Students
gather for the first AIRC2IS supported
BMD Planning Training Course 16-01, delivered at the DACCC Poggio Renatico,
Italy. Photo courtesy of DACCC Poggio
Renatico.
Poggio Renatico - The Air Command and Control program known as AirC2IS (Air Command and Control Information Services) has, for the first time, been utilised to train NATO staff during a the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Planning Course at the Deployable Air Command and Control Centre (DACCC) here in early March 2016. The objective of the new course was "to train and qualify NATO operators in the BMD planning process supported by the AirC2IS current planning tool and enable them to fulfill their duties as BMD planners”. The innovative software provides BMD planners with an advanced planning capability over legacy systems.
DACCC BMD Subject Matter Experts were selected to develop and deliver the new course with support from the Competence Centre for Surface-Based Air and Missile Defence (CC SBAMD) at Ramstein and the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) local detachment. Participants from HQ AIRCOM Ramstein, HQ LANDCOM Izmir, CAOC Torrejon, CAOC Uedem, and the CC SBAMD successfully met all the training objectives using the AirC2IS system, delivered in late 2015 to AIRCOM, MARCOM, the Joint Force Commands and the DACCC.
Students using the AIRC2IS software in BMD planning. Photo courtesy of DACCC Poggio Renatico.
Based on requirements provided by the NCIA, AirC2IS, as part of the wider Bi-Strategic Command Automated Information System, will enhance interoperability of the Air Component with other commands. Moreover, within the joint arena, AirC2IS will improve air and BMD planning at the strategic and operational levels.
Integration of AIRC2IS is a significant step as NATO moves from an interim operational capability towards Initial Operational Capability of BMD to be decided by the North Atlantic Council at the Warsaw Summit this year. Missile defence is an important tool for NATO’s core task of collective defence. The threat to the Alliance posed by the proliferation of ballistic missiles is real and growing while NATO’s missile defence system is designed to protect European Allies against the threat of ballistic missiles from outside the Euro-Atlantic area.
Based on information provided by DACCC Poggio Renatico, LtCol Nicola BOLZAN and Maj William J. Evans