Warships, flagships, and command posts that command the fleet (10) Is the command post for air battles the Earth Defense Force? - Military and IT (430) | TECH+ Mynavi News Mynavi

CAOC at Al Udeid Base. At the top of the left wall, there is a large screen for grasping the overall situation. You can also see how each individual has their own display Photo: USAF

These command posts collectively cover large areas of air operations. Al-Udeid's CAOC covers an area from Syria to Iraq to Afghanistan.

When the scene changes to Europe, it covers from NATO's common command post in Germany to anti-aircraft intrusion measures missions carried out over the three Baltic countries. Such an imitation is possible because the network connecting the command post, the radar site network, and the individual air bases is in place. It is truly a story about the relationship between “military and IT” on the ground.

Speaking of which, I found an interesting photo. The equipment was to be replaced at the CAOC at the Al Udeid base, and the photograph was taken in October 2020 with the equipment removed.

The flags of each country on the right side and the fixtures placed near them seem to be the same, so it seems to be a picture of the same place. It seems that not only the computer equipment, but also the desks and cabinets were to be removed, cleaned thoroughly, and new equipment was installed there. “Technological advances over the past decade have enabled improvements to CAOC itself and a more decentralized environment,” he said. It would be so.

If you raise the command post in the sky

However, as long as you have a radar sight on the ground as a means of situational awareness, you can only know the range that the radar can cover. Besides, as I pointed out last time, when it comes to an offensive air battle where we are going out to enemy territory, we also want a way to know what is happening in the skies above enemy territory.

Then, the early warning aircraft, which I mentioned in the 30th time, comes into play. An early warning aircraft is essentially a “flying radar site,” so if you go on a business trip to a place where it is needed, you will put your “eyes” on what is happening in the airspace there. Of course, we would like to avoid ramming an early warning aircraft, which is a valuable high-value asset, into enemy territory, but if we can cover a radius of several hundred kilometers, we can monitor it to some extent from the territory of our own country or a friendly country.

And sending information from an early warning aircraft's radar via a datalink to a command and control system on the ground would give a facility like the CAOC a wider reach. Also, if the early warning aircraft itself is equipped with air traffic control capabilities and a controller is on board, it will be possible to take command from a location closer to the scene. In other words, it pushes sector managers closer to the site.

That is, AEW&C: Airborne Early Warning and Control, and AWACS: Airborne Warning And Control System. As I wrote before, the two are distinguished mainly by the difference in air traffic control capability, but there is no clear threshold.

However, unlike the command post on the ground, it is impossible to place a large display for displaying the overall situation in a narrow cabin. So, the commander will get a commander's console and display the overall situation on it.

I know the interior of an older model E-3 Sentry has been open to the public, but it was just a row of identical consoles, no big screen on the wall. Although the large number of consoles was reminiscent of the high level of E-3's control ability.

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