat Operations Division staff monitors and executes the Combined Force Air Component commander's air tasking order; the electronic document that outlines daily air operations with respect to aircraft sorties, weapons loads and operational taskings.

"We go into the country, contact the (joint terminal air controllers) on the ground and see whatever they have going on at that moment," said Capt. Nick Yates, a B-1B Lancer pilot who also works within the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron's mission planning cell. "If there is a specific operation or a 'troops in contact' scenario, we contact the guys in the fight to determine what they need from us."

However, getting off the ground from a base in Southwest Asia thousands of miles away from the theater requires a great deal of planning and coordination, which is done through the air tasking order. Once the aircraft are in place, a certain degree of flexibility is required, which is the responsibility of the liaisons who are embedded with the division.

"You could say that we're the middle-management function for the (air-battle management) function in the CAOC," said Maj. John Boen, an E-3 Sentry air battle manager serving as a liaison in the Combat Operations Division. E-3s in theater provide battlefield command and control for the aircraft performing close-air-support missions.

"We provide real-time flexing of the plan once the ATO goes out to get the E-3 into the area," he said, adding that by getting the E-3 where it needs to be allows the crew to do their job, placing air assets where they are needed.

The tactical control of the aircraft falls to the actual crews, but the big picture, "the care and feeding" of the aircraft, as Major Boen explained, "allows us to translate directly to the crews what the CAOC needs them to do and gives them real-time information from the CAOC floor."

The Combat Operations Division staff adjusts the air tasking order in response to battlefield dynamics, maintenance problems and weather, and then publishes changes to the air tasking order and the airspace control order as necessary and the Combat Operations Division staff assumes responsibility for the next day's air tasking order as soon as it is released.

According to Captain Yates, the planners use a process called the joint air support requirements that is coordinated through various levels and assigns air assets throughout the theater to assigned taskings.

"They tell us what to support and where to show up," he said.

When the decision is made to employ weapons, which is not always the case as many times coalition aircraft execute "show-of-force" maneuvers to intimidate enemies without using weapons, "there is very clear guidance," Captain Yates said. 

"We don't question the guys on the ground," he said. "However, like us, they are familiar with the requirements that are found in the joint publication we all train to. Additionally, special instructions and the rules of engagement are further mitigators of possible issues. We make sure they all match."

Sergeant Hampton agreed.

"The relationship we as JTACs have with airpower assets is hand in hand," he added.