Graveyard of Empires

The Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) mission stands as a cornerstone of modern air power, and it was particularly true in a theater as complex and vast as Afghanistan. While everyone focus on fighter and bomber jets, the persistent eyes in the sky provided by ISR assets are what

Following the civilian flight rules that we discussed in the previous article, we need to look at the standing air routes that cross Afghanistan. During the 2009–2012 period, these routes were busy. Even though a war was happening on the ground, the sky was a crowded place where combat jets and airl

The next natural step after creating the BMAs and setting up the possible AEW tracks is to position the Bullseyes for the theater. As usual, the Combat Flite (.cf) file and mission kneeboards (.pdf and .png) are available for download below. Geometric Accuracy A Bullseye (BE) position is defined usi

All the subjects covered in the previous 2 posts (airborne early warning and ground tactical C2 elements) have been integrated into an example layout for the Afghan theater. You will find: several AWACS tracks examples. E-2 Hawkeye: operating from a carrier, the E-2 would primarily remain in the sou

Now that we've seen the airborne part of the Tactical C2 structure, we can turn to the ground-based elements. If you're not fully familiar with the Air Component Command’s C2 architecture, I recommend reading the earlier 3-part series explaining “who’s in charge” in Afghanistan and comparable ground

On the same principle as for the AAR areas, let's take the time to discuss the practical incidence of the Tactical C2 structure on the ACO. We'll discuss two main topics before coming up with an ACO example: the question of AWACS, followed by the airspace division for Tacical C2 responsibilities. In

Once we have included all the civilian airspace as described in the AIP (2009 example here), we can start the ACO building by placing AAR Areas. Let's summarize here the minimum requirements for such areas. I. Altitude I.1 - Vertical space By default, a single tanker needs a 4,000 ft altitude block

Since I started working on a mission template for Afghanistan theater, representing the battlefield at the peak of the ISAF/OEF involvement, it's time to explain how we can expand the previous work made on tanker refueling altitude and their AAR area locations, that was eventually shared through a w