Fall 2006 - Air & Space Power Chronicle - Air Force Link

INTERDEPENDENCE5sistance Force (ISAF), and adopting a postureto support the NATO Response Force (NRF).USAFE is currently in the process of transformingits numbered air forces and restructuringits management headquarters to produceworld-class, full-spectrum, joint-war-fightingstructures linked together in a collaborativeplanningnetwork. USAFE’s new WarfightingHeadquarters (WFHQ) supports contingencyoperations theaterwide. As the combined/joint air component, the WFHQ serves as theAirman’s single voice to the combatant commander.Our WFHQ actively supports humanitarianand security operations within the areaof responsibility. In one operation, its memberstransported 404 Polisario Front prisonersof war (held captive for more than 20 years inAlgeria) back home to Morocco. In another,the WFHQ provided continuous securitymonitoringoperations for the 2006 WinterOlympics in Turin, Italy. Our headquarterssurveys and assesses potential operating locationsacross the entire area of responsibilityfor future engagements and training opportunities.From providing forces for NATO’s airpolicingefforts to medical teams for mannedspace-recovery operations in Kazakhstan, theWFHQ truly lives up to its name.At the same time, we stood up Air CommandEurope, our management headquarters, toexecute the daily “organize, train, and equip”mission, keeping our forces ready to providesovereign options to our leaders across thespectrum of conflict. By developing both awar-fighting and management headquarters,we support the combatant commander moreefficiently by leveraging technology and executingair, space, and cyberspace power withminimal transition from peacetime to fullcombatoperations. We are in transition towardhighly effective force presentations. Ianticipate more changes as we move from awar-fighting headquarters to a numbered-airforceconstruct that allows the combatantcommander to choose from both joint forcecommander and combined/joint force aircomponent commander leadership options.But USAFE’s focus does not stop at ourheadquarters. Continuous theater engagementand strategic presence remain one ofour goals, and our TSC program has provencritical in the global war on terrorism, deliveringoperational access for basing; increasingtraining opportunities; and enhancing intelligence,surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)collaboration through the establishment ofcooperative relationships. In fiscal year 2005alone, USAFE conducted over 500 separateTSC events, engaging 66 of the 91 countries inour theater. Our engagements have producedtangible results as part of European Command’s(EUCOM) “move south and east” strategy. Onthe eastern front, we are heavily engaged withcountries such as Romania and Bulgaria—newNATO allies strategically located on the BlackSea, where 25 percent of Europe’s energy needstransit each day. In Romania, two years of hardwork by USAFE and EUCOM personnel culminatedin Secretary of State CondoleezzaRice’s signing the Defense Cooperation Agreementbetween our two nations. Such agreementsare forging the creation of the EasternEuropean Task Force, which will provide deploymentand training opportunities in theregion as well as bring together air and groundunits as part of a light, lean, lethal, and agileforce. Having such a force structure in EasternEurope has the additional benefit of servingas the template against which our newNATO allies can model their own transformationefforts.To the south, we are putting the “face ofAmerica” on humanitarian, ISR, and contingencyoperations in Africa. USAFE C-130s haveairlifted four battalions from Kigali, Rwanda,to the Darfur region in support of the AfricanUnion Mission in Sudan—another great, interdependenteffort. USAFE provides the airliftcapability, Rwanda provides the troops, andtogether we enable this mission to get off theground. We continuously engage with theState Department and EUCOM in OperationEnduring Freedom / Trans-Sahara. Throughmultiple TSC events, we assist willing partners(Algeria, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco,Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tunisia) in theirstruggle to prevent the development of supportnetworks for terrorists. We do this by providingactionable intelligence to help host na-