Air and Space Operations Center

This article is about Air and Space Operations Center in accordance with the United States Air Force command center. It should not be confused with the NATO Combined Air Operations Centre.
601st Air and Space Operations Center at Tyndall AFB, Florida
USAFCENT CAOC at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, 2009

An Air and Space Operations Center (AOC) is a type of command center used by the United States Air Force. It is the senior agency of the Air Force component commander to provide command and control of air and space operations.[1]

The U.S. Air Force employs two kinds of AOCs: regional AOCs utilizing the AN/USQ-163 Falconer weapon system that support geographic combatant commanders, and functional AOCs that support functional combatant commanders.[2] When there is more than one U.S. military service working in an AOC, such as when Naval Aviation from the U.S. Navy and/or the U.S. Marine Corps is incorporated, it is called a Joint Air and Space Operations Center (JAOC). In cases of allied or coalition (multinational) operations in tandem with USAF or Joint air and space operations, the AOC is called a Combined Air and Space Operations Center (CAOC).[1]

An AOC is the senior element of the Theater Air Control System (TACS). The Joint Force Commander (JFC) assigns a Joint Forces Air Component Commander (JFACC) to lead the AOC weapon system. If allied or coalition forces are part of the operation, the JFC and JFACC will be redesignated as the CFC and CFACC, respectively.

Quite often the Commander, Air Force Forces (COMAFFOR) is assigned the JFACC/CFACC position for planning and executing theater-wide air and space forces. If another service also provides a significant share of air and space forces, the Deputy JFACC/CFACC will typically be a senior flag officer from that service. For example, during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, when USAF combat air forces (CAF) and mobility air forces (MAF) were integrated with extensive USN and USMC sea-based and land-based aviation and Royal Air Force and Royal Navy / Fleet Air Arm aviation, the CFACC was an aeronautically rated USAF lieutenant general, assisted by an aeronautically designated USN rear admiral (upper half) as the Deputy CFACC, and an aeronautically rated RAF air commodore as the Senior British Officer (Air).

Divisions

There are five divisions in the AOC. These separate, but distinct, organizations fuse information that eventually becomes the Air Tasking Order. Staffing of these divisions consists primarily of USAF officers of various specialities in the ranks of captain, major and lieutenant colonel, supported by a smaller cohort of enlisted airmen, typically in the rank of staff sergeant and above. When conducting joint air and space operations, U.S. Army and USMC officers of similar rank and USN officers in the ranks of lieutenant, lieutenant commander and commander will also provide augmentative manning as required, the majority of whom will be aeronautically rated/aeronautically designated. Senior leadership oversight of the AOC is provided by USAF colonels and general officers and USN captains and flag officers.

Strategy Division (SRD)

Combat Plans Division (CPD)

Combat Operations Division (COD)

Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance Division (ISRD)

Air Mobility Division (AMD)

List of Air and Space Operations Centers

The table below lists the Air and Space Operations Centers currently in service in the US Air Force, the Numbered Air Force (NAF) and Major Command (MAJCOM) to which they are assigned, Unified Combatant Command they support, and where they are stationed.

Shield AOC NAF MAJCOM UCC Role Station
601st Air and Space Operations Center 1 AF/AFNORTH ACC USNORTHCOM Regional Tyndall AFB, Florida[4]
603d Air and Space Operations Center 3 AF/AFEUR USAFE USEUCOM/USAFRICOM Regional Ramstein AB, Germany[5]
607th Air and Space Operations Center (HTACC / KAOC) 7 AF/AFKOR PACAF USPACOM Regional Osan AB, South Korea[6]
608th Air and Space Operations Center 8 AF/AFSTRAT-GS AFGSC USSTRATCOM Functional Barksdale AFB, Louisiana[7]
609th Air and Space Operations Center (CAOC) 9 AF/AFCENT ACC USCENTCOM Regional Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar;
609 AOC Det 1, Shaw AFB, South Carolina
611th Air and Space Operations Center 11 AF PACAF USPACOM/USNORTHCOM Regional Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska[8]
612th Air and Space Operations Center 12 AF/AFSOUTH ACC USSOUTHCOM Regional Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona[9]
613th Air and Space Operations Center 13 AF/AFPAC PACAF USPACOM Regional Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii[10]
614th Air and Space Operations Center 14 AF/AFSTRAT-SP AFSPC USSTRATCOM Functional Vandenberg AFB, California[11]
618th Air and Space Operations Center (Tanker Airlift Control Center) 18 AF/AFTRANS AMC USTRANSCOM Functional Scott AFB, Illinois[12]
623d Air and Space Operations Center 23 AF/AFSOF AFSOC USSOCOM Functional Hurlburt Field, Florida
624th Operations Center 24 AF/AFCYBER AFSPC USCYBERCOM Functional Lackland AFB, Texas[13]
625th Operations Center 25 AF ACC USCYBERCOM (NSA) Functional Lackland AFB, Texas

Inactive AOCs

Training/Experimentation

AOC-equipping Units

NATO CAOC concept

Since July 2013 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) also uses the Combined Air Operations Centre concept at two locations (Torrejon, Spain and Uedem, Germany) with a deployable Air Operations Centre at Poggio Renatico, Italy. Previously, supporting the air component commands were 5 static Combined Air Operations Centres (CAOCs) to direct NATO air operations: in Finderup, Denmark; Eskisehir, Turkey; Larissa, Greece; Torrejon, Spain and Lisbon, Portugal. There were 2 further CAOCs with a static as well as a deployable role; Uedem, Germany and Poggio Renatico. The static CAOCs can support Allied air operations from their fixed locations, while the deployable CAOC will move where they are needed.

For more details on this topic, see Combined Air Operations Centre.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Air Force Doctrine Document 1-2, Air Force Glossary. 11 January 2007. Accessed 29 January 2011.
  2. ↑ Air Force Doctrine Document 2, Operations and Organization. 3 April 2007. Accessed 29 January 2011.
  3. ↑ http://www.afcent.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=12153
  4. ↑ 601st Air and Space Operations Center factsheet
  5. ↑ 3rd Air Force - Units
  6. ↑ 7th Air Force - Units
  7. ↑ 8th Air Force - 608th AOC
  8. ↑ Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson - 11th Air Force
  9. ↑ Factsheets : 612th Air and Space Operations Center
  10. ↑ Factsheets : 613th Air and Space Operations Center
  11. ↑ Extreme make-over: 14th Air Force becomes component numbered AF
  12. ↑ 618th Air and Space Operations Center (TACC) - Home
  13. ↑ Factsheets : 624 Operations Center (AFSPC)
  14. ↑ http://www.stripes.com/news/europe/germany/air-force-to-merge-two-command-and-control-units-at-ramstein-1.130927
  15. ↑
  16. ↑
  17. ↑ 112d Air Operations Squadron Homepage
  18. ↑ NYANG - 152d AOG Homepage
  19. ↑ Air Force Reserve News
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