Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Military officials open 'best-of-breed facility'

Center to train decision makers in combat situations

Backed by rows of computer workstations, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper talks to reporters Monday inside the Combined Air and Space Operations Center at Nellis Air Force Base. Photo by Gary Thompson. Air Combat Commander Gen. Hal Hornburg speaks at Monday's opening of the Combined Air and Space Operations Center at Nellis Air Force Base. Photo by Gary Thompson.

The last time Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper came to the Nellis base to talk about the nation's high-tech war-fighting capability, the command center where decision-makers are trained was in a cluster of trailers draped in camouflage netting.

That was nearly two years ago.

On Monday, Jumper returned to Nellis Air Force Base to cut the yellow ribbon in opening the new, multimillion-dollar Combined Air and Space Operations Center.

"This is a dream come true for the entire U.S. Air Force and the joint war-fighters," Jumper said inside the $8.9 million building, where hundreds of computer workstations filled a room the size of megaresort sports book.

"This allows us to bring the next evolution of command and control to the battlefield," he said.

The center, next to headquarters for the base's Red Flag air combat training exercises, has miles of communication cables beneath its floor and big-screen display terminals linked to satellites providing live feeds from remotely piloted Predator aircraft and other spy planes. The high-tech equipment and the 500 individual workstations have a $7 million price tag that is in addition to the cost of the building.

Jumper said the facility will serve as one of the nerve centers for military leaders to make combat decisions in a war for which they need to "share the load of intelligence."

"We expect this will be involved from time to time in real warfare situations," he said.

The center has the capability to work with similar centers for decision makers in the Persian Gulf and Pacific regions and elsewhere in the United States and around the globe.

The center will be used by all branches of the U.S. military and invited foreign participants. One section, which can house up to 200 workstations, is restricted to classified U.S. military use.

Gen. Hal Hornburg, commander of Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, Va., who accompanied Jumper, said, "This is truly the best-of-breed facility.

"It will do a lot for Nellis. As we say, 'As goes Nellis, so goes the Air Force,' " Hornburg said.

The facility is scheduled to be used for the first time next week for an early phase of the Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment.

Hornburg envisions operators making decisions on several combat situations.

"Imagine hot feeds from Predators and Global Hawks, computers chatting back-and-forth to each other. Imagine commanders saying, 'I have emerging targets. Take these two F-15E's and tighten the kill chain.' ... We will train to be command and controllers as we would train our pilots," he said.

At the opening ceremony, Maj. Gen. Steve Wood, commander of the Air Warfare Center at Nellis, compared the center to a facility to train conductors of an orchestra.

"It's like that symphony when we take the woodwinds, the brass and the percussion ... to integrate them and make that beautiful sound."

Jumper said he hopes the Nellis training exercises will take the center beyond its expectations.

"So we're going to get this in the hands of the captains and make it 20 times better than anybody dreamed it could be," Jumper said.