Pope TACP Airmen integrate Air Support Operations Center during Warfighter exercise
Air Force Staff Sgt. Alvin Delos Santos, a command and control battle management operations specialist, right, and Staff Sgt. Darius Harper, both from the 682nd Air Support Operations Squadron, test the Air Support Operations Center Gateway communication systems during Warfighter 14-04 exercise, April 9, Fort Bragg, N.C. The Warfighter is a command post training exercise, designed and led by the Mission Command Training Program at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, which simulates scenarios units might encounter in war. The exercises are designed to challenge commanders and their staffs to be both tactical and academic in their approach to wartime decision making. The state-of-the-art ASOC Gateway shortens the kill chain, reduces humanistic error and improves situational awareness for pilots, aircrew and joint terminal attack controllers. The ASOC is the primary command and control agency for integrating joint air power with Army operations. Fighter duty technicians coordinate air support for the JTACs and provide airspace de-confliction for tasked aircraft. Once JTACs receive a handoff of aircraft from the ASOC, it's their job to direct the fighters to the correct targets within close proximity to ground forces using radios and communications equipment. (U.S. Air Force photo/Marvin Krause)