USAFE’s deployable C2 ready for the field

Passers-by may not have taken notice of a small tent city in the 435th Air Ground Operations Wing’s Silver Flag complex the week of Oct. 25 to 29.

But those who saw the inside of the tents witnessed a demonstration of a JFACC Forward concept.

“During our ORI in September we validated our ability to open a base, establish airfield operations and wire a base to support robust command and control from an austere location,” said Col. Thomas Gould, 435th AGOW commander. “Today, we are teaming with 3rd Air Force and the 603rd Air and Space Operations Center to demonstrate we can support a joint Air Force component commander from a forward location.”

“The thought process is that effective warfighting requires the ability to command and control,” said Lt. Gen. Frank Gorenc, 3rd Air Force and European Command Joint Forces Air Component commander. “This facility allows the JFACC to be collocated with the joint task force commander with enough communications capability to reach back to an established and geographically separated element like an Air Operations Center.”

Simply called the “JFACC Forward,” the complex built by both the 435th Contingency Response Group and the 435th Air and Space Communications Group and manned by 3rd AF and 603rd AOC, it  provides the JFACC several options for communicating with the air operations center at Ramstein via satellite, including video teleconferencing, air defense system integration, secret and unclassified e-mail servers, telephones and several other information systems.

“This capability is completely scalable allowing the ability to command and control anything from a large scale exercise to an air expeditionary wing — from humanitarian relief operations to a JFACC Forward,” Colonel Gould said. “Everything here, from the tents and satellite dishes to the generators and computers, can be found in our inventory, including the 5,000 feet of cable we used to wire the facility.”

“The 435th is a unique organization in the Air Force because it has everything you need to open a base, wire the base and then establish some level of command and control. Their capabilities are a nice blend, and quite honestly it’s what we need right now for the things we’re doing worldwide,” General Gorenc said. “In my view, they’re already certified and ready to go. Now we just need to dot the I’s and cross the T’s on the tactics, techniques and procedures to get them on the road.”

The exercise scenario for the demonstration was a fictional air war, designed to imitate a possible real-world conflict.

“The Air Force is constantly collecting lessons learned from our current conflicts,” said Maj. Ken Boillot, the 603rd Air and Space Operations Center chief of current operations. “In this case, the lesson learned was the need for the JFACC to be geographically closer to the JTF commander while still maintaining the ability to command the combat air forces. We need to exercise those requirements to find that right mix of reach-back and forward capabilities.”

Based on those lessons learned, the JFACC Forward’s main purpose is to increase flexibility.

“Between all the humanitarian disasters that have happened, to all of the asymmetric warfare that we’re doing, we have to be very flexible with the capabilities the air forces can bring to the joint fight,” General Gorenc said. “This is really what it’s all about.”

Though built within the confines of Ramstein, the JFACC Forward complex was completely autonomous, operating independently from any of the base’s support systems.

 “In an effort to simulate the challenges of an austere environment and assure mission success, we set independent and redundant power sources and network links via satellite,” said Capt. Christopher Bugg, the AGOW’s 1st Combat Communications Squadron site commander. “We are actually very happy with how well it came together. This was very challenging, but our Airmen were up to the task. Right up to the last day we were running wires and cables, zipping up tents, that sort of thing. We’re very proud of what we’ve built here.”

Despite all the challenges, the facility was ready on time to start the exercise without a hitch. And although the concept is deemed ready for the field today, flexibility will continue to be a theme for those honing the USAF’s ability to deploy
command and control capabilities anytime, anywhere.