Air Force, Army leaders examine air-ground ops

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WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  The Air Force and Army chiefs of staff are leading a focused effort to examine air-ground operations in order to improve the two services' combat capability.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki said they recognize the need to improve air-ground coordination and execution of close air support missions after reviewing after-action reports from Operation Anaconda, conducted against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan last year.

Senior leaders from both services have met four times in the past four months to refine the two services' air-to-ground relationship. Planning, training, interoperability and integration of operations are on the generals' agenda.

"While both services are heavily engaged in meeting the needs of ongoing operations around the globe, we must work closely together to ensure units (get the support they need) at the point of attack in current and future operations," Jumper said, adding that air-ground operations are the key to success for the joint forces.

"We're striving to improve the working relationship between our services," Shinseki said. "We must work together more closely to maximize air and ground combat power. These ongoing efforts will ensure we face the challenges of the battlefields of the future as an integrated team: trained, equipped and organized for decisive victory."

During the annual Army-Air Force Warfighter Conference in January, Army and Air Force leaders met at Carlisle Barracks, Pa., to discuss the way ahead on close air support, employment of unmanned aerial vehicles, integration of the AH-64 Apache helicopter in the deep strike role, short-range air defense, airlift, and air base seizure.

The services used the forum to renew their commitment to ensuring current and future leaders understand the unique relationship between the services, which will best prepare them to fight together as an integrated combat team.

At the top of their list were the issues of air-ground operations and close air support. Army and Air Force officials who participated said that technology has enhanced the way the two services conduct air-ground operations, and the Army-Air Force warfighter conference gave the services the opportunity to review joint close air support policies and procedures.

Air Force terminal attack controllers and tactical air control party members, who fight alongside Army ground combat troops, coordinate and control air support and air attack assets. To enhance the capability at the company and battalion level to control aircraft in the close-in ground fight, the Army plans to qualify some soldiers as joint terminal attack controllers.

The working relationship and meetings between the services include more than controlling close air support aircraft. Both service chiefs said that through more joint training, planning and integration, airmen and soldiers will be better able to carry out a joint force commander's objectives.

"Close air support is designed to help the ground commander facing an enemy force, but there are a lot of other things we do to support the Army and the joint force commander," Jumper said.

"We airlift Army units to contingencies around the globe, and during combat operations we conduct air interdiction -- shooting at an enemy well beyond the area of a ground force -- and resupply. That's why it's critically important that the air component commander knows and understands the ground component commander's scheme of maneuver," he said.

The services have recognized the need to broaden collective training at the division and corps level, and plan to include the Army's battlefield coordination detachment and the Air Force's joint air liaison element in all Army corps-level warfighter exercises.

"Those elements are critical in ensuring that the air and ground component commanders and staffs understand each other's fight," Shinseki said. "We also plan to offer the Army's Battle Staff NCO course to Air Force enlisted terminal attack controllers. This sort of training will make them better trained members of the ground commander's team."

The vice chief of staff of the Air Force, Gen. Robert Fogelsong, and the vice chief of staff of the Army, Gen. John M. Keane, have accelerated a review of a service-level Memorandum of Agreement that will provide improved liaison support throughout the services.

The service chiefs stressed the importance of a strong mutual relationship based on trust and confidence, saying that effective air-ground operations require continuous teamwork and joint integration, and are key warfighting elements the Air Force and Army are clearly focused on improving.