Air Command and Control Specialists Practice Back-up Procedures

RAMSTEIN, Germany - From May 14-18, 2018 a team of 15 specialists from NATO southern Combined Air Operations Centre at Torrejon, Spain, deployed to the Allied Air Command at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to train back-up procedures for command and control of ongoing 24/7 Allied air operations in the south of the Alps.

"What happens, if for some reason the NATO CAOC at Torrejon is not available to execute its mission? – this is the issue we are solving with this exercise RAMSTEIN ALTERNATE,” said Colonel Bircan Destegul, Turkish Air Force, Head of the CAOC Torrejon Static Air Defence Centre, who led the CAOC team during the five day exercise.

"The main challenge for us is to keep the outage as short as possible,” said Lieutant-Colonel Ron Triegel, German Air Force, Allied Air Command point of contact for RAMSTEIN ALTERNATE. "We have established plans in the drawer that allow us to bring over the controllers and to redirect and connect the Air Command and Control Systems to ensure we can control Allied air operations in the south and the north out of our operations centre at Ramstein,” he added.

Upon arrival at Ramstein the CAOC Torrejon team settled into the temporary facilities, established connectivity and took over live control for example of NATO Air Policing flights in the south together with the subordinate national Control and Reporting Centres.

The same exercise exists for the northern CAOC at Uedem highlighting Allied Air Commands ability to seamlessly provide and control Allied Air Power for the Alliance.

Story by Allied Air Command Public Affairs