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AFSPC commander sees space assets in action at CAOC

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Joel Langton
  • U.S. Central Command Air Forces Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  The Air Force space mission is critical to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan today. To get a look inside real-time space operations in the battlespace, Gen. C. Robert "Bob" Kehler, Air Force Space Command commander, visited the Combined Air and Space Operations Center Feb. 2, during an extended tour of the Area of Responsibility. 

"We are synchronizing and integrating with ground forces and providing everything from weather forecasts and satellite images to improvised explosive device detection," said General Kehler. "So it's critical that I get over here and see how our space force members are doing."

With a variety of satellites at their disposal, the space force affects many facets of warfare, from helping the warfighter drop bombs on target, to locating poppy fields that are used to fund the Taliban, to providing unmanned aerial vehicle feeds throughout the world, said Col. John Riordan, U.S. Central Command Air Forces Director of Space Forces in the CAOC. 

"The CAOC is the cornerstone for space integration in the AOR," Colonel Riordan said, explaining that the state-of-the-art facility is the primary command and control center responsible for directing the air campaign throughout the AOR.

Space assets are integrated into every step of coalition efforts and space has never played a larger role than it does in today's Global War on Terror, said General Kehler.

"Every mission, every raid, in the AOR involves our space assets, many of which are located or controlled right here in the CAOC," General Kehler explained.

"The space professionals of all the armed services, along with the supporting units back in the United States, bring a capability to our military that no other can match - the ability to successfully integrate and synchronize space effects into the fight," said General Kehler. "Space is a true force multiplier and saves lives every day."