RAMSTEIN, Germany - On 25 May Commander Allied Air
Command, General Frank Gorenc, hosted the annual Joint Force Air Component (JFAC)
Flag Officers’ Seminar attended by 70 representatives, including 23 Flag
Officers, from NATO’s Air and Space community at Ramstein. The seminar offered
the NATO Force Structure (NFS) and the NATO Command Structure (NCS) an
opportunity to compare notes on JFAC concept and doctrine.
Representatives from Headquarters Allied Air Command
(AIRCOM), the Combined Air Operations Centres at Uedem, Germany and Torrejon,
Spain and the Deployable Air Command and Control Centre at Poggio Renatico,
Italy met with their counterparts from the NFS and national Air domains to receive
updates on JFAC-related matters. Discussions included delivering decision advantage to the JFAC and the
implications of Air Command and Control before and during a potential conflict. Additionally, training, exercise and
certification programmes were covered before the seminar closed by examining
opportunities to utilise previously untapped resources, including nations
without JFACs.
To command and control air assets at tactical and
operational levels to achieve timely and precise effect requires integrated,
responsive and high tempo military processes. These processes can only be ensured through a properly manned and
focused JFAC which has the responsibility to deliver Air Power for an operation. A tailored JFAC command and control organisation is vital in planning,
integrating and synchronising Air Power and Space capabilities within a NATO/coalition
Joint Force campaign.
Alliance Air Operations can be run by a JFAC from the NCS, the
NFS or a Nation. The NCS JFAC is the
default JFAC for all operations which are characterised by being time critical,
collective defence in the framework of Article 5, European territory and/or
high volume air operations. The NFS
JFAC, nominated on the NATO Response Force Long Term Rotation Planning is
available notably for Non-Article 5 crisis response operations and low-volume
air operations.
At AIRCOM, a core JFAC staff will stand up the NCS
JFAC, which can be tailored to the needs of the Alliance. To accomplish this
role it can be supplemented from within the AIRCOM deployable structure or
augmented from national or other NFS JFACs.