The Air Force Command and Control Integration Center was an
Air Combat Command field operating agency responsible for innovating, designing, developing, integrating, and sustaining
command and control
Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or en ...
capabilities. It was a tenant unit at
Langley Air Force Base, with several outlying support locations.
The center was established in 1997 and inactivated in 2013. It had gone through numerous name and organizational changes, but maintained essentially the same mission throughout. From 2002 through 2010, it was aligned directly under the
Air Staff.
History
The center was initially established at
Langley Air Force Base, Virginia in August 1997 as the Air and Space Command and Control Agency. The agency included the two major field units that became the Air Force C2 Battlelab and the Air Force C2 Training and Innovation Group. The Tactical Air Forces Interoperability Group was a predecessor organization under
Tactical Air Command. It was focused primarily on tactical interoperability and the improvement and integration of
Tactical Data Links
A tactical data link (TDL) uses a data link standard in order to provide communication via radio waves or cable used by NATO nations. All military C3 systems use standardized TDL to transmit, relay and receive tactical data.
Multi-TDL network ...
and message text formats.
The agency's name was changed to reflect its widening responsibilities. When
Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance
ISTAR stands for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. In its macroscopic sense, ISTAR is a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employing its sensors and managing t ...
was added to the agency's mission in September 1998, it was redesignated the 'Aerospace Command and Control Agency. A few months later, on 1 January 1999, the agency added responsibilities including
unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controll ...
s, and became the Aerospace Command and Control & Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center. The Center eventually gained the
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battlelab, and fifteen operating locations intended to network the command and control mission.
In 2002, the Center underwent its most profound change organizationally since its creation. On 15 March 2002 the Center was redesignated the Air Force Command and Control & Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center and realigned as a field operating agency under the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Warfighting Integration. .
In April 2007, the center was redesignated the Air Force Global Cyberspace Integration Center signifying an Air Force cultural shift to the
cyberspace domain
while still maintaining its responsibilities for C2 integration. A little over three years later, on 16 June 2010, the center was realigned under the
Air Combat Command (ACC) Directorate of Requirements and named the Air Force Command and Control Integration Center.
In January 2013, the Commander of ACC announced his intention to reorganize the headquarters staff to formulate a consolidated planning, programming and requirements directorate. As part of this planned reorganization, the center would be inactivated and its functions and personnel merged into the new directorate. An informal closing ceremony was held on 16 December 2013.
Systems developed
Air Operations Center
The Aerospace Operation Center (later
Air Operations Center
An Air Operations Center (AOC) is a type of command center used by the United States Air Force (USAF). It is the senior agency of the Air Force component commander to provide command and control of air operations.[Prince Sultan Air Base
Prince Sultan Air Base ( ar, قاعدة الأمير سلطان الجوية) (PSAB) is a military air base located in the closed-city of Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
History
There was formerly a large United States presence there during Opera ...]
,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. Leading the AOC effort through large-scale experiments, for seven years the Center modernized, standardized, and integrated the developing command and control system.
Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment
Starting in 1998 as the Air Force's
ingle serviceexpeditionary force experiment, this experimentation and testing venue allowed innovators and formal acquisition programs to try out new equipment, tactics, procedures in a large-scale field environment. The equipment tested included command, control and communications systems, vehicles, aircraft, software, radios, etc., focused on enhancing information collection and exchange, and improving interoperability. The venue quickly grew to include multiple services and nations. It was subsequently conducted biannually in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 with particular emphasis on command and control and improving the "Kill Chain". More recently, it was supposed to be downsized to focus on specific areas for improvement in Command and control integration and conducted on a smaller scale on a quarterly basis with occasional large-scale events.
Tactical Networks Integration
Tactical Data Links
A tactical data link (TDL) uses a data link standard in order to provide communication via radio waves or cable used by NATO nations. All military C3 systems use standardized TDL to transmit, relay and receive tactical data.
Multi-TDL network ...
(TDL) and voice networks are essential to command and control and situational awareness of forces in the battlespace from the tactical edge to joint task forces. The center integrated these networks for the Air Force, other services, and other nations throughout its history including
Link 11
TADIL-A/Link 11 is a secure half-duplex tactical data link used by NATO to exchange digital data. It was originally developed by a joint committee including members from the Canadian Navy, US Navy and Royal Navy to pass accurate targeting inform ...
and
Link 16
Link 16 is a military tactical data link network used by NATO and nations allowed by the MIDS International Program Office (IPO). Its specification is part of the family of Tactical Data Links.
With Link 16, military aircraft as well as ship ...
improvements; TDL network management, integrators and
gateways;
Joint Tactical Radio System
The Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) aimed to replace existing radios in the American military with a single set of software-defined radios that could have new frequencies and modes (“waveforms”) added via upload, instead of requiring mult ...
; and developments in
Airborne Networking {{No footnotes, section, date=February 2013
An Airborne Network (AN) is the infrastructure owned by the United States Air Force that provides communication transport services through at least one node that is on a platform capable of flight.
Backg ...
.
Lineage
* Constituted as the Air and Space Command and Control Agency on 15 July 1997
[Preparing for the agency's activation, Air Combat Command organized the Air & Space Command & Control Agency (Provisional) at Langley Air Force Base on 9 May 1997. The provisional agency was discontinued on 1 August.]
: Activated on 1 August 1997
: Redesignated Aerospace Command and Control Agency on 15 September 1998
: Redesignated Aerospace Command and Control & Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center on 9 February 1999
: Redesignated Air Force Command and Control & Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center on 15 March 2002
: Redesignated Global Cyberspace Integration Center on 1 April 2008
[Lineage through March 2009 in Kane, Factsheet Global Cyberspace Integration Center.]
: Redesignated Air Force Command & Control Integration Center on 15 June 2010
[Research Division, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Air Force Organization Change Status Report, June 2010, Maxwell AFB, AL]
: Inactivated c. 16 December 2013
Assignments
* Air Combat Command, 1 August 1997
* United States Air Force, 30 April 2002
[This also changed the center's status to a field operating agency.]
* Air Combat Command, 15 June 2010[ – c. 16 December 2013][This also terminated the center's status as a field operating agency.]
Components
* Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battlelab: 1 March 1999 – April 2002
Stations
* Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, 1 August 1997[ – c. 16 December 2013
]
Commanders
* Maj Gen John W. Hawley, July 1997 – June 1999
* Maj Gen Gerald F. Perryman, May 1999 – August 2001
* Maj Gen Robert F. Behler, August 2001 – July 2003
* Maj Gen Tommy F. Crawford, July 2003 – June 2006
* Maj Gen Kevin J. Kennedy, June 2006 – July 2007
* Brig Gen Mike H. McClendon, July 2007 – January 2008
* Stan C. Newberry (Director), January 2008 – 2013
See also
* Joint Interoperability of Tactical Command and Control Systems Joint Interoperability of Tactical Command and Control Systems or JINTACCS is a United States military program for the development and maintenance of tactical information exchange configuration items (CIs) and operational procedures. It was originat ...
* Network-centric warfare
Network-centric warfare, also called network-centric operations or net-centric warfare, is a military doctrine or theory of war that aims to translate an information advantage, enabled partly by information technology, into a competitive advantag ...
* Vocabulary OneSource OneSource is an evolving data analysis tool used internally by the Air Combat Command (ACC) Vocabulary Services Team, and made available to general data management community. It is used by the greater US Department of Defense (DoD) and NATO communi ...
References
Notes
; Explanatory notes
; Citations
Bibliography
External links
Official Website of Air Force Command and Control Integration Center
{{USAF Field Operating Agencies
Field operating agencies of the United States Air Force
Military in Virginia
Centers of the United States Air Force