Operation Desert Shift transitioned JTF-SWA and the 320th Air Expeditionary Group (AEG) to Prince Sultan Air Base with target date 01 April 2001. This effort included the network infrastructure for the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC), Headquarters Joint Task Force-Southwest Asia (HQ JTF-SWA) and the Joint Intelligence Center (JIC) located at Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB), Saudi Arabia. Air Force Communications Agency (AFCA) supported the engineering and installation of the network infrastructure that will support the various command and control (C2) systems to be installed. The network infrastructure includes three network services: Non-Secure Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNET) for unclassified and sensitive information processing, Secure Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET) for Secret-high information processing and Community of Interest Network (COIN) for collateral forces information processing. AFCA requires technical support for information systems to obtain and maintain C2 accreditation, and continuously enhance overall security.
The new Combined Aerospace Operations Center [CAOC -- "KAY-ok"] at Prince Sultan Air Base oversees enforcing the no-fly zone over Iraq as part of Operation Southern Watch. The Air Force celebrated the initial opening of the new CAOC in June 2001 and made it fully operational by mid-July. A combined air operations center is the primary theater command and control, or C2, facility responsible for orchestrating an air campaign for a coalition effort.
Functioning as the nerve center of the air campaign for Operations Southern Watch and Enduring Freedom, the CAOC plans, monitors and directs joint search and rescue, theater missile defense, time critical targeting, battlefield coordination, special operations support, sortie execution and countless other mission critical operations. With hundreds of computers, dozens of servers, racks of video equipment and display screens surrounding you, it might seem like the set of a futuristic movie -- but this is as real as it gets. It's no small task to ensure AOC systems work together and provide reins of command and control to the JFACC. Making these systems hum requires hundreds of people, working in satellite communications, imagery analysis, network design, computer programming, radio systems, systems administration and many other fields. After the bugs are worked out, the Air Force baselines configuration, and Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom AFB, Mass., manages the pieces and parts as a unified system called USQ-163 - currently block 10 - more commonly known as the air operations center.
The Combined Air Operations Center - Experimental experts at Langley Air Force Base, VA was used as a pathfinder to significantly reduce technical and operational risk for the Prince Sultan Air Base Combined Air Operations Center. The team at CAOC-X, which serves as the proving ground for improving and standardizing AOCs worldwide, carefully selected the hardware and software capabilities to emulate those intended for the Prince Sultan AOC. In so doing, CAOC-X, with the help of Central Command Air Force operators, was able to "wring-out" many of the technical and operational challenges that would have been experienced in the desert.
The capabilities being delivered in the first increment are the ability to produce a releasable air tasking order and disseminate it to coalition forces, merge the releasable ATO into a United States-only ATO, create and distribute a releasable air picture, disseminate releasable intelligence products and reduce the hardware footprint in an open coalition environment. Those selected capabilities also formed the nucleus of the first baseline for the AOC weapon system. Called Block 10, this baseline will be enhanced with additional capabilities, which will be added and further developed in future "block" deliveries in much the same way other weapons systems are upgraded. One example of improved capability is the AOC software engine, the theater battle management core system, known as TBMCS. This system, managed by ESC's Combat Air Forces C2 System Program Office, generates and disseminates the air tasking order. The capabilities being delivered to Prince Sultan will also be delivered to other AOCs around the world. The Combined Air Operations Center at Prince Sultan Air Base was completed by late July 2001. In October 2001 the Saudi government agreed that United States would be able to use the command center to coordinate air operations against targets in Afghanistan.
U.S. officials transferred control of portions of Prince Sultan Air Base to Saudi officials at a ceremony on Aug. 26, 2003. The ceremony also marked the inactivation of the 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing. The base was home to about 60,000 coalition forces during the past seven years. At the height of OIF, there were more than 5,000 troops and about 200 coalition aircraft based here.
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