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

Published June 23, 2009
By Staff Sgt. Zachary Wilson
AFCENT Combat Camera Team

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- America and its Coalition partners own the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan. The air superiority provided by U.S. Air Forces Central warplanes is non-debatable. However, as part of a joint force engaged in hard-fought ground conflicts against enemies with no aerial capabilities, the 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 Air Field, 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. We take our jobs very serious and want to make sure we support the U.S. Army, Coalition forces and the USAF 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 air power assets in the theater.

The Combat Operations Division 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-1 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 ATO. 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 explains, "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 adjusts the ATO in response to battlefield dynamics, maintenance problems and weather, and then publishes changes to the ATO and the Airspace Control Order as necessary and the COD assumes responsibility for the next day's ATO 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 - Captain Yates says "there is very clear guidance."

"We don't question the guys on the ground," he said. "However, like us, they are familiar with the requirements which 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 agrees.

"The relationship we as JTAC's have with air power assets is hand in hand," he added.