Combined Air Operations Centres (CAOCs) are multinational headquarters for tactical and operational control of NATO

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

s below the Joint Force Command level''. They operate within the

NATO Integrated Air Defense System The NATO Integrated Air Defense System (short: NATINADS) is a command and control network combining radars and other facilities spread throughout the NATO alliance's air defence forces. It formed in the mid-1950s and became operational in 1962 as ...

(NATINADS) framework. Within the European NATO command structure they are subordinated to NATO's

Allied Air Command The Allied Air Command (AIRCOM) is the central command of all NATO air and space forces and the Commander Allied Air Command is the prime air and space advisor to the Alliance. When directed by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), it pro ...

(AIRCOM), and is superior to

Control and Reporting Centre A Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) is according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff publication 1.02 defined as – ''A subordinated air control element of the tactical air control centre for which radar control and warning operations are conducted wi ...

s, national airspace control centers and Regional Airspace Surveillance Coordination Centres (RASCC) such as

BALTNET Baltic Air Surveillance Network (BALTNET) is an air defense radar network operated by the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Structure The Baltic Air Surveillance Network (BALTNET) is one of the commands within the NATO Int ...

. NATO may also operate in Europe static and deploy-able CAOCs. Predecessor organizations of the CAOC were ''Air Tactical Operations Centre'' (ATOC) and ''Air Defence Operations Centre'' (ADOC). Until 1980 the two HQs for air attack and

air defence Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...

operated autonomously.

Active locations

Former locations

References

Further reading